Full text of Women in the ... Congress : 80th

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L13.204

1947

GOVT PUBLS DEPT
U. S. Departrient of Labor
MOMOM'S BUREAU

100

" !es!11.gton 25 , D. C ,

September 15 , 1947
1

WENU

WOMEN! IN THE 80TH CONGRESS

*

Seven women now serve in the 85th Congress , all of them in the House
of Representatives . There are no women in the Senate . The wonen representatives ,

in order of their length of service in Congress , ara , irs , vory T. Norton,
Den :ocrat of New Jersey ; rs, Edith Tourse Rogers , Republican of kassachusetts;
Mrs. Frances P. Bolton , Republican of Onio ; Mrs. Margaret Chase Smith , Fiepublican

of Maine; rs . Helen Gehagan Douglas , Democrat of California ; and -- newcomers
to Congress this year -- lirs , Georgia L. Tusk , Derocrat of leri liexico , and

Mirs , Katharine St. George , Republican of ivew York .
Hrs , larz. T. Horton , Democrat from the 13th District of New Jersey

( Bayonne and parts of Jersey City ) is the unofficial " dean " of Congresstomen ,
1

by virtue of seniority . The first soman to be elected to Congress from the
Derocratic Party , she has served continuously since 1924 . Born in 1875 in
Jersey City , she attended public scirols there and took a secretarial course in a
New York City business school, alter which she worked as a stenographer and
secretary until 1909 , when she mairicd Robert Francis orion .
After her marriage sh

became active in child welfare work , and in

the course of her charitable activities she often arranged for municipal help at
the City Hall , where she met ijayor Frank Hague who asked rer in june 1920 to

become the representative of Hudson County tonen on 1:10 State Democratic Committee
In 1921 she was elected vice chairman of the State Democratic Comittee , serving
on the Committee until 1944 , 5 yaars of this tino as chairan . In 1923 she was

elected Freeholder in Hudson County , and in 1924 she 93 a delegata to tie
Democratic National Convention . irs , Torton ras elected to Congress in 1924 ,
as the representative froа the Jersey City district op tier Jersey . In 1931 , when
0

appointed chairman of the House of Representativ:-s Committee on the District of
Columbia , she became trio first woman ever to head a Congissional committee . She
was chairman for 6 years . In 1937 she was named chair
of the House oí

Representatives Committee on Labor , During the 10 yeaz's in which flz's , Norton was
head of the House Lukor Committee , she helped to steer tirough Congress much

important labor legislation , including the Federal Fair Izbor Standards Act, which
established a minimum wage rate for employees of firms engaged in interstate
commerce .

1.It's . Norton was appointed by President Truran in 1945 as Govornment
Representative and Observer to the International. Jabcr Corifcrcncc in Paris , Fiance .

After the oth Congress convened ( 1947) , she ri:signed from the Cormittæ
>

on Labor , and at present is rarising minority member of the Committee on
House Administration .

*The information used in thesebiocrizplaicai notes comes frommaterialsupplied
by the Congresso.non , and froil material appearing in the Congressional
Directory , Current 3.10.720poly , Djoks so in America ,

vio's

10 in Mu.: York .

lirs . Idith

oursc Rogers , Republican fror tie 5th District of

sacsetts (vitics of Icival. )., Soluris, in ? 2 ? to.rs ), ios boun in various since
1925. She has born in 1833 ini bacı , uino ; las srazuitori from Toyors liall Concol
in c.ell , liassachusetts ; and aiteriei Laca . Julien's School in Paris , irar.cc. Ili
1907 she married Join jacob Rogers , a lawyer who served in the lio !!se of licore conta
tir - s from 1913 till his ciaath in 1925 .

l.:rs , Rogers has an especial interest in veterans ' a1iairs , thich catos
Baci : to the First orld inr , when she server in France with tie Y:ICA and tic American
Pe Cross .
From 1918 to 2922 sic as a Red Cross worice at the Artyrs nationel
20 : ital , alter Reed 103; ital in 'asivington , D. C. in recognition of ler i.ork for
vetrans ! reliare , President Harding appointed her in 1922 as ! :is personal

representative in charge of assistance for disal:leci Vitarang , ů posicion to ricii
3.e aj reappointed by Fresident Coolidge in 1923 and by President Hoover in -92 ) .
lirs , Rogers was elected to the House of Representatives of the 69th
Congress , June 30, 1925 , to fill tre vacancy caused by the death of her husbana ,
She cas reelected to the 10th and to every succeeding Congress . For years she
ser ed as the ranking Republican erober or the Torcigi Affairs Committee of the
House . She as a delicate to ť ! Incer - American Confürence on Problems of var and
zesce at Hexico City in February 1945 .
1

lirs, Rogers vas oversias during both World Far I and Co.Id liar II .
zariy in Horia Tar II sh? introduced the biil creating the lonen's Army Auxiliary
Corps , later established as trio loren's Army Corps ( AC ) .

