jail and told the remaining women that the strike was over. He also ordered Burns to be force fed. Historian Eleanor Clift recounts that the force feeding of Lucy Burns required "five people to hold her down, and when she refused to open her mouth, they shoved the feeding tube up her nostril." This treatment was extremely painful and dangerous, causing Burns to have severe nosebleeds. Of the well-known suffragists of the era, Burns spent the most time in jail. Final push for American suffrage Burns and other suffragists had been told by the chairman of the House Committee on Suffrage that the House would not pass a suffrage amendment before 1920. To their surprise, it was announced in late 1917 that the House would make a decision on January 10, 1918. The amendment passed in the House by a vote of 274 to 136, and the women of the NWP, including Burns, began working on the 11 additional votes they would need for the amendment to pass in the Senate. Unfortunately on June 27, 1918, the Senate narrowly failed to pass the amendment. Burns and Paul were utterly enraged, but after coming so close there was no chance that they were going to give up now. They resumed their protests at the White House on August 6, 1918. Once again the women were jailed, exposed to horrendous conditions, and released shortly thereafter. Their focus then was moved to helping pro-suffrage candidates get elected in November. For the first time, the NWP did not give allegiance to one party over another; they supported anyone who was willing to support suffrage, and this cost the Democrats their majority in Congress. As tensions grew between the suffragists and President Wilson, he realized something had to be done quickly to end the highly publicized protests and clashes between the police and suffragists. He requested that Congress convene for a special session in May 1919. On May 21 the House of Representatives passed the Susan B. Anthony amendment 304 to 89, and on June 4, the Senate passed it 66 to 30. Surprisingly, the suffragists were very subdued at the announcement of this victory. The suffragists battle was not yet over; they still had to make sure three quarters supermajority of the states – which then numbered 48 – ratified the amendment. Finally, on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to ratify