Astor’s Axiom
All women marry beneath them.
United States-born Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor became the first woman member of the House of Commons in 1919 when she assumed the seat that her husband gave up when he inherited his father’s viscountcy. And once she got it she held on to it for a long time - until 1945. Her axiom was articulated in a speech given in 1951 in Oldham in the form of an admission “I married beneath me - all women do.” The Viscount apparently took this in his stride. Winston Churchill was not so easygoing. When Lady Astor declared during a heated argument with him that “If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee”, he replied “And if I were your husband I would drink it” (Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, Glitter and Gold, 1952).
Discussion of Astor’s Axiom
Post your comment here
