Full text of Women in the ... Congress : 89th

View original document

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

v.t.· .,

x--,

~~> _. '--~
if! :e. .
r \ !:

',..//,

~~f

of the 89th cong ress
U . S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
W. Willard Wirtz, Secretary
WOMEN ' S BUREAU
MARY

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

DUBL I N

KEYSERL I NG ,

D I RECTOR

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

This publication provides biographical sketches of the
twelve women of the 89th Congress of the United States, two of
whom are in the Senate and ten in the House of Representatives.
The Women's Bureau has prepared this publication in response to many requests, both from this country and abroad, for
information concerning the public service of these outstanding
American women.

-(1(6 7;)-.M.,_,_ tf~n.½
Mary Dublin Keyserling
Director, Women's Bureau

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D .C., 20402 - Price 25 cents

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CONTENTS
Page

Senator Neuberger (D) of Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Senator Smith (R) of Maine ... . . . ......... .. ........................ . ...... .• . .

Representative Bolton (R) of Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Representative Dwyer (R) of New Jersey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Representative Green (D) of Oregon...........................................

Representative Griffiths (D) of Michigan....................................... 11
Representative Hansen (D) of Washington... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rerresentative Kelly (D) of New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Representative May (R) of Washington. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Representative Mink (D) of Hawaii................................... . . . . . . . . . . 19
Representative Reid (R) of Illinois............................................ 21
Representative Sullivan (D) of Missouri........................................ 23
Committee Assignments for Women of the 89th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Number of Women in Congress, 1917-1965 ...................................... 27

111

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

SENATOR MAURINE B. NEUBERGER (D)
State of Oregon

Mrs. Maurine B. Neuberger was elected in 1960
as the first woman Senator from Oregon. She is the
widow of Senator Richard L. Neuberger, and was
elected to the remainder of his unexpired term at the
same time she was elected to a full 6-year term, ending January ·3, 1967. In 1964 the Senator married
Dr. Philip Solomon.
In the 87th and 88th Congresses, Sen at or
Neuberger was a member of the Banking and Currency
and the Agriculture and Forestry Committees, and the
Special Committee on the Aging. For the 89th Congress, •the Oregon Senator was named to membership
on the Senate Commerce and the Banking and Currency Committees, 1and the Special Committee on the
Aging.
Mrs. Neuberger graduated from the Oregon College of Education, University of Oregon, and did
graduate work at U. C. L.A. She taught English and
physical education in the Oregon public schools until her marriage to Mr. Neuberger . .Shortly thereafter
she was elected to the Oregon Legislature, where
she served three terms.
As chairman of the House Education Committee in Oregon, •she authored several bills setting
up pilot programs for retarded and exceptional children, · tax deduction provisions for working
mothers, · and promotion of public savings through school reorganization. During this time she
gained national acclaim for her successful crusade to end the ban on colored margarine.
In 1955 Mrs. Neuberger came to Washington when her husband was elected to the Senate.
There she edited a monthly newsletter which went to her husband's constituents. With her photographs of Alaska and the Northwest, •she assisted him in the preparation of magazine articles depicting that colorful country.
The Senator's legislative program concerns Federal aid to schools, cancer research, •g rants
for handicapped children, extended social security benefits, housing for lower income families and
the aged, consumer protection against fraud and deception, conservation measures, maritime adjustment, and congressional reform. She is the author of the book, ,S moke Screen: Tobacco and the
Public Welfare, published in 1964, and numerous articles in national magazines on consumer affairs, congressional reform, health and welfare, air pollution control, and natural resource
conservation.
1

Senator Neuberger is a member of the National Board of the United Nations Association . .She
was a delegate to the NATO Conference in London (19'59) and Paris (1960), •and has served on the
Democratic Party's National Committee on Natural Resources and Conservation.
The Senator is a member of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Commission . .She was
appointed a member of the President's Commission on the Status of Women, and was chairman of
its Committee on Social Insurance and Taxation . .Also, she has been a delegate to the lnterparliamentary Union Conferences held in Canada in 1962, in Switzerland in 19 63, and in Denmark in
1964.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

SENATOR MARGARET CHASE SMITH (R)
State ,of Maine

Mrs. Margaret Chase Smith of Skowhegan, Maine, is
the only woman to have served in both Houses of Congress
and to have been elected to three full terms in the United
States Senate.
Active in the political field since 1930, she served
on the Republican State Committee 1930-36; was secretary
to her husband, Congressman Clyde H. Smith (deceased),
1937-40; and was elected to the House of Representatives
from the Second Congressional District of Maine 1940-48
and to the United States Senate in 1948.
Mrs. Smith began her career as a teacher and was an
executive in the telephone, newspaper, and woolen industries. She was a nationally syndicated columnist for more
than 5 years.
The Senator from Maine was the first woman to serve
on the Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives, and received Presidential commendation while
a member of the Naval Affairs Committee of that body. In
the Senate she has served on the Appropriations, Armed
Services, Space, Government Operations, Rules, and District of Columbia Committees. In 195.3-54 she was Chairman of the Ammunition Shortage Investigating and the
Reorganization Subcommittees. In the 89th Congress she
is a member of the Aeronautical and Space Sciences (ranking Republican), Appropriations, Armed Services,
and Republican Policy Committees, and the Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee.
Mrs. Smith has served as Lieutenant Colonel in the·Air Force Reserve and is an outstanding proponent
of Reserve legislation in Congress. She as been cited by the Air Reserve Association, National Guard
Association, and Reserve Officers Association.

