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 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]
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]
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]
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.
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 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]
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]
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]
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.