The Scarlet Sisters (52 page)

Historian Ken Ackerman, author of
The Gold Ring
and
Boss Tweed
, kindly read the chapters on Wall Street and high finance among the robber barons, making vital suggestions and improvements. At the beginning of my research I was helped immeasurably by the Library of Congress Women’s History Discussion Group (WHDG).

I am of course indebted to biographers and authors who came before me; the most reliable and well-researched biographies on Victoria Woodhull were Lois Beachy Underhill’s
The Woman Who Ran for President
and Mary Gabriel’s
Notorious Victoria
. Amanda Frisken’s more recent book,
Victoria Woodhull’s Sexual Revolution
, added a new dimension with its vital examination of the drawings of both sisters in the tabloid-style papers, which contributed to a racy public image that galvanized Victorian-era prejudice against them. I disagree with books that take the Tilton as-told-to biography at face value, and I feel Woodhull’s agenda explains why that version cannot be taken as fact. Also I find it factually inaccurate that some authors ignore or disregard Tennie.

Newer books, such as T. J. Stiles’s Vanderbilt biography,
The First Tycoon
; Richard Wightman Fox’s
Trials of Intimacy
, on the Beecher-Tilton scandal; and Debby Applegate’s Beecher biography,
The Most Famous Man in America
, add new insight to landmark books by Robert Shaplen and Paxton Hibben and earlier Vanderbilt biographies. One of the best examinations of the trial occurred while it was still in progress. The
New York Times
’s critical summation of Beecher’s testimony convinced me that he was guilty of perjury at the very least.

My agent, Dan Green, a gift from our mutual late friend, Molly Ivins, helped me imagine the story and came up with the
Scarlet Sisters
title. Jon Karp bought the book for Twelve; Cary Goldstein provided organizing suggestions; Libby Burton was excellent at fine-tune editing; and the
new and encouraging team at Twelve—Deb Futter, publisher; Sean Desmond, editor-in-chief; and Brian McLendon, associate publisher; along with Libby Burton, made
The Scarlet Sisters
a reality.

Friends and family put up with my grousing despair. I am particularly grateful to my son, Michael Siegel, a fine writer who made suggestions as he listened sympathetically. So did a group of author friends—Thom Racina, Joe Drape, Nicholas Von Hoffman, Molly and Jim Dickenson, Bill McPherson, George Wilson, Lou Dubose, Ellen Sweets, and Pat O’Brien, who wrote the novel
Harriet and Isabella
, based on the Beecher family friction over Woodhull. Other friends and family nudged me along—Mary Bradshaw, Barbara Blum, Richard Rymland, Janet Donovan, Ruth Noble Groom, Katy and Alan Novak, Grace Mark, Marcy and Ed Saddy, Jennifer Roberts, Eric Loehr, Jonathan Gordon and Melanie Sommers, Susan Vodicka, Margaret Kempel, Margie Haley, and a host of others who said, “When are you going to get that darn book finished?”

About the Author

M
YRA
M
AC
P
HERSON
is the award-winning, best-selling author of four previous books, including
The Power Lovers
, an examination of political marriages, the Vietnam War classic
Long Time Passing
, and
All Governments Lie!
. She was a highly regarded journalist at the
Washington Post
for many years, and has also written for the
New York Times
and numerous national magazines and websites. She lives in Washington, DC.

O
THER
B
OOKS BY
M
YRA
M
AC
P
HERSON

All Governments Lie!: The Life and Times of Rebel Journalist I. F. Stone

The Power Lovers: An Intimate Look at Politicians and Their Marriages

She Came to Live Out Loud: An Inspiring Family Journey through Illness, Loss, and Grief

Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the Haunted Generation

ACCLAIM FOR
THE SCARLET SISTERS

“MacPherson’s fascinating dual biography of ‘two Victorian feminist firebrands’ who opened the first woman-owned brokerage in New York in 1870—backed by no less than Cornelius Vanderbilt himself. When they arrived at their plush Broad Street office dressed in matching suits, with ‘shockingly short’ skirts grazing their boots, the press went berserk… They continued their push for women’s rights—rights that, in the era of ‘legitimate rape’ and state-mandated ultrasounds—remain at the center of our political landscape over a century later.”

—Vogue.com

“In this sweeping, engaging new biography, Myra MacPherson chronicles lives that intersected with nearly all of the era’s great themes and famous figures. For their outspoken opinions about women’s rights, abortion, religion and prostitution, both women were frequently derided as prostitutes… As MacPherson writes: ‘Victoria and Tennessee said that one’s private life was none of anyone’s business, especially the clergy and lawmakers. Activists say the same today, but the fight goes on.’ ”

—
Boston Globe

“[In] MacPherson’s enchanting dual biography… the epilogue hammers home that even in 2014 men use women’s bodies as political bargaining chips. In this light, these Victorian sisters’ blast of protest against a restrictive and hypocritical status quo remains something to celebrate.”

—
The Washington Post

“A lively account of the unlikely lives of the two most symbiotic and scandalous sisters in American History.”

—
The New Yorker

“MacPherson crusades for 19th century feminists.”

—
Vanity Fair

“Sensational in every sense of the word… MacPherson looks at the lives of Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee ‘Tennie’ Claflin, free-thinking feminist sisters who took New York City by storm in the 1860s by fearlessly addressing the taboos of the time. They were proponents of free love, suffrage, sex education and labor reform, and they stumped for their causes bravely… Their accusations of infidelity against minister Henry Ward Beecher nearly trumped the Civil War for press coverage. MacPherson, an award-winning journalist, takes a theatrical approach to these radical proceedings. She provides a cast of characters and unfolds the sisters’ story over the course of five irresistible ‘acts.’ This is a grand tale presented on a grand scale.”

