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VICTORIA WOODHULL
From suffragist to sex scandal, this Ohio naive still fascinates today
With Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, it seems appropriate to look back at the first female candidate. Victoria Claflin Woodhull (1838-1927) ran for president in 1872 before women even had the right to vote.
This radical, born in Homer, Ohio, may not be well known today, but for five years she was a controversial and prominent figure.
It's a very American story, and a very modern story, says Lisa Wood, visual resources curator at the Ohio History Connection.
"Somebody just through sheer force of wil and determination and a talent for self-promotion and re-invention, creates this rather amazing life for themselves," she says.
Also, the facts of her life are muddled, because Woodhull exaggerated about herself. Wood says. When you read biographies about her, especially those written during her lifetime or shortly after her death, they paint her as a harlot or a very heroic figure.
"In reality, she's complicated. She's messy. She's both - she did some heroic and she did some scandalous things,"...