Suzanne Silvercruys Explained

Baroness Suzanne Silvercruys (married names Suzanne Farnam, Suzanne Stevenson; May 29, 1898 – March 31, 1973) was a Belgian-American sculptor and political activist, founder and first president of the Minute Women of the U.S.A.

Life and career

Suzanne Silvercruys was born in Maaseik, Belgium,[1] [2] where her father, Baron Frantz (François) Silvercruys, was a Conseiller (justice) and later president of the Court of Cassation.[3] [4] [5] The family came to the United States in 1915 in flight from World War I; she became a US citizen in 1922.[6] [7] Her brother, Baron, was a poet and professor of French and later the Belgian ambassador to Canada and then for many years to the United States.[5]

In 1917, she was one of 1,500 people present at a dinner in Philadelphia where Secretary of War Newton D. Baker was to speak; when he failed to appear, she was invited to speak instead and described the Rape of Belgium by the invading Germans.[4] [8] She subsequently toured the US and Canada as "the little Belgian girl", publicizing the Belgians' plight and raising a million dollars for relief to them.[6] [9] She received honors from the King and Queen of Belgium,[4] [10] including the Order of Leopold[11] and the Order of the Crown; she was also awarded the British Coronation Medal and was an officer of the French Academy.[7]

Silvercruys originally hoped for a career as a musician; she became interested in sculpture when she was ill with tuberculosis and a friend gave her some modeling clay; she sculpted her dog's head.[12] [13] She graduated from the Yale School of Fine Arts in 1928[6] and worked as a sculptor, mainly producing portraits of famous people; she also painted portraits.[6] She had a one-person sculpture show in New York in 1930.[10] She also lectured on sculpture, often sculpting one or more members of the audience,[6] and taught the first college class in sculpture at Wichita Falls, Texas.[14] In the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she represented Belgium as a sculptor in the art competition.[15]

She was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Temple University[7] and, in 1966, an LL.D. by Mount Allison University, where her papers are preserved.[16] She lived for many years in Norwalk, Connecticut, and in Tucson, Arizona,[17] where she was living when she died in Washington, D. C., while on a lecture tour.[6]

Political career

In World War II Silvercruys was again active on behalf of Belgian relief.[4] [18] After the war she became a prominent anti-Socialist speaker and activist. She was one of the organizers of the Young Republican League of Connecticut and was the founder and president of Minute Women of the U.S.A.;[19] [20] she left that position in 1952 to co-found the Constitution Party,[6] but soon in turn left the party, disenchanted with her treatment as a foreign-born Catholic and believing it harbored anti-Semites.[21] [22] Her political feminism prefigured that of Phyllis Schlafly: she sought to mobilize conservative women in defence of traditional American values, was much influenced by John T. Flynn,[23] and treasured a letter from Senator Joseph McCarthy, which was shown to hesitant Minute Women recruits.[24]

She assisted in placing a candidate on the Connecticut delegation to the Republican National Convention in 1950,[25] and twice sought a place in Congress herself: as a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 1946 election for the House of Representatives[6] and as an independent right-wing Republican candidate against incumbent Republican Prescott Bush in the 1956 election for the Senate.[26] [27]

Private life

Silvercruys was married twice, to Henry W. Farnam, Jr., son of a Yale professor,[28] [29] [30] and to Edward Ford Stevenson,[2] who had filmed the Tehran and Yalta conferences during World War II[6] and was later a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve,[19] advertising executive, and producer; he died before her.