In addition to being one of the 10 most admired women of the world in the Gallup Poll for many years
(fourth in 1963 and 1964), and being cited repeatedly by national press and broadcasting organizations as
woman of the year in politics, Mrs. Smith has received many national honors, including: Woman of the Year,
Associated Press (1948); Woman of the Year, United Press Radio Editors (1949 and 1964); Award for
Americanism from Freedoms Foundation (1950); Voice of Democracy Award (1953); Distinguished Service
Award from National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs (1955); Lord and Taylor
Award (1956); International Achievement Award (1956) and Woman of Achievement Award (1958), both from
Soroptimist International Association; multiple awards for National Health Leadership (1960); a "Most
Valuable Senator" rating by Newsweek Press Gallery Poll (1960); Gold Medal Award for Humanitarianism,
Institute of Social Sciences (1964); and Minute Man Award of Reserve Officers Association for individual
making greatest contribution to national security ( 1964).
Mrs. Smith received the honorary degree ofLL.D. from Wilson College (1945), Alabama College (1949),
Coe College (1949), Smith College (1949), University of Maine (1949), Bowdoin College (1952), Syracuse
University (1952), University of New Brunswick (Canada) (1955), Drexel Institute (1955), Wesleyan University (1955), Tufts University (1955), University of North Carolina (1955), Columbia University (1955), Western College for Women (1956), University of Rhode Island (1956), Russell Sage College (1956), Mills College (1957), Washington College (1957), Gettysburg College (1958)> George Washington University (1958),
Bryant College (1959), Park College ( 1959), Ursinus College (1961), Beaver College (1961), Lindenwood
College (1961), Eastern Michigan University (1961), Mount Holyoke College (1962), Brandeis University
( 1963), Skidmore College ( 1964), and Georgian Court College ( 1964). She received the degree of L.H.D. from
Hood College (1951), Hamilton College ( 1955), Lafayette .College (1955), Rollins College (1956), Keuka
College (1957), Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (1959), and Hahnemann Medical College and
Hospital (1964); and that of Litt.D. from Temple University (1955). She also holds degrees of M.A. from
Colby College (1943), D.C.L. from Pace College (1956), J.S.D. from Portia Law School (1957), Ed.D. from
Lesley College (1959), D.S. from Muskingum College (1963), and D.P .A. from Northeastern University (1964).
The Senator has made extensive trips throughout the world and has conferred with many leaders of
nations. She is regarded as one of America's most effective ambassadors of good will.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

