On August 18 it seemed as if the anti-suffragists had enough votes to delay a 19th amendment vote after Burn arrived wearing a red rose and voted to table the amendment.
When another representative, Banks Turner, switched sides during the roll call, leaving the vote deadlocked. Suffragists needed one more vote to make the 19th Amendment the law of the land. Early in the voting, Burn, who came from a conservative district and wore the red rose on his lapel, said in a very clear voice “aye” when asked if he would vote to ratify the amendment. Burn had a letter in his pocket from his mother Febb E. Burn, in which she asked him to “be a good boy” and vote for the amendment. When Turner also voted in favor of the ratification, the 70-year-old battle for suffrage was over. Notice the yellow roses on the statue; suffragists wore yellow roses.
“I knew that a mother’s advice is always safest for a boy to follow and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification,” he said. “I appreciated the fact that an opportunity such as seldom comes to a mortal man to free 17 million women from political slavery was mine.”
Harry's mother, Febb E. Burn then said she was pressured in person by the governor of Louisiana’s wife to recant the letter and say it was a fraud. She refused to do so.
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