Selected works

Publications

Notes

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20200418120805/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/si/suzanne-silvercruys-farnam-1.html "Suzanne Silvercruys Farnam"
  2. Evelyn de Rostaing McMann, Biographical Index of Artists in Canada,Toronto: University of Toronto, 2003,, p. 219.
  3. Mary Margaret M'Bride, "Government Effect On Family Life Is Now Arousing Interest of Women in United States", The Spartanburg Herald, September 12, 1934, p. 3.
  4. [Associated Press]
  5. http://findingaids.library.georgetown.edu/repositories/15/resources/10576 "Silvercruys, Robert, Papers"
  6. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/02/archives/suzanne-silvercruys-74-dies-sculptor-painter-and-lecturer.html?_r=0 "Suzanne Silvercruys, 74, Dies; Sculptor, Painter and Lecturer"
  7. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19480209&id=ocw0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=kIEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=728,1079180&hl=en "Noted Sculptor Will Give Lecture-Demonstration For AAUW"
  8. George Tucker, "Man About Manhattan", Ellensburg Daily Record, November 29, 1939, p. 6.
  9. Larry Zuckerman, The Rape of Belgium: The Untold Story of World War I, New York: New York University, 2004,, p. 194.
  10. Lee Hennessy, Central Press, "Six Interesting Faces Selected", The Spartanburg Herald, December 1, 1933, p. 17.
  11. [International News Service]
  12. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19370106&id=FX4tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_ZgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6156,581362&hl=en "Owes Her Fame To A Chance Present"
  13. Pat Ingram, "Fascinated Reporter Gets Hurried Interview With Madame Silvercruys", The Breeze, Madison College, February 13, 1948, p. 1.
  14. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2229&dat=19561202&id=DXEmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PAAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=4966,463183&hl=en "Suzanne to Teach In Texas College"
  15. Web site: Suzanne Silvercruys Farnam . Olympedia . 8 August 2020.
  16. http://search.canbarchives.ca/suzanne-silvercruys-stevenson "Fonds 12 – Suzanne Silvercruys Stevenson"
  17. C. L. Sonnichsen, Tucson: The Life and Times of an American City, Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1982,, p. 307.
  18. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D02E6D7113AE532A25757C0A9609C946193D6CF&legacy=true "Famine in Europe Seen; Mme. Silvercruys Stresses the Burden on Allied Nations"
  19. Don E. Carleton, Red Scare! Right-Wing Hysteria, Fifties Fanaticism, and Their Legacy in Texas, Austin: Texas Monthly Press, 1985,, p. 111.
  20. There are varying accounts of whether she was the sole founder of the Minute Women. George Norris Green, The Establishment in Texas Politics: The Primitive Years, 1938–1957, Contributions in Political Science 21, Westport, Connecticut / London: Greenwood, 1979,, p. 123, also presents her as sole founder; however, according to Allan J. Lichtman, White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008,, p. 152, she co-founded the organization with Vivian Kellems.
  21. Allan J. Lichtman, White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008,, p. 152.
  22. Carleton, pp. 121–22.
  23. Carleton, pp. 111–12.
  24. George Norris Green, The Establishment in Texas Politics: The Primitive Years, 1938–1957, Contributions in Political Science 21, Westport, Connecticut / London: Greenwood, 1979,, p. 123.
  25. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2229&dat=19500528&id=13EmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-v8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4812,2777121&hl=en "Suzanne Out of Running"
  26. Frances Lewine, Associated Press, "Women Try To Double Congressional Hold", Ocala Star-Banner, October 28, 1956, p. 3.
  27. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19561020&id=AIxIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KnYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5229,1369985&hl=en "Another Close Race Looms in Connecticut"
  28. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E03EFD91531EF33A25753C2A9629C946395D6CF&legacy=true "Miss Silvercruys To Wed H.W. Farnam Jr."
  29. "American's Belgian Bride", The Washington Post, May 21, 1922, p. 22, Online at Newspapers.com, subscription required.
  30. "Farnam, Hy Walcott Jr.", New York Times Index for the Published News 10.2, p. 185.
  31. Preston Remington, "Notes", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 34.12 (December 1939), 288–91, p. 289.
  32. Jan Van Impe, "Grand Staircase and First-Floor Hall", The University Library of Leuven: Historical Walking Guide, rev. ed. Leuven: Leuven University, 2012, .
  33. http://connaitrelawallonie.wallonie.be/fr/etiquettes/silvercruys-suzanne#.V8PDjqItlaU Silvercruys, Suzanne
  34. Guy Blockmans, "General Mc Auliffe Monument", Pays de Bastogne, Maison du Tourisme, retrieved August 29, 2016.
  35. Associated Press, "N.Y. Sees Dionnes; But As Sculptures", The Montreal Gazette, November 9, 1939, p. 12.
  36. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19381104&id=bUswAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bagFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5202,465066&hl=en "Flier's Memorial Planned By Zonta"
  37. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19580616&id=rUAaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RyMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6292,2603473&hl=en "Twice Life-Size"
  38. George Butler, "Statue Of Noccalula Expected To Arrive Here In Late August", The Gadsden Times, June 29, 1969, p. 13.
  39. http://www.gadsdentimes.com/opinion/20130311/our-view-preserving-a-piece-of-history "Our View: Preserving a piece of history"
  40. The Book Review Digest 29 (1934) p. 301.
  41. George Tucker, "Man About Manhattan", The Gettysburg Times, March 14, 1935, p. 8.

Further reading

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