REPRESENTATIVE FRANCES P. BOLTON (R)
Twenty-second Congressional District, Ohio
Mrs. Frances P. Bolton is the only woman from Ohio
ever elected to Congress. Elected in February 1940 to
finish the unexpired term of her late husband, Chester C.
Bolton, she has been reelected each succeeding term.
Since January 3, 1963, Mrs. Bolton has been the ranking
Republican member of the House Committee on Foreign
Affairs, having served on that committee for 14 years. She
was chairman of the Subcommittee on National and International Movements, which issued the report "Strategy
Tactics of World Communism.''
Mrs. Bolton became the first woman Member of Congress to head an official congressional mission abroad
when she led a subcommittee to the Near East in 1947. As
top Republican on the Subcommittee on Africa and the Near
East, Mrs. Bolton made a 20,000-mile study tour of Africa
in 1955, visiting 14 countries south and east of the Sahara
Desert. In March of 1957 she was one of four official delegates named by the President to attend the independence
ceremonies of Ghana. Representative Bolton was U.S. delegate to the Eighth General Assembly of the United Nations
(195.3), the first woman to represent the Congress in that
body. She was U.S. delegate to the British-·AmericanParliamentary Conference at Hamilton, Bermuda, 1961, and alternate delegate to the seventh annual session of NATO
Parliamentarians' Conference, Paris, November 1961. As
a member of the Subcommittee on State Department Organization and Foreign Operations, she participated in hearings on the East-West Center, Hawaii, December
1961.In 1964 she served on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the Platform Committee at the Republican
National Convention. She is also a member of the Republican Policy Committee.
Mrs. Bolton has sponsored bills for low-rent housing units and for equal pay for women, and legislation making it unlawful to "black market" children across State lines for adoption. She was author of the
act which created the Cadet Nurse Corps, and was instrumental not only in equalizing the pay of nurses
with that of male officers of similar rank, but also in changing the ·status of nurses from relative to full
commissioned rank as officers in the armed services. She successfully sponsored legislation to commission
men nurses as reserve officers in the armed services, thereby giving proper recognition to an important
segment of the nursing profession.
Mrs. Bolton's interest in nursing led to her endowment of the Frances P. Bolton School of Nursing at
Western Reserve University in Cleveland. During the First World War she helped establish the Army School
of Nursing. In the 8'4th Congress, she introduced legislation to establish a National Commission of Nursing
Services and to authorize the Surgeon General to provide traineeships for graduate nurses.
Educated at the Hathaway-Brown School in Cleveland and Miss Spence's School in New York,
Mrs. Bolton has also been awarded 14 honorary degrees--and values most highly the doctor of humanities
degree given her by Western Reserve University, as she feels she has more nearly earned that than the
others. She has received numerous awards from the following organizations: American Social Hygiene Association; National League of Nursing Education; National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses; Women
of Achievement; Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of Ohio; Foreign Service Institute; V.F. W. Post
5799, Cleveland; Cleveland Medical Library Association; National Association of Colored Women's Clubs;
St. Lawrence Seaway Pioneers; Salvation Army; Experiment in International Living; Washington and Vicinity
Federation of Women's Clubs; and Ladies Auxiliary, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S.
The Ohio Representative is an officer of the French Legion of Honor. She is the Ohio Vice Regent of
the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, and a member of the following organizations: Cleveland Business
and Professional Women's Club; Women's City Club of Cleveland, which awarded her an honorary life membership in 1961; League of Women Voters, Cleveland; Daughters of Colonial ·Wars of Ohio; Daughters of the
American Revolution; Women's National Republican Club of New York; Pen and Brush of New York; League
of Republican Women, Washington, D.C.; Society of Women Geographers, Washington, D.C.; National Federation of Women's Clubs; League of Republican Women of Washington; Republican Women of Capitol Hill;
International Council of Women; The Wilderness Society; and The International Club of Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Bolton is a trustee of Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio; Lake Erie College, Painesville,
Ohio; Tuskegee Institute, Alabama; Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee; Capitol Hill Associates; and the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

REPRESENTATIVE FLORENCE P. DWYER (R)
Sixth Congressional District, New Jersey
Mrs. Florence P. Dwyer, now serving her fifth
term as a Member of Congress, is New Jersey's frrst
Republican Congresswoman. She is a member of the
House Committees on Banking and Currency and on
Government Operations, and is ranking minority member of the Intergovernmental Relations and the Consumer Affairs Subcommittees.
Active in the Republican Party since 19 36,
Mrs. Dwyer was elected delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention in 1944 and was made
honorary vice president representing New Jersey.
She was elected alternate delegate-at-large to the
1948 convention.
The Congresswoman from New Jersey was
elected to the New Jersey State Legislature in 1949
and reelected in 1951, 195·3, and 1955. She was the
first woman to be appointed for 5 consecutive years
to the important policymaking committee of the legislature, and the second woman in the State's history
to be appointed assistant majority leader of the State
assembly. Mrs. Dwyer was chairman of the assembly's Education Committee and a delegate to the
1955 White House Conference on Education. She has gained wide recognition for her legislative
work in the field of education. She is author of New Jersey's equal pay for equal work for women
law. Prior to her election to the assembly, Mrs. Dwyer achieved broad legislative experience as
secretary and parliamentarian to the assembly majority leader and the speaker. After her election
she attended Rutgers Law School to further her knowledge of taxation and law, and to increase
her effectiveness as a lawmaker.
1

Mrs. Dwyer was elected to the 85th Congress, defeating a Democratic incumbent, and has
won reelection by progressively larger margins.
In Congress she has continued her interest in education, and has worked for a broad range
of legislation designed to lift living standards and enlarge opportunities. She has also been active
in the field of Federal-State-local relations, and has advocated the strengthening of local and
State governments by encouraging them to meet the real needs of the people more effectively.
Among her other legislative interests are: establishment of a Foreign Service Academy, an increase in the earnings limit for social security beneficiaries, improvement of labor-management
relations, strengthening of metropolitan mass transportation services and meeting other needs of
urban areas, housing for the elderly, civil rights protection, control of dangerous drugs, more effective consumer protection, and the creation of more jobs. She cosponsored legislation establishing the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, of which she is one of three House
members.
1