In the present ( 20th ) Congross , she is chairman of the riouse of
representatives Committee on Veterans Affairs .

Rebublican
lirs .Frances P. Bolton , Konstantivo frc. tiie 22nd District of Onio
( parts of Cleveland and sucurbs) , lies boon a nerbar of Congress sincu 1940. She was
corn in 1886 in Cleveland , Ohio , arci 12 : od catci in private schools in the United
States and in Francc ; che also studied at the Cannes liuic Scico.! in Mola York City .
In 1907 dhe 23 marrieci to Chester Cotlo Poltor ; she is toot:: er of tilizce sous
and r.or: was four grandsons and one erancuaughter .
From the tince she returned from school to or ! :0 ! i; ir: C2.0V :) and , she

took an active jorü in piilartiroi.c ari civic activitios.

Intrusted in all

alth

rations a :1d activo in both proiici loal.tn nursinc and nursing cciucation in Clovcland ,
173 , Bolton's encounent of 3.0 School of Nusirg of lesboru Ruse :'ve University there

2.3 incident to her many years of active participation in the building of the schoo ....
She is an honorary meriber of tic Awni of the Army School cr l !ursing because of tho
pert ske pla ;ed during tric Zirst World War in its establisvent .

krs . Bolton serred on the rcpublican State Coniri Committee in Onio
iron 1933 to 1940 , and as vice - chairmon ci the National
Dican Progra : Con
mittso curing the same period .

Elected in February 1940 tu trie House of Reprosonta

tives of the 76th Congress to fill the unexpired tern of hur insanü , sie has served
continuously since thun . Ai trze beginning of lorici II . II , prior to th : ostalish
renc oi tic U. S. Cadet nurse Corps under th:0 Polton kot , SIC
s instrwrontai in

sucurinę l'unus to increase the teaching capaci'y of many schools of nursi.ne.
lirs. Bolton las bocn a combür of the Forcism atlaiz :: Cornia,Uue os tic

louco of Representatives since january 1641.
rus

of the Greokur.is

Loin

: 2 has sorkuc : 100
! : 95 ?ully for tre
S02

l anc of rclici bills íoc Bur'opc .

She is

1:05: Chiron of the Geographical Subcommittee on Africa ini 0. Sucotrite No. 5
0: 1 racional and International Movements ,

T3:0 lactor subcommitto v.1.1. Stady under

movements such as communism , facsigm, raj.conlist inovomonts

mo 3 -

Mrs. Margaret Chase Smith , Republican from the 2nd District of Maine ,
has been a menter of Congress since June 1940 and is the first and only roman to

represent Maine in the U. S. House of Representatives . Sie vas born in
Skowhegan , Maine , in 1897 and graduated îrom high school in 1916. After graduation
she was successively a teacher, an executive for the " aine Telephone and Telegraph
Company , an executive in a ner: spaper company, treasurer of û waste process coinpany ,

and, concurrently with the latter job , an executive for a woolen company .
In l'ay 1930 she narried Clyde 9. Smith , a former State Senator , and
became active in politics , being elected in 1930 to the Republican State Committee .
In 1936 when her husband was elected to the U : S. House of Representatives , she

worked as his secretary , nanaging office rork , handling mail , and doing research
on the subjects of various bills ,

elected to fill his unexpired term .
Republican Convention in 19440

Then her husband died in 1940, Mrs. Smith was
She was chairman of the laine State

At her request , in 1943 sho tas placed on t ! e House of Representatives
Naval Affairs Committee ; she attributed her wish to cork with this committee to
Haine's long coastlina, and to its shipbuilding and Navy Yard interests .
In April 1941; she served as one o

13 advisers to the v . 3 , Government
.

delegation at the International Licor Conference seeting in Philadelphia ,

During World War II lirs , Smith was a member of the only Congressional
committee ever to drai tre official comunendation of the late President

