Louisiana Political Ephemera in the
Special Collections Vertical Files

Robinson's campaign card. The "1" referred to her position on the ballot. Actual size 4.5 x 7.75.

“No Deal” Robinson

Martha Gilmore Robinson (1888-1981)
Manuscripts Collection 678
c. 83 cubic feet
Unsuccessful candidate for New Orleans City Council, 1954

The opposition tried to “buy off” Martha G. Robinson . . . but she said, “I’m ‘No Deal’ Robinson.”

 from her campaign literature

In the 1920s, Louisiana was alone among the forty-eight states in having no women in its legislature, and voter registration percentages for women in New Orleans were lower than those for the state and the nation. According to Pamela Tyler (Silk Stockings and Ballot Boxes: Women and Politics in New Orleans, 1920-1963. University of Georgia Press, 1996), the perceived threat of Huey Long roused upper-class “genteel” New Orleans women to political action, creating a generation of “silk-stockinged” political reformers.

Even cartoons created by Robinson's campaign traded on female stereotypes. This is by noted New Orleans cartoonist John Chase, whose papers the Tulane Manuscripts Department preserves (Manuscripts Collection 187). It was printed as a stand-alone flyer. Chase worked for the New Orleans Item-Tribune and its various successors newspapers (Item, States, States and Item, States-Item). He also had a television show on WDSU, published several popular books (some of which are still in print), and did freelance illustration, most notably for football program covers. Actual size 6 x 7.5.

Martha Gilmore Robinson was a talented organizer who entered politics as head of the anti-Long Women's Division of the Honest Election League. In the 1930s and 1940s she led the nonpartisan Woman Citizen's Union and the League of Women Voters (whose records are preserved in the Tulane Manuscripts Department), promoting reforms reminiscent of the Progressive Era, such as clean government and laws against child labor. Believing women to be more moral than men, Robinson attempted to create a women's voting bloc, broadening the membership of the League of Women Voters beyond the city's social elite and succeeding in significantly increasing the political participation of the city's white women.

Tyler argues that the greater political involvement of New Orleans’ white middle- and upper-class women led to the creation of the Independent Women's Organization. Unlike the LWV or the Honest Election League, the IWO was a partisan political organization and played a pivotal role in electing the reformist Chep Morrison as the city’s mayor in 1946 (the Tulane Manuscripts Department preserves Morrison’s personal papers; the city library preserves his mayoral papers). Over time, Morrison’s reformist ideals diminished, leading to conflict with some of his earlier supporters. Robinson’s 1954 campaign for city council was one result, and Tyler argues that Robinson's unyielding idealism ("'No Deal' Robinson") led to her defeat by Morrison ally Victor Schiro. Schiro went on to serve several terms on the city council and two terms as Mayor of New Orleans (1961-1969),

Robinson never again ran for public office, but for almost three decades thereafter, she continued to be a distinguished civic leader in many fields, including good government, historic preservation, war relief, and women’s issues. The groups and causes she led are too numerous to list, but among the organizations she helped found were the:

• Foreign Policy Association of New Orleans

• Women’s Committee of Louisiana

• Woman Citizen’s Union (predecessor of the New Orleans League of Women Voters)

• New Orleans Civil Service League

• Silver Thimble Fund of New Orleans

• Woman’s Action Committee for Victory and Lasting Peace in Louisiana

• Louisiana Landmarks Society

• Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre

An early bumper sticker, this orange sign came with a dry adhesive on the back so it could be dipped in water and affixed to the side of a building or car. Note it emphases the fact that Robinson was a “woman candidate.” Actual size 5 x 10.

1968	1879	1938
1942	1954

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library | Tulane University

Sunday, August 07, 2005 04:27 PM
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