She has been active in such community endeavors as the PTA and Cub Scouts, the Business
and Professional Women's Club, and several charitable organizations. She was regional chairman
of the Red Cross committee for recruitment of nurses during World War II , and donated her services
as public relations adviser to the New Jersey Nurses' Association.
Mrs. Dwyer and her husband, M. Joseph Dwyer, now retired, have lived in Elizabeth, New
Jersey, for more than 40 years. They have one son, Michael J., Jr., who is an Annapolis graduate
and an officer in the Air Force.
7

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

REPRESENTATIVE EDITH GREEN (D)
Third Congressional District, Oregon
Mrs. Green has represented the Third Oregon Congressional District--the city of Portland and surrounding
Multnomah County--since 1955. She is now serving her
sixth term in the Congress of the United States. During her
congressional service Mrs. Green has shown special interest in education and labor legislation as a member of
the House Education and Labor Committee. She is chairman of the Special Subcommittee on Education, which has
jurisdiction over legislation dealing with higher education.
She is also a member of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries
Committee.
Mrs. Green has sponsored and guided to passage in
the House major assistance programs for colleges and universities. One is the higher Education Facilities Act of
1953, described by President Johnson as the greatest step
forward in Federal legislation in the field since passage
of the Land-Grant College Act more than 100 years ago.
Over a ·3-year period it authorized $2.1 billion in loans and
grants for classrooms, libraries, and laboratories. A second, enacted in September 1964, liberalized the National
Defense Education Act. A third substantially altered the
Federal vocational education program so as to provide
help to urban youth. In 1961 she led her Special Sube::ommittee on Education to the Soviet Union, to observe the
higher education system there.
Other legislation she has sponsored provided: collegiate nurses' training; aid to handicapped children; equal pay for equal work; statehood for Alaska and
Hawaii; broader minimum wage coverage; congressional standard of ethics and disclosure of all sources of
income of Members of Congress; social security improvements; liberalized immigration laws; creation of a
Bureau of Older Persons; desegregation of hospital facilities built with Federal funds; reform of the Congressional Record; and establishment of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
Mrs. Green was born in Trent, South Dakota, on January 17, 1910. She attended Salem, Oregon, public schools and Willamette University. Subsequently she received her B.S. degree from the University of
Oregon. She did graduate work at Stanford University, and has been awarded honorary degrees of doctor of
humanities, doctor of laws, and doctor of humane letters.
Mrs. Green taught in public schools in Oregon for 14 years. In addition, she served as public relations director of the Oregon Education Association. She has done work for the United Good Neighbors,
Oregon Cancer Society, and Oregon Congress of Parents and Teachers. She has also done commercial radio
work.
Mrs. Green was selected for the brotherhood award of B'nai B'rith in 1956. Two years later she was
named Woman of the Year by the national AMVETS ·Auxiliary. She was one of four Members of Congress to
attend a parliamentary conference at Clarens, Switzerland, in 1958, and the following year was one of ten
congressional delegates to the NATO conference in London. She received the Distinguished Service Award
of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs in 1962, and of the American College Public Relations Association in 1964. She likewise has been honored by the Young Women's Christian Association and
the National Council of Jewish Women.

In politics, Mrs. Green served on the Platform Committee at the Democratic National Convention in
1956. There she seconded the presidential nomination of Adlai E. Stevenson. In 1960 she was chairman of
the Oregon delegation to the Democratic National Convention--the first woman ever to head a State delegation of her party . And at that time, she was asked to second the presidential nomination of John F.
Kennedy. Mrs. Green was a delegate to the 1964 national convention.
Mrs. Green was a member of the President's Commission on the Status of Women and was a delegate
to the 1964 UNESCO general conference in Paris. She is a member of the United States National Committee
to UNESCO and of two commissions of the National Council of Churches.
Representative Green is a member of the League of Women Voters, the Business and Professional
Women's Clubs, the Urban League, and the American Federation of Radio Artists. She is a member of the
First Christian Church. She is an honorary member of Delta Kappa Gamma Sorority, an honorary educational
group.
She has two sons: James, a public school teacher in the Gresham, Oregon, school system, and Richard,
an engineering student.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

REPRESENTATIVE MARTHA W. GRIFFITHS (D)
Seventeenth Congressional District, Michigan

Mrs. Martha W. Griffiths was elected to the 84th
Congress, and reelected to the 85th, 86th, 87th, 88th,
and 89th Congresses . .She was appointed to the Joint
Economic Committee (1961), and elected to the Ways
and Means Committee (1962) . .She is presently chairman of the Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy of the Joint
Economic Committee. Formerly she was a member of
the House Banking and Currency and Government
Operations Committees.
Congresswoman Griffiths served in the Michigan
State Legislature from 1948 to 1952. She was judge
and recorder of the Recorder's Court of the City of
Detroit in 1953.
Mrs. Griffiths received her B. A. degree from the
University of Missouri and her LL. B. from the University of Michigan. She is married to Hicks G.
Griffiths, 'a ttorney, Detroit, Michigan.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

