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He's going viral for defying sexist norms decades before it was popular.
Vern said it best.
A newspaper clipping from 1963 has unearthed an unlikely hero of 2020: Vern Hause. The man was the only interviewee to answer the question “Would a woman be a good president?” in the affirmative.
Hause’s answer gave it to ’em straight.
“She couldn’t do any worse than some we’ve had,” the Stevens Point, Wisconsin, resident told the Minneapolis Tribune.
The clipping has since gone viral, with the original tweet from Nate Pentz scooping up more than 20,000 likes by Thursday morning. Stars including Sarah Silverman shared their love for Hause and his blunt feminism.
“People who think we haven’t made any progress towards greater justice and equality over the past half century… should really learn something about what the world looked like half a century ago,” @Yascha_Mounk wrote.
“And the pattern of people fighting progress to stay w the comfort of the world as they know it,” Silverman responded.
Other answers show just how ahead of his time Hause was. All the other people interviewed — men and women — answered no.
“No. Today their mind is one way and the next day, it changes,” said Frank Kampa.
“No. I don’t have that much faith in women to let them run the country,” Tom Romanowski replied.
“No. A woman is too likely to give in. They might not stand their ground when they should,” answered Mrs. Tom Romanowski, no first name given.
Social media was shocked by the answers, but intrigued by the man whose name started trending on the platform because of his answer.
“I want to know more about Vern,” wrote @29Sinclair. “As a young woman in 1963, I don’t know how I would have responded. By mid 1970s however, I had developed into someone who was pushing for opportunities for women & minorities at every opportunity. I was warned too aggressive, but I persisted.”
“Vern Hause died in 1975. And simply because he chose not to voice the misogyny that was socially expected of him when asked about a woman president in 1963, five people have left [virtual] flowers on his virtual grave today — 45 years after his death,” tweeted @ashtonpittman with a link to Hause’s gravesite.
