Excerpt from the Woman's Journal regarding "Parade Disgrace"

"It was made clear that the police not only permitted the insults, but encouraged and joined in them."

~ Woman's Journal

What made the situation worse was the lack of response from police officers. There were officers stationed along the avenue, however, who offered no assistance and watched as women were “jeered, tripped, grabbed, [and] shoved” (“Marching for the Vote”). Some even told the women that they should have stayed home.

This misconduct opened up several investigations and congressional hearings which led to the superintendent of police of the District of Columbia losing his job. The media was also very interested in the situation with the police. Headlines and sidelines such as “Parade Struggles to Victory Despite Disgraceful Scenes”, “Parade Disgrace Shocks Senators”, or “Parade Disgrace Unfortunate” appeared in the newspapers (The Woman's Journal​​​​​​​). The chaos engendered by some police and spectators brought more attention to the parade and energized the women's suffrage movement as a whole.