REPRESENTATIVE JULIA BUTLER HANSEN (D)
Third Congressional District, Washington

Congresswoman Julia Butler Hansen is now
serving her fourth term in the Congress. She was
elected in 1960 simultaneously to the unexpired term
of former Congressman Russell V. Mack in the 86th
Congress and the regular term in the 87th Congress,
and was reelected in 1962 for the 88th Congress by
an overwhelmingly large majority. Mrs. Hansen was a
member of the Committee on Education and Labor and
its Subcommittees on Education, the National Labor
Relations Board, ,and the Impact of Imports and Exports on American Employment. She was also a member of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs
and its Subcommittees on Territorial and Insular Affairs, Public Lands, and Indian Affairs. In the 89th
Congress, Mrs. Hansen is a member of the Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittee on Interior.
Active in the Democratic Party throughout her
life, Mrs. Hansen was a member of the Washington
State House of Representatives from 19 39 through
1960 and speaker pro tempore 1955-60. She served
continuous! y as a member of the Education Committee and was chairman of the committee in 1941, 1943, i945; chairman of the Roads and Bridges
Committee in 1949, 1951, 1955, 1957, 1959; chairman of the Joint Fact Finding Committee on
Highways, Streets, and Bridges in 1949, 1951, 1957, 1959; and chairman of the Eleven Western
States Highway Policy Committee in 1951-60! In the field of education in her State, Mrs. Hansen
sponsored major legislation covering teachers' retirement, tenure, salary increases, •school building program, lunches, nursery schools, •school district reorganization, and basic support laws . .She
sponsored legislation to construct and streamline Washington's highways, and to establish a highway commission, Emited access laws, and the highway merit system.
1

She was State vice chairman of Young Democrats, 1939; -chairman, Nine-County League,
1944-45; and chairman, •Wahkiakum County Democrats, 1936-60. She served 8 years on the Cathlamet City Council.
Mrs. Hansen holds a B. A. degree from the University of Washington. Her family moved to
Washington Territory in 1877 and settled in the Columbia River country in 1880. lShe is the author
of a widely read historical novel for young people about the Northwest, for which she received a
national prize; -and she has written extensively for the press.
During the 87th Congress she sponsored legislation on equal rights, lumber, power, veterans' benefits, •and bills for her State. She is interested in all legislative fields, particularly
labor, area resources, and transportation problems. During the 88th Congress she introduced bills
ranging from trade and youth employment to power.
1

She is an honorary State member of Delta Kappa Gamma, from which she received an award
in 1949 for "Outstanding Service to the Cause of Education,,,, and is a member of the Daughters of
the American Revolution, Order of Eastern Star, and the Business and Professional Women's Club.
Mrs. Hansen is married to Henry A. Hansen, retired, and they have one son, David, 18 years
1

