Carrie Chapman Catt is my hero. In 1921 Catt traveled to Wyoming and back to Iowa to deliver commencement addresses. She said “And the fact that I would give you is only a simple thing. It is that as an evolver you can do nothing alone. It is only in combination with others that things may be accomplished in a nation dependent upon popular opinion. A simple vote means nothing but a block of votes means much. Therefore you must learn to work with others. I believe that it is the hardest lesson that any human being ever has to learn. Two people in a home have trouble enough to keep peace, and when it is tried to bring the majority of the hundred million of our population to a common understanding, that proposition is well-nigh overwhelming. It means that every ideal must be sacrificed for principle. You must concede; you must compromise; you must ever respect the opinions of others. Stand together; It is said, here in America, that all things come through political parties.” It was Catt’s persistence, endurance and political savvy that resulted in the passage of the 19th Amendment. She and her army of suffragists endured sleepless nights, long train trips, sickness, humiliation and slander. But they carried on to the completion of their mission — the enfranchisement of women. They used the tactics, relationships, and ways and means needed to get the votes to ratify the amendment. This commencement address by Catt reinforces her methods of compromise to bring a block of voters together on a cause.