WOMAN of ACTION
Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor
“We’re not asking for superiority for we have always had that; all we ask is equality.”
-Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor
It would seem that not much is known about Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor. She was born in 1879 in Danville, Virginia, and later moved to Richmond, Virginia, where she was mostly raised. Her first marriage lasted only 10 years, but it was her second marriage that was most important. In 1906, when she visited England, she met an influencial, rich man named Waldorf Astor, and they were soon married. In 1910, Waldorf was elected to Parliament and Nancy immediately also involved herself in government.
In 1919, Waldorf and Nancy became Viscount and Viscountress, and then Nancy won a huge majority of the votes to put her in a vacated seat in the House of Commons, and was the first woman elected into the British Parliament. Her campaign slogan was “Vote for Lady Astor and your children will weigh more.” She worked for temperance, women’s rights, and children’s rights. Another slogan she used was “If you want a party hack, don’t elect me.”
Nancy Astor was an opponent of socialism and, later during the Cold War, an outspoken critic of communism. She was also an anti-fascist. She refused to meet Hitler though she had an opportunity. Waldorf met with him about the treatment of Christian Scientists and came away convinced that Hitler was mad. Despite their opposition to fascism and the Nazis, the Astors supported economic appeasement of Germany, supporting the lifting of economic sanctions against Hitler’s regime. During World War II, Nancy Astor was noted for her morale-boosting visits to her constituents, especially during German bombing raids. She just missed being hit once, herself. She also served, unofficially, as hostess to American troops stationed at Plymouth during the build-up to the Normandy invasion. Astor was also a member of the Tory party (the political opposite of the Whig party), and she focused mostly on Women and Children’s Issues. She was also the first female in Parliament to introduce a bill. The bill she introduced was a bill prohibiting the selling of alcohol to an individual under eighteen years of age.
Astor retired from Parliament in 1945 at her husband’s urging, and not entirely happily. She continued to be a witty and sharp critic of social and political trends when she disapproved, including both communism and the American McCarthy witch-hunts. She largely withdrew from public life with the death of Waldorf Astor in 1952. She died in 1964.
Throughout her career Astor had sustained several close friendships. The most important of these was probably with Philip Kerr, like her a Christian Scientist and an active participant in English political life. Other friends included George Bernard Shaw, T.E. Lawrence, and Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt (the former she referred to as “Madam President”). When she met the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, she said, “So this is the wild man of God.” He replied, “I have been warned to beware of Lady Astor – perhaps she is a wild Woman of God” – a statement that seems to sum up the character of this remarkable woman.
In 1923, Nancy herself wrote two books: My Two Countries (1923) and The Astor Story (1951, the latter her memoir. Her son Michael’s Tribal Feeling (1963) provides further information about the family. The numerous biographies include Maurice Collis, Nancy Astor and Her Friends (1974), which provides many direct statements made by Astor taken from unpublished as well as published sources, some of which have been included in this article.