Franklin D. Roosevelt , ' The House Naval Affairs Subcomittee on Congested Areas ,
Those work the President terred an ou'sstanding contribution to the successful
prosecution of the var . She made an extensive study throughout the Pacific in

1944, and the Secrctary of the Navy adopted her recomendations for the benefit
of fighting Naval personnel ,
Mrs. Smith is a member of the irmod Services Committee of the House of

Representatives , As chairman of tiie Comittee's licdical Surcomittee , lirs, Srith
9

was the first member of Congress to obtain unification of legislation requested
by the Army and by the Navy ,. rs , Sraith
Smit rocuirei that soparate Army bills and

separate Navy bills on nirses corps end medical services be combined into single
and uniform bills to covor both the Army and the Navy .
She is a proponent of Reserve legislation for the Arred Services , having
introduced legislation on all major phases of Reserve interest and covering all
branches of the Armed Services, and having introduced wors Reserve bills in the
80th Congress than any other member of Congress .
Llrs . Smith says that while she is a champion for tomon , she is not a
feminist .

She believes that " a woman's vier:point should be objective and free

of any emphasis on feminine interests , "

Mrs. Helen Gahagan Dourlas,Democrat from the 14th District of California,

(part of Los Angeles,first elected to Congress in 1944, was elected in 1946.
She has born in 1900 in Boonton, New Jersey, ras educated in private schools, and
attended Barnard College . She left Barnard College after t:
10 years for å star part

on Broadiaz. In 1926 she began to study voice and later made a concert tour of
Europe, 'Returning to the United States in 1930, she again starred on the stage,
where she met Kelvyn Douglas, They were married in 1931.

krs. Douglas has two

children ,

It was not until after hor retum fro...a concert tour of Europe in 1937,

with its opportunities to observe and interpret conditions there, that li's. Douglas

became actively engaged in civic alfairs, She served on the National Aivisory

Committee of the Horks Progress Awninistration and on the C.lifornia State Advisory
Committee of the National Youth Administration , Iyi 1940 she was elected Democratic

National Committee oman for California and as appointed vice -chairman of the
Democratic State Committee in 1941 .

She was also clected chairman of this

Committee'. Hosen's Division and unanimously re-elected in 1942,
c

In July 1946 President Trunan appointed Hrs. Douglas as an alternate
United.States delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations. ·

In the present (80th) Coross , she is a member of the Forcign Affairs
Committee of the House of Representatives .

lirs.Georgia L. Lusk, Democrat of New tics.ico, and lrs. Katharine
St. George, Republican of New York, aro serving in Cor:gress for thefirst time this
year .

Hirs, Georgia L. Lusk, Denocrat of Santa Fe, New .cxico, is one of New

Mexico's two representatives at large. She tas born in Carisbad, How lcxico, in
1893; was educated in public schools in Ncii Mexico, arid at par iezdico Stato
Teachers College , Highlands University, and Colorado State Teachers College. For

several years she taught school and in 1919 nas elected county school superinten
dent of Lea County, pjev:Licxico . She ras clcctod State Suporintendent of Public
Instruction for the terms 1930-34 and 3.942-1,6. In addition to her vork in the

educational field, she has engaged in the ranching business for 20 years. She is a
widow and has three sons, all of whom served with the Armed Forces during lorld
V a r II . Her oldest son was killed in line of duty .
She is a member of the Veterans ' jffairs Committie of the House of

Representatives.
Mrs. Katharine St. George , Republican from t e 29th District of Mew York ,

was born in England, where her father was European editor of Forun magazine. Since
the age of 18, 1o.icver, she has lived in Tuxedo, Mew York . liarried to George
Baker St. George in 1917, she has one daughter and tio srandchildren .

Her interest in politics is of long standing.She was a member of the
Tuxedo toi'n board for 15 years, and for 20 years vas a nemour of the Tuxedo Board
of Education, serving for a time as its president. She i s the first woman to be

elected chairman of ilRepublican County Coittee in hier!Yoric State and is now

one of the two volen chairmen in the State . Anong nur oth :r activities are those

of: former president of the Tuxedo Republican Club, former president or the Orange

County Federation of l'omen's Rüpublican Clubs, director on the Woren's National
Republican Club, delegate from Orange County to the 1947. Republican lational
Convention .

She is now a member of the Post Office and Civil Service Connittee of