Elizabeth Washburn Wright
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elizabeth Washburn Wright | |
|---|---|
 1915 passport photo | |
| United States Assessor to the Opium Advisory Committee | |
| In office December 15, 1920 – 1925 | |
| Counterparts | Gaston Kahn, Malcolm Delevingne, Akira Ariyoshi, Charoonsakdi Kritakara |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Colonel Arthur Woods |
| Delegate of the United States to the Second International Opium Convention | |
| In office 1925 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 19, 1874 |
| Died | February 11, 1952 (aged 77) |
| Resting place | Waters Hill Cemetery, Livermore, Maine |
| Spouse | Hamilton Wright |
| Relations | Uncles:
Cousin once removed: Dorilus Morrison
|
| Parent | William D. Washburn |
| Awards | Lin Tse Hsu Memorial Medal |
Elizabeth Washburn Wright (known in much international documentation as Mrs. Hamilton Wright) was an anti-opium campaigner in the United States during the early twentieth century, a passion which she carried with her to lead the United States' anti-opium campaign of 1908 alongside the famous Bishop Charles Brent.[1] She was the first woman in the history of the United States ever granted plenipotentiary powers abroad.[2] She represented the interests of the United States at the League of Nations Opium Advisory Committee (OAC), and also worked with Stephen G. Porter and her counterparts at the OAC to create the organization that would eventually become the International Narcotics Control Board.[2] With her counterparts in the international community, Dame Rachel Crowdy and Helen Howell Moorhead, she is considered an "honorary gentleman" of what had been dubbed the "Gentlemen's Club" of the international narcotics control regime.[3] Where Bishop Brent (who introduced Wright to the President) was open about his religious frameworks as a facet of his occupation, Wright's religious Christian motivations were rarely mentioned, but were indeed one of her primary motivations in seeking the complete ban on the international opium trade.[4] Rachel Crowdy, once while speaking to a crowd, placed Wright's efforts alongside those of Marie Curie as an example of women who paved history.[5] Wright was involved in nearly every facet of the fight against opium in the early twentieth century, especially in playing a key role in the creation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) alongside Levi G. Nutt and Stephen Porter.[6][7] She knew and often debated against most everyone involved in international diplomacy related to narcotics enforcement in her era, and especially used her connections to campaign for her cause, positioning herself in key positions to effect change.[4]
Her hatred of opium was a passion that she shared with her equally-obsessed opium-despising husband, Hamilton Wright, the famous United States Opium Commissioner for two successive Presidents of the United States, the man who was primarily responsible for the passage of the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act.[4] Some scholars write that she was uninterested in opium before she met her husband.[4] Yet other scholars write that the Commissioner was uninterested in politics until he met his wife, who came from a well-connected political dynasty of firebrand abolitionist Republicans.[8] Hamilton died in 1917 from wounds he sustained while serving in the Medical Corps during World War I. She nevertheless outlasted his own legacy by working against opium around the world for the rest of her life, nearly another four decades.[4]