Suzanne Silvercruys

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.

Suzanne Silvercruys in 1918, from The Oregonian

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 Robert Silvercruys, was a poet and professor of French and later the Belgian ambassador to Canada and then for many years to the United States.[5]

Suzanne Silvercruys in 1918, from The Oregonian

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][n 1] 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.[20][21] 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,[22] and treasured a letter from Senator Joseph McCarthy, which was shown to hesitant Minute Women recruits.[23]

She assisted in placing a candidate on the Connecticut delegation to the Republican National Convention in 1950,[24] 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.[25][26]

Private life

Silvercruys was married twice, to Henry W. Farnam, Jr., son of a Yale professor,[27][28][29] 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
  • Suzanne of Belgium: The Story of a Modern Girl (autobiography, with Marion Clyde McCarroll). New York: Dutton, [1932]. OCLC 5224112.[6][13][39]
  • The Epic of America (pageant)[3]
  • There Is No Death (drama, 1935)[6][13][40]
  • A Primer of Sculpture. New York: Putnam, [1942]. OCLC 1509301.[6][13]

Notes
  1. 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, ISBN 9780313205255, 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, ISBN 9780871139849, p. 152, she co-founded the organization with Vivian Kellems.

References
  1. "Suzanne Silvercruys Farnam", Olympic Sports, Sports Reference, retrieved August 24, 2016.
  2. Evelyn de Rostaing McMann, Biographical Index of Artists in Canada, Toronto: University of Toronto, 2003, ISBN 9780802027900, 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, "Relief Plea Made By Belgian Woman", The Montreal Gazette, June 10, 1940, p. 7.
  5. "Silvercruys, Robert, Papers", Georgetown University Archival Resources, Georgetown University Library, retrieved August 28, 2016.
  6. "Suzanne Silvercruys, 74, Dies; Sculptor, Painter and Lecturer", The New York Times, April 2, 1973, p. 38.
  7. "Noted Sculptor Will Give Lecture-Demonstration For AAUW", Schenectady Gazette, February 10, 1948, p. 13.
  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, ISBN 9780814797044, p. 194.
  10. Lee Hennessy, Central Press, "Six Interesting Faces Selected", The Spartanburg Herald, December 1, 1933, p. 17.
  11. International News Service, "Nazis Hold Belgian King Virtual Prisoner, Friend Of Royal Family Declares", St. Petersburg Times, December 15, 1940, p. A7.
  12. "Owes Her Fame To A Chance Present", The Montreal Gazette, January 6, 1937, p. 7.
  13. Pat Ingram, "Fascinated Reporter Gets Hurried Interview With Madame Silvercruys", The Breeze, Madison College, February 13, 1948, p. 1.
  14. "Suzanne to Teach In Texas College", Sunday Herald (Bridgeport, Connecticut), December 2, 1956, p. 10.
  15. "Suzanne Silvercruys Farnam". Olympedia. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  16. "Fonds 12 – Suzanne Silvercruys Stevenson", Archives CANB, retrieved August 26, 2016.
  17. C. L. Sonnichsen, Tucson: The Life and Times of an American City, Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1982, ISBN 9780806118239, p. 307.
  18. "Famine in Europe Seen; Mme. Silvercruys Stresses the Burden on Allied Nations", The New York Times, June 4, 1940.
  19. Don E. Carleton, Red Scare! Right-Wing Hysteria, Fifties Fanaticism, and Their Legacy in Texas, Austin: Texas Monthly Press, 1985, ISBN 9780932012906, p. 111.
  20. Allan J. Lichtman, White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008, ISBN 9780871139849, p. 152.
  21. Carleton, pp. 121–22.
  22. Carleton, pp. 111–12.
  23. George Norris Green, The Establishment in Texas Politics: The Primitive Years, 1938–1957, Contributions in Political Science 21, Westport, Connecticut / London: Greenwood, 1979, ISBN 9780313205255, p. 123.
  24. "Suzanne Out of Running", Sunday Herald (Bridgeport, Connecticut), May 28, 1950, p. 18.
  25. Frances Lewine, Associated Press, "Women Try To Double Congressional Hold", Ocala Star-Banner, October 28, 1956, p. 3.
  26. "Another Close Race Looms in Connecticut", Congressional Quarterly, via St. Petersburg Times, October 20, 1956, p. 2.
  27. "Miss Silvercruys To Wed H.W. Farnam Jr.", The New York Times, April 20, 1922, p. 17.
  28. "American's Belgian Bride", The Washington Post, May 21, 1922, p. 22, Online at Newspapers.com, subscription required.
  29. "Farnam, Hy Walcott Jr.", New York Times Index for the Published News 10.2, p. 185.
  30. Preston Remington, "Notes", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 34.12 (December 1939), 288–91, p. 289.
  31. Jan Van Impe, "Grand Staircase and First-Floor Hall", The University Library of Leuven: Historical Walking Guide, rev. ed. Leuven: Leuven University, 2012, ISBN 9789058679253.
  32. Silvercruys, Suzanne, Connaître la Wallonie, retrieved August 29, 2016 (in French).
  33. Guy Blockmans, "General Mc Auliffe Monument", Pays de Bastogne, Maison du Tourisme, retrieved August 29, 2016.
  34. Associated Press, "N.Y. Sees Dionnes; But As Sculptures", The Montreal Gazette, November 9, 1939, p. 12.
  35. "Flier's Memorial Planned By Zonta", The Montreal Gazette, November 4, 1938, p. 6.
  36. "Twice Life-Size", The Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina), June 19, 1958, p. 4.
  37. George Butler, "Statue Of Noccalula Expected To Arrive Here In Late August", The Gadsden Times, June 29, 1969, p. 13.
  38. "Our View: Preserving a piece of history", The Gadsden Times, March 11, 2013.
  39. The Book Review Digest 29 (1934) p. 301.
  40. George Tucker, "Man About Manhattan", The Gettysburg Times, March 14, 1935, p. 8.

Further reading
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