prison work. Burns and Paul were involved in a stunt at the London Lord Mayor's Ball, mingling with guests then approaching Winston Churchill with a hidden banner shouting "How can you dine here while women are starving in prison?" Again this resulted in prison, self-starving and force feeding. Burns had been given a Hunger Strike Medal 'for Valour' by WSPU. Relationship with Alice Paul While working with the WSPU, Burns first met Alice Paul at a London police station. Both women had been arrested for demonstrating, and Paul introduced herself when she noticed that Burns was wearing an American flag pin on her lapel. The women discussed their suffrage experiences in the United Kingdom and the American women's movement. Burns and Paul bonded over their frustration with what they considered the inactivity and ineffective leadership of the American suffrage movement by Anna Howard Shaw. Their similar passions and fearlessness in the face of opposition made them quickly become good friends. Both women were passionate about activism, and the feminist struggle for equality in the UK inspired Burns and Paul to continue the fight in the United States in 1912. Suffrage historian Eleanor Clift compares the partnership of Paul and Burns to that of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She notes that they "were opposites in appearance and temperament... [w]hereas Paul appeared fragile, Burns was tall and curvaceous, the picture of vigorous health...unlike Paul, who was uncompromising and hard to get along with, Burns was pliable and willing to negotiate. Paul was the militant; Burns, the diplomat." Despite their stark differences, Paul and Burns worked together so effectively that followers would often describe them as having "one mind and spirit.". However Paul described Burns as "always more valiant than I was, about a thousand times more valiant by nature." National American Women Suffrage Association Upon returning to the United States, Paul and Burns joined the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) as leaders of its Congressional Committee. Both women felt it was critical to hold the political party in power responsible for a federal suffrage amendment. By holding an entire party accountable, Paul and Burns believed that congressmen would be forced to take action or risk losing their seats. This militant tactic was presented by Paul and Burns at the 1912 NAWSA convention in Philadelphia to Anna Howard Shaw and other NAWSA leaders. NAWSA leaders rejected their proposal because