[ihc] Interesting IH McCormick trivia

[Colin M Rush <salmineo@xxxxxxxx>]

I was rummaging around the PBS website learning about Tupperware, and
followed a link to an area that talked about The Pill (both of which are
going to be profiled on KOPB in the next couple of days on the American
Experience). Anyway, I found link to a page on Katherine Dexter
McCormick, wife of Stanley McCormick, son of Cyrus McCormick. Something
that I did not know was that she was instrumental to the development of
The Pill and advocated reproductive rights for women. She was a major
proponent of the women's suffrage movement, and belonged to the National
American Woman Suffrage Association. Her husband had schitzophrenia
before he ultimately died in 1947 (which is how she inherited the
McCormick millions). She did not want to have children and have them
develop this disease, which was believed to be hereditary. She believed
that all women should be able to control whether they have children.
Through her work with NAWSA she met Margaret Sanger, which sparked and
fueled her drive for women's birth control. To help out, she paid the
bills for the development of an oral contraceptive, which was how The
Pill came to be. For more information on Katherine McCormick, visit the
link here: 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/p_mccormick.html

From there I also found a link to some history on Cyrus McCormick, having
to do with Chicago during the 1800s. There is some interesting
information and links about the company he started, and its relation to
Chicago Fire and the Haymarket Labor Riots. Visit the link here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/peopleevents/p_mccormick.html