“What Ails Miss Willard?”

Abstract This chapter examines Frances Willard’s career from 1894 through 1896. Focusing many of her efforts in building up the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), Willard emphasized the need for temperance women to work toward alleviating poverty. Grounded in Christian socialism, Willard confronted numerous critics, as well as wrestled with the ramifications of a new prohibition organization in the United States: the Anti-Saloon League. The chapter concludes by discussing Willard’s and Isabel Somerset’s effort in the summer and fall of 1896 to raise public support for Armenian refugees in southern France, who escaped the Armenian massacres propagated by the Ottoman Empire. While engaged in her work in Europe, Willard continued to grapple with significant problems in the United States, including ongoing disputes over the Woman’s Temple and whether the WCTU should continue to endorse the Prohibition Party.