Julia Sand, Chester A. Arthur's letter-writing conscience

May 4, 2020 9:27 PM

When corruption threatened the administration of Chester A. Arthur, one ordinary woman put pen to paper. Julia Sand’s passionate letters caught his attention, and rewrote history. The Pen Pal Who Changed a President (Narratively) | At a time when few women could vote or hold public office, a thirty-one-year-old New York woman took it upon herself to write at least twenty-three letters to President Chester A. Arthur, judging, advising, praising, and reprimanding the sitting president of the United States. This article introduces you to that woman and what she had to say. (Library of Congress)
posted by filthy light thief (7 comments total)

What a remarkable thing to have taken place at that point in time. And for it to have actually reached through all the defenses of various kinds, political and mental, and to have be heard!

This is delightful. It's a real prize dug out of our archiving instincts. I'm glad I read this this evening!
posted by hippybear at 9:54 PM on May 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

This is really interesting.

Arthur always struck me as basically a weird outlier--essentially a footnote in history as he only served part of one term, but one of the few gilded age figures who exceeded expectations in areas other than "impressive facial hair."

Him showing up unannounced must have been incredible.
posted by mark k at 10:17 PM on May 4, 2020 [4 favorites]

Arthur passing the Pendleton Act is one of those huge moments in US history that doesn't get enough emphasis in history class, and I never knew this background. Thanks for posting this!
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:34 PM on May 4, 2020

I first read the Narratively article, which was interesting and provides more context to the issues facing Arthur, but the LOC article goes in more detail in other areas, and links to her letters. Of interest there is that she opposed the Chinese Exclusion Act (Wikipedia), which Arthur finally signed.

Julia expressed especially strong opinions on Chinese exclusion legislation, and appealed to Arthur to veto the bills passed by Congress. (See March 1882; April 1882; May 1882) "A congress of ignorant school boys could not devise more idiotic legislation," she thundered. "It is not only behind the age, but behind several ages—not only opposed to the spirit of American institutions, but opposed to the spirit of civilization all the world over. … It is mean & cowardly—more than that, it is a step back into barbarism." "At all events do not let your Administration be marked by any such disgraceful retrograde movements." Arthur's initial veto of the Chinese Exclusion Bill "delighted" Julia, but his signature on a revised bill brought her wrath down upon him. "Are you going to let your administration be a failure?" she asked. "Cannot you rouse yourself to a higher code of action?" She reminded him again of his legacy, in that "nothing that you can do after will obliterate your Presidential record. That will stand, for, or against you."

Different century, same problems of racist "leaders."
posted by filthy light thief at 10:29 AM on May 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

I absolutely love this story. A bad guy turned good guy just from a phantom pen pal he never wrote back to? A woman compelled to say something and it worked?

I admit: I kinda wish a romance had gone on here. Didn't happen IRL and there were health problems going on, but I still kinda wish.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:57 PM on May 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

"Man Listens to Woman, Wasn't Trying To Sleep With Her" seems like a way better story to me.
posted by straight at 2:44 AM on May 6, 2020 [4 favorites]

I'm a big romance novel fan myself, jenfullmoon, so I kind of wish that myself. It definitely has potential as a really cool entry in the historical romance genre. Maybe about a fictionalized late 19th century American president and his penpal...?
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 5:05 AM on May 6, 2020 [2 favorites]