Each year on January 9, the League of Women Voters celebrates the birthday of our visionary founder, Carrie Chapman Catt, born in 1859 in Ripon, Wisconsin. Catt was one of the most influential leaders of the American women’s suffrage movement, dedicating her life to securing voting rights for women and strengthening democracy.
As president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she led the final push for the Nineteenth Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote in 1920. Her strategic “Winning Plan” united state and national efforts, demonstrating her extraordinary organizational skill and political insight.
Even before the amendment was ratified, Catt looked ahead. In 1919, she proposed creating a nonpartisan organization to help newly enfranchised women become informed voters. On February 14, 1920, she founded the League of Women Voters, and she remained its honorary president for the rest of her life
Carrie Chapman Catt’s legacy lives on in every voter we register, every issue we study, and every action we take to defend democracy. As we mark her birthday, we honor her courage, her persistence, and her unwavering belief that democracy works best when everyone participates.
Happy 167th Birthday to Carrie Chapman Catt, the strategist, suffragist, and visionary who founded the League of Women Voters and transformed American democracy.
How Carrie Chapman Catt’s Work Inspires the League Today
Carrie Chapman Catt’s legacy is woven into every aspect of the League of Women Voters’ work. Her belief that democracy thrives when people are informed, engaged, and empowered continues to guide us more than a century after she founded the League in 1920.
Catt understood that winning the vote was only the beginning. She envisioned an organization that would help new voters understand the issues, participate confidently, and hold government accountable. That vision lives on in the League’s commitment to nonpartisan voter education, from registering new voters to providing trusted election information through tools like VOTE411.
Her strategic brilliance — the same determination that helped secure the Nineteenth Amendment — inspires the League’s modern advocacy. Whether we are expanding access to the ballot, defending voting rights, or studying complex policy issues, we follow her example of persistence, coalition‑building, and principled action.
Most of all, Catt’s work reminds us that democracy is strongest when everyone has a voice. Each time the League hosts a forum, supports a new voter, or speaks out for fair and transparent government, we honor her belief that citizenship is both a right and a responsibility.