old.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

REPRESENTATIVE EDNA F. KELLY (D)
Twelfth Congressional District, New York
Mrs. Edna F. Kelly was elected in 1949 to the 2d
session of the 81st Congress and has been reelected to
date. She is the first woman elected to Congress from
Brooklyn, New York.
In 1942 Mrs. Kelly was appointed associate director,
and in 1944 director of research for the Democratic delegation in the New York State Legislature. She held this
post until her election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Mrs. Kelly is a member of the executive committee
of the Democratic Party of Kings County, New York, and
of the executive committee of the New York State Democratic Committee, and is also Democratic National Committeewoman for New York State.
Since 1951 Mrs. Kelly has served as a member of the
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, where she is chairman of its Subcommittee on Europe,
whose scope includes all European nations, includrng
Greece and Turkey, the Commonwealth nations, territories
and protectorates of the European nations, and Russia and
the captive nations. In addition, Mrs. Kelly is ranking
majority member of the Subcommittee on State Department
Organization and Foreign Operations, which has Jurisdiction over the entire operation of the State Department,
embassy and consular buildings abroad, and the Foreign
Service. Mrs. Kelly is chairman of the United States-Canada
lnterparliamentary Group.
In 1955 Mrs. Kelly was chairman of a nine-member
Study Mission to Europe, to investigate matters relating
to the Department of State and other departments and
agencies engaged primarily in the implementation of foreign policy. In 1957 she was chairman of a fivemember Study Mission on Policy Toward the Satellite Nations, to obtain firsthand information on issues relating to the European area that comes within the mutual ·security program. And in 1959 she was chairman
of a Special Study Mission to Europe. In 1962 she made a study of the Soviet economic offensive in Western Europe.
The Kelly Amendment to the Mutual Security Act provided for participation by the United States in the
Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. Under this provision more than one million European
refugees have been resettled. Another amendment she sponsored provides for requirements regarding offshore procurement of equipment and materials, specifically the adverse effects of such procurement on the
economy of the United States with special reference to labor surplus areas. She successfully sponsored an
amendment to the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, defining the words "friendly
nations'' to prevent grants of surplus United States ·foods to Russia and satellite countries. She was one
of the first sponsors of legislation to allow working widows and widowers to deduct specified expenses of
child care from taxable income. This provision was incorporated in the 1954 tax law revision. Resolutions
introduced by her and unanimously adopted by the Congress include one opposing the admission of Communist China to the United Nations and one expressing the sense of Congress on the problem of Hungary. In
the 82d and subsequent Congresses she introduced bills to establish the principle of equal pay forequal
work.
In the 84th, 85th, 86th, 87th, and 88th Cong.resses, Mrs. Kelly introduced joint resolutions to create
a joint committee to evaluate, coordinate, and utilize all intelligence matters in the various branches of
the Government. Long concerned with agricultural problems, she lias recommended direct payment to farmers instead of the present system of agricultural subsidies. In the 87th Congress, Mrs. Kelly introduced
bills providing equal pay for eq_ual work for women, raising the minimum hourly wage, and allowin_g income
tax deductions for higher educauonal costs incurred by taxpayers on behalf of dependents. The adoption of
the Kelly Amendment to the Mutual Security Act of 1958 has brought more than $1 billion of business to the
United States. This amendment has not only paid for a large portion of the foreign aid program; also it has
been a major factor in helping to stem the outflow of gold from the United States. In addition, more than 40
percent of these moneys was spent in areas of substantial labor surplus.
One bill Mrs. Kelly introduced in the 88th Congress would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act
to permit a greater number of immigrants to enter the United States each year. The 88th Congress unanimously approved Mrs. Kelly's resolution that was intended to strengthen the United Nations by placing it
on a sound financial basis.
Also enacted in the 88th Congress was a bill she had introduced for many years which all}ended the
social security law to permit a disabled worker to establish the beginning of his disability, for social security protection, as of the date he became disabled, regardless of the date the application is filed.
By appointment of the late President, lohn Fitzgerald Kennedy, Mrs. Kelly served as a member of the
United States delegation to the 18th 'Genera Assembly of the United Nations.
Mrs. Kelly is vice president of the women's advisory council of the Oblate College, Washington, D.C.,
and is also a member of the board of directors, Marymount College, Arlington, Virginia.
Mrs. Kelly was graduated from Hunter College, where she majored in history and economics. She is
active in Red Cross and cancer drives, church charities, the Greater New York Fund, and numerous child
welfare causes.
Mrs. Kelly is the widow of Edward L. Kelly, City Court Justice of the City of New York. She has two
children, William E. Kelly 2d and Maura Patricia Kelly. She has eight grandchildren.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

REPRESENTATIVE CA THERINE MAY (R)
Fourth Congressional District , Washington
Congresswoman Catherine May is the first
woman to be elected to the United States House of
Representatives from the State of Washington, and is
the State's first Representative to serve on the House
Agriculture Committee. A former teacher, writer, commentator and producer of radio programs, Mrs. May, a
Republican, began her political career when she was
elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 1952 where she served for 6 years . She was
subsequently elected to Congress in 1958 and is currently serving her fourth term. She makes her home in
the city in which she was born, Yakima, Washington.
Mrs. May holds a degree in education from the
University of Washington, was head of the high school
English Department at Chehalis, Washington, for 4
years, and later served as a writer with the National
Broadcasting Company in New York. She also was
associated with broadcasting activities in the State
of Washington.
In her home State, Mrs. May served as vice
chairman of the Governor's statewide Committee on
Educational Television; was legislative chairman of the Washington State Federation of Republican Women's Clubs; was a member of the Governor's Safety Council, the Washington Association
for Retarded Children, the Young Republican Federation, Alpha Chi Omega, Business and Professional Women; and is an honorary member of Zonta, Altrusa, and Soropti.m ist Clubs. She is a member of St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Yakima.
In the 89th Congress, Mrs. May is senior ranking Republican on the Family Farms and the
Research and Extension Subcommittees of the Committee on Agriculture, and is second ranking
Republican on the Livestock and Feed Grains, the Farm Labor, and the Domestic Marketing and
Consumer Relations Subcommittees. She is third ranking Republican on the Forests Subcommittee.
Mrs. May is one of five members of the House of Representatives serving on the National Commission on Food Marketing created by Congress in 1964.
Mrs. May is currently president of the Western Regional Republican Conference, and in 1962
was one of six members of the House of Representatives to serve on the Joint Committee on Republican Principles.
In 1960 she was named "Woman of the Year" by Alpha Chi Omega, and in 1959 was recipient
of McCall's Magazine nTogetherness" award and the Theta Sigma Phi Matrix Table Award. Mrs. May
is much in demand a s a speaker.
Devoting special interest to the problems of American agriculture, Congresswoman May is
also a consistent supporter of electric power development; proper utilization of timber, land, and
water resources; and order! y development of reclamation. She is al so active on behalf of selective
assistance for education , handicapped children, and juvenile delinquency prevention. She is noted
for her active battles in Congress against backdoor spend ing and deficit financing.
1

