November 20, 1941
Mary Draper ’42 was one of four young people discussing the desires and methods of American youth in achieving a “democratic moral code” on the radio program “America’s Town Meeting of the Air.” The other participants were a young woman from Stephens College in Missouri and two young men, one a clerk in a 42nd Street bookshop and the other the president of the Young Men’s Board of Trade. Miss Draper, differing from her colleague from Missouri, asserted that women’s place was “on a par with men.” Citing statistics showing that working women managed healthy and happy homes, she said women needed to do things outside the home to help men “build a world that makes more sense.”
During a lively question and answer session with the audience, when asked if she thought a woman could be both President of the United States and a mother, she replied, “You’ve got me there. If a woman ever got to be President, I think she’d have to concentrate on that.”
The New York Times
Mary Draper Janney was chair of the Vassar board of trustees from 1981 until 1989.