—
Bookpage

“MacPherson aims her wit and very sharp pen at a side of the suffrage movement rarely seen in history books, epitomized by these two real sisters… She takes us on a raucous romp through secret trysts, their self-published weekly advocating free speech and free love, sensational trials, fortune-telling, Spiritualism and brushes with the most powerful capitalists and revolutionaries of the time. Along the way the sisters set the suffrage movement on fire—albeit briefly—with their modern ideas, fiery rhetoric and passion for women’s rights.”

—
Los Angeles Daily Journal

“Sensational… MacPherson gives a detailed portrait of the roller-coaster, rags-to-riches lives of two backwoods country girls, who, seeking to better their own situation, hoped to do the same for women everywhere… For all their pomp and bombast, they were unrepentant champions of equal rights for women in everything from the bedroom to the boardroom, the voting booth to the battlefield. Dismissively patronized by men… and scathingly ostracized by women for their unladylike bravura, the sisters courageously battled such defamatory characterizations to bring their controversial views… to packed lecture halls throughout the country.”

—
Booklist

“A livelier and more entertaining look at Woodhull, her family and their exploits than ever presented before. As someone who reads everything that is published about American women’s history, I give THE SCARLET SISTERS my seal of approval. In fact, I think I’m going to read it again! It is that good.”

—Bookreporter.com

“Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Claflin were responsible for more headlines than any other women in 19th century America. They promoted feminist ideals eight decades before Betty Friedan. It’s incredible they are forgotten today.”

—The Internet Review of Books

“Tennessee Claflin and Victoria Claflin Woodhull ‘might, in the wrong hands, appear to be quirky caricatures out of an episode of Downton Abby,’ said Megan O’Grady in
Vogue
. But the sisters who founded the first female-owned Wall Street brokerage firm mounted a campaign for women’s rights that deserves to be remembered for its sweep and savvy. MacPherson captures it all, from the sisters’ ‘shockingly short skirts’ to their ‘slightly hucksterish brand of charisma.’ ”

—
The Week

“Are these sisters the most scandalous feminists of all time? MacPherson’s new book is about two sisters in the late 1800s but it couldn’t be more timely.”

—
Metro

“Beautiful and ambitious Victoria Claflin Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee (Tennie) Claflin, whirled into New York City in 1868, en route to becoming two of the most infamous women in America… MacPherson renders the Claflin sisters’ actions as high drama, parceling their lives into five acts complete with a list of a cast of characters.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Ordinarily, one would look to the fiction of Twain or Dickens to find a nineteenth-century tale to match the real-life saga of the sisters Claflin-Woodhull. Happily, Myra MacPherson has rediscovered these proto-feminists. Their rebellion against Victorian sexual enslavement and the power of white males captivated and infuriated their contemporaries for good reason, and left a mark that resonates today.”

—Carl Bernstein, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, author of
A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton
, and coauthor of
All the President’s Men
(with Bob Woodward)

“Victoria Woodhull is one of the great unsung characters of American history—a beauty, a radical activist, a con artist, and a true revolutionary who pushed every boundary and every button that the century offered. THE SCARLET SISTERS is a roller-coaster ride though American history that will amaze and delight readers.”

—Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize winner for
The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

“THE SCARLET SISTERS has everything—from history and intrigue, to sex and money. Myra MacPherson has written this book with the care and professionalism of the great reporter she is but also with the wit, wisdom, and flair of the great novelist she definitely could be. A fabulous delight of a read.”

—Jim Lehrer, former host of
PBS NewsHour
, playwright, and author of
Top Down: A Novel of the Kennedy Assassination

“Read the epilogue first, to understand immediately why THE SCARLET SISTERS resonates so richly in today’s political world. Myra MacPherson’s rich understanding of the threads connecting these colorful pioneers to our contentious twenty-first century issues is wonderfully instructive.”

—Lynn Sherr, author of
Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words
and the forthcoming
Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space

“If the Scarlet Sisters hadn’t existed, feminism would have had to invent them. Myra MacPherson writes the story of these fearless and path-breaking nineteenth-century radicals with her trademark energy and wit. This sisterhood is indeed powerful.”

—Ellen Goodman, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and coauthor of
I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women’s Lives
(with Patricia O’Brien)

“Myra MacPherson’s THE SCARLET SISTERS vividly and entertainingly brings to life a long lost chapter of American history that will surprise anyone who thinks that feminism is a twentieth century invention. It’s both a great tale, and a great read.”

—Jane Mayer, staff writer for the
New Yorker
and author of
The Dark Side

“Myra MacPherson is a treasure among American historians. In [her] riveting, often uproarious chronicle, the Sisters’ crusades against benighted convention were but the onset of a righteous firestorm that continues to arc into our times.”

—Ron Powers, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, novelist, and author of
Mark Twain: A Life

“Woodhull and Claflin deserve credit for crashing the glass front doors of Wall Street, Washington, and bedrooms across the country a century and a half ago. These too long neglected amazing pioneers of the Gilded Age are brought to life in Myra MacPherson’s energetic, well researched, and enthralling book.”

—Kenneth D. Ackerman, author of
The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869

“Myra MacPherson, who writes like a son of a gun, has given the world an eminently readable, interesting, fun and important book at a very crucial moment in women’s history.”

—
The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Talk Radio for Fine Minds

Notes

Guide to Abbreviations