Ida B. Wise | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | July 3, 1871 |
| Died | February 16, 1952 |
| Occupation | Temperance activist |
Ida B. Wise (July 3, 1871 – February 16, 1952)[2] was an American temperance activist, best known as the primary author of the Sheppard Bill in 1916 that imposed prohibition on Washington, D.C. She was a member of the Disciples of Christ, and was ordained as a minister, but she never served as a pastor to a congregation. She served as president of the Iowa Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) before being elected president of the national WCTU.
Early years and education[edit]
Ida Belle Wise was born in Philadelphia and raised in Hamburg, Iowa.[3] She graduated from the University of Nebraska.[3]
Career[edit]
After completing her education, she taught for fourteen years.[3] Wise joined the WCTU in 1891.[2] By 1900, she was a district president in the Iowa WTCU.[2] In 1913, she became president of the Iowa WCTU.[2] She served as president of the Iowa WCTU for 20 years In 1930 before becoming president of the national WCTU.[4]
President Herbert Hoover appointed her to the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection.[4] In 1940, Wise was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt to the White House Conference on Children in a Democracy.[4]
Wise married twice. In 1889, she married James A. Wise.[3] The couple had one son who lived to adulthood. After the death of her first husband in 1892, Wise married Malcolm Smith in 1912.[3] She is known as both Ida B. Wise and Ida B. Wise Smith.
A member of the Disciples of Christ, Wise taught Sunday school from the age of 12.[2] In 1923, she was ordained as a minister, but she never served as a pastor to a congregation.[2]
Although Wise's primary cause was temperance, she also supported women's suffrage and child welfare work.[3] Beginning in 1933, she served as editor-in-chief of National WCTU's The Union Signal.[5] She was a semi-vegetarian.[1]
Wise was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1977.[4]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Mrs. Ida Wise Smith, Former President of WCTU, Dies at 81. Evening Star (February 17, 1952).
- ^ a b c d e f Hudson, David; Bergman, Marvin; Horton, Loren (2009-05-01). The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa. University of Iowa Press. ISBN 9781587297243.
- ^ a b c d e f Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada. American Commonwealth Company. 1914-01-01. p. 759. ISBN 9780810340183.
- ^ a b c d "Ida B. Wise Smith | Iowa Department of Human Rights". humanrights.iowa.gov. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
- ^ Jimerson, Randall C.; Blouin, Francis X.; Isetts, Charles A. (1977). Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Temperance and Prohibition Papers. University of Michigan. pp. 368–69. Retrieved 26 February 2022.