Mrs. May's husband, James 0. May, is a Yakima, Washington, realtor. They have two children:
James, a freshman at the University of Washington, and Melinda, a student at Pyle Junior High
School, Bethesda, Maryland. The family maintains a home in Bethesda, near Washington, D.C.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

REPRESENTATIVE PATSY TAKEMOTO MINK (D)
At large, Hawaii

Mrs. Patsy Takemoto Mink of Honolulu, Hawaii,
is serving her first term. She is the first woman Representative from the State of Hawaii, where she was
an attorney-legis lator. In the 89th Congress she is a
member of the Education and Labor Committee.
Participating in the long struggle for Hawaiian
statehood, Mrs. Mink has been a member of the Democratic Party of Hawaii since 1953. She was charter
president of the Young Democrats of Oahu (1954),
member of the National Democratic Platform Committee (1960), delegate to the National Young Democratic Convention (1957, 1959, 1961), and national
vice president of the National Young Democrats of
America (19 57-1959).
1

The Representativ e from Hawaii was born in
Paia, Maui, and attended Maui High School, where
she was president of the student body ( 1944). She
earned a B. A. degree (1948) from the University of
Hawaii and a J. D. degree from the University of
Chicago Law School (1951).
1

Mrs. Mink has been a lecturer at the University of Hawaii (1952-56, 1959-62), and was attorney for the House of Representativ es of the Territorial Legislature (1955). She was elected to
the Hawaii House of Representativ es (1956, 1958) and to the Hawaii Senate (1958, 1962).
During 1963-64 she was a member of the following committees of the Hawaii Senate: Education (chairman), Land , and Ways and Me ans. She sponsored an equal-pay-for- equ al-wo rk law for
Hawaii.
Mrs. Mink has been active in community affairs. he is director of Lanakila Crafts, a charitable organization to help the handicapped; director of the Hawaii Chapter, American As s ociation
for the United Nations; a member of the Nati on al Association for the Advancement of Colored
People; former director of the Hawaii Association To Help Retarded Children; and forme r director
of the Rural YMCA Chapter, Oahu.
Mrs. Mink is marri ed to John Francis Mink, a geologist, and they have a 12-year-old daughter,
Gwendolyn.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

REPRESENTATIVE CHARLOTTE T. REID (R)
Fifteenth District, Illinois

Mrs. Charlotte T. Reid of Aurora, Illinois, is
serving her second term as Representative in the 89th
Congress of the United States. She was first elected
in 1962 by more than a 60-percent majority and was
reelected in 1964 by a corresponding majority. Mrs.
Reid represents the 15th District of Illinois, which
consists of Kane, La Salle, Kendall, Grundy, and DeKalb Counties.
Mrs. Reid, after being graduated from East Aurora
High School and attending Illinois College, studied
voice in Chicago and for 3 years was the featured
vocalist on NBC and Don Mc Neill's Breakfast Club,
singing under the name of "Annette King." In 1938
she married an Aurora attorney, Frank R. Reid, Jr.,
and worked with him in many local political contests
and in his successful primary campaign for Congress
prior to his death. Mrs. Reid has four children:
Mrs. George Lindner (Patricia), Frank, Edward (Tom),
and Susan.
Representative Reid has al ways had a deep interest in civic and charitable organizations, and has served as cochairman of the Aurora area March
of Dimes and as · president of the Child Welfare Society. She is a member of the Aurora Women's
Republican Club and was a member of its board of directors for 4 years. She has been active in
many other civic organizations, such as Girl Scouts and PTA groups.
At present Mrs. Reid holds membership in the Aurora Business and Professional Women's
Club, Woman's Club of Aurora, Altrusa Club of Aurora, Illinois Federation of Republican Women,
and the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. She holds honorary membership in the Teenage Republican Advisory Committee of the Young Republican National Federation, League of Republican
Women of the District of Columbia, and Republican Women of Capitol Hill.
Mrs. Reid is a member of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and three of
its Subcommittees: Mines and Mining, Territorial and Insular Affairs (ranking Republican member),
and Indian Affairs; and a member of the Public Works Committee and its Flood Control and Watershed Development Subcommittees. She is one of six congressional members of the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She was the first secretary of the
Republican 88th Congress Club and is secretary to the Illinois Republican Delegation. Further
recognition of her service to the Republican Party and in the Congress was given when she was
selected to be one of two first-term Members of the House of Representatives to speak at the opening session of the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

REPRESENTATIVE LEONOR K. SULLIVAN (D)
Third Congressional District, Missouri
Mrs. Leonor K. Sullivan, now serving her seventh
term, is the only woman to have served in Congress from
the State of Missouri. She is the widow of Representative
John Berchmans Sullivan, who was serving his fourth term
m the Congress at the time of his death in 1951.
A native of St. Louis, Mrs. Sullivan represents a
district located wholly within the borders of that city. She
resigned as training executive for a St. Louis business
machines corporation when she married the Congressman
in 1941, and later served as his administrative assistant.
In 1952, after a special election had filled the vacancy in
the 82d Congress caused by her husband's death, Mrs.
Sullivan decided to run for his former seat and won election to the $3d Congress. She was subsequently reelected
to the 84th, 85th, 86th, "87th, 88th, and 89th Congresses.
Known throughout her career in Congress for her
strong interest in consumer issues, Mrs. Sullivan is a
senior member ·of the House Committee on Banking and
Currency and chairman of its Subcommittee on Consumer
Affairs, with primary legislative responsibility for the
''truth in lending'' bill which she introduced, and for other
consumer issues within the committee's jurisdiction. As a
member of the Subcommittee on Housing, she has played a
leading role in the preparation of all housing bills passed
by the House since 1955--sponsoring improvements particularly in housing for the elderly and chronically ill. She
also participated in drafting, and cosponsored, a series of
major measures to bolster national economic conditions,
including the Area Redevelopment Act, the Small Business
Investment Act, the Export Credit Insurance ·Act, the Mass Transit Act, and the Community Facilities Act.
A ranking member also of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, Mrs. Sullivan has served
as chainnan of its Subcommittee on the Panama Canal since 1957, directing numerous studies into the operational problems and activities of the Panama Canal Company.
Besides her own committee responsibilities, Mrs. Sullivan has actively participated on legislation of
consumer interest before other committees, and was instrumental in the passage of the Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957, establishing for the first time compulsory Federal inspection of poultry in interstate
commerce; a series of annual increases in the appropriations for the Food and Drug Administration (Health,
Education, and Welfare Department) and of the Meat and Poultry Inspection Divisions ('Agriculture Department); the Food ·Additives ·Act of 1958, requiring pretesting for safety of all chemical additives used m or
on foodstuffs; the anticancer provision--dealing with artificial coloring used in foods, drugs, and cosmetics-of the Color Additives Act of 1960; the Hazardous Substances Labeling Act of 1961; and the farreaching
Drug Control Act of 1962, including the major provisions relating to prescription drugs first proposed by
her 18 months earlier as part of an omnibus bill to rewrite the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. Except for the prescription drug provisions already enacted, she has reintroduced her omnibus bill, H.R. 1235,
calling for pretesting for safety of all ingredients in cosmetics; premarketing clearance of all health devices; tighter controls over "pep" pills and barbiturates; a ban on flavored aspirin; stronger factory inspection standards for all products subject to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; stricter labeling requirements
to prevent deceptive and misleading packaging; and many other consumer protections. Separate bills deal
with tire safety and industrial hazards.
Congresswoman Sullivan was the author of the food stamp law enacted in 1959 for the distribution of
surplus agricultural commodities to needy Americans through regular grocery stores. A modified food stamp
plan was instituted by the late President Kennedy. This led to her introduction in the 88th Congress of an
administration food stamp bill which was passed by Congress and signed into law on August 31, 1964.
In 1957 Mrs. Sullivan drafted and mtroduced for the first time the exceptional children educational
assistance bill to encourage experienced teachers to take advanced training in the skills of teaching gifted
children or those with pnysical or emotional handicaps. In subsequent Congresses, P.arts of this program
were enacted to establish fellowship programs for teachers of mentally retarded children and those with
speech and hearing defects. The 88th Congress finally broadened the frogram to include teachers of all
categories of handicapped children. Mrs. Sullivan cosponsored the Equa Pay Act of 1963, and introduced
bills to provide full social security benefits for women retiring at age 62 and deductibility for income tax
purposes of all educational expenses.
Educated in public and private schools in St. Louis, Mrs. Sullivan also attended night classes in vocational psychology at Washington University there.
She is a member of the League of Women Voters and of the Auxiliary of the first ·American Legion Post
established in the United States. In the 87th Congress, and again in the present 89th Congress, she was
elected secretary of the Democratic Caucus, and became the first woman member of the House to serve on
the Democratic Steering Committee.
In July 1964, Speaker McCormack named her among 5 members from the House to the National Commission on Food Marketing to investigate and report to Congress ·on all aspects of the food marketing industry from farmer to consumer.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS OF WOMEN IN THE 89th CONGRESS
Women Members of Congress have assignments to 5 of the 16 Standing Committees of the Senate, and
to 10 of the 20 Standing Committees of the House of Representatives, as well as other separate assignments.

Committees of the SE A TE
Maurine Brown