Abstract
Food preparation has traditionally been considered the cornerstone of an exploitive and patriarchal domesticity. However, scholars such as Janet Theophano, Abby Dubisar, and Majorie L. DeVault have posited a more nuanced notion of food preparation that highlights the control that women exert as they not only nurture communities sharing food, but as they also use the attendant social capital to challenge the social and political status quo. This paper explores the limits of these claims regarding the power of food preparation though an examination of the 1955 visit of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Skowhegan, Maine, home of Republican U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith. As the first successful American female politician in the post-suffrage era, Smith relied on first wave feminist assumptions about female moral superiority and domesticity to distinguish herself as a both a candidate and an officeholder. Smith’s invitation to Eisenhower, while casting her in the traditional female role of hostess, was, in fact, offered as a way for Smith to reward her political supporters, bolster her political network and strengthen her relationship with the Eisenhower Administration. Although the Skowhegan visit accomplished none of these things, it did highlight the risk of relying on an outsider strategy to create political capital.
Presenters
Jeannette CockroftAssociate Professor, History and Political Science, Humanities Division, Schreiner University, Texas, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Domesticity, Politics
