I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 406 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of Alice Paul’s role 
in the women’s suffrage movement and in advancing equal rights for women. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 9, 2009 
Mr. BACA (for himself, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 
BOSWELL, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. GONZALEZ, Ms. BERKLEY, Ms. 
BORDALLO, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. 
BLUMENAUER, Mr. WEXLER, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. SIRES, 
Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. OLVER, 
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. DINGELL, Mrs. 
GILLIBRAND, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. WATT, Mr. MAR-
KEY of Massachusetts, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. NUNES, Mr. FRANKS of Ari-
zona, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. COHEN, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. BONO MACK, Mrs. 
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. FARR, Mr. CARTER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 
Mr. JONES, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. FILNER, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE 
JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. WOLF, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. HOLT, Mr. SHER-
MAN, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. LEVIN, Ms. LEE of Cali-
fornia, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. EDWARDS of Mary-
land, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. PASTOR of Arizona, and Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of 
California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of Alice 
Paul’s role in the women’s suffrage movement and in 
advancing equal rights for women. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Alice Paul Women’s 
Suffrage Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Alice Paul was born on January, 11, 1885, 
in Moorestown, New Jersey, and died on July 9, 
1977. 
(2) Alice Paul dedicated her life to securing suf-
frage and equal rights for all women and, as founder 
of the National Woman’s Party, she was instru-
mental in the passage of the 19th Amendment to the 
United States Constitution. 
(3) Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party 
were the first group ever to picket the White House. 
(4) While President Woodrow Wilson trumpeted 
America’s values of democracy abroad during World 
War I, Alice Paul was dedicated to reminding the 
President that not all Americans enjoyed democracy 
at home. 
(5) Alice Paul used nonviolent civil disobedience 
to bring national attention to the women’s suffrage 
movement, such as the 3-week hunger strike she un-
dertook when she was sentenced to jail in October, 
1917, for her demonstrations. 
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(6) Alice Paul’s courage inspired thousands of 
women to join the women’s suffrage movement. 
(7) Instead of patiently waiting for States to 
grant women suffrage, Alice Paul mobilized an en-
tire generation of women to pressure the United 
States Congress and the President to give all women 
in America the right to vote. 
(8) Alice Paul did not stop her fight after the 
19th Amendment was ratified; she drafted the Equal 
Rights Amendment to the United States Constitu-
tion in 1923 and fought tirelessly for its passage 
until her death 54 years later. 
(9) Alice Paul lobbied Congress to include gen-
der in civil rights bills and was successful in includ-
ing sex discrimination in Title VII of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964. 
(10) Alice Paul sought equal rights for women 
all over the world, not just Americans and, as a 
means of pursuing this goal, founded the World 
Party for Equal Rights for Women in the 1930s. 
(11) Alice Paul was instrumental in the place-
ment of a passage on gender equality in the pre-
amble of the United Nations Charter. 
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(12) Few people have played a greater role in 
shaping the history of the United States than Alice 
Paul. 
(13) Alice Paul is an example to all Americans 
of what one person can do to make a difference for 
millions of people. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 
for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 
medal of appropriate design in commemoration of Alice 
Paul, in recognition of her role in the women’s suffrage 
movement and in advancing equal rights for women. 
(b) PRESENTATION AND DISPLAY.—The medal re-
ferred to in subsection (a) shall be presented jointly to 
representatives of the Alice Paul Institute and the Sewall- 
Belmont House, to be shared equally and displayed as ap-
propriate. 
(c) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 
of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 
‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable em-
blems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 
Secretary. 
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