279

ADDRESS TO FEDERATION OF REPUBLICAN WOMEN

OF MARYLAND, OCEAN CITY

June 10, 1967

Republican Women of Maryland:

The most important thing I want to say today is thank you. Thank
you for your efforts, your energy, your enthusiasm which contributed
so much to our victory last November... and has enabled me to ad-
dress you today as the Governor of Maryland.

Certainly, the power of women in Maryland's Republican Party
cannot be underestimated, for in the State's three centuries as a politi-
cal entity only five Republicans have occupied the office of Governor.
And three of these five have come to power since women have won
their right to vote. Only two men were able to do it without you —
and they didn't know the fun they missed!

For women in general, and you in particular, have brought new
vigor, vision and vitality to politics and to government. And while I
promise not to promote my wife as my successor, that is not to say
a woman's role is only that of a campaigner and never a candidate
for highest office.

Today, we live in a world of images often fabricated by image
makers and just as often by the habit of history. Just look at what the
image makers, the Madison Avenue advertising czars have done to
you.

If one goes by television commercials, American women are house-
wives and mothers whose clothes are designed by Chanel, whose hair
is coiffed by Kenneth, and whose sole dedication is to seek out the
best low-priced spread, the most activated cleanser and the deepest
cleaning detergent. Home is a place where no one would hear a dis-
couraging word as he glides across floors on invisible shields, watching
doves flying into kitchens; and the most momentous challenge facing
a mother today is to see that the family brush their teeth after every
meal.

If, however, you chose to reject this image as unrealistic, the alterna-
tive view of you is positively surrealistic. This is your Broadway image
whose most notable exponent today is Edward Albee. He sees woman
as the predator and scourge, dedicated to consume and debilitate her
husband and sons. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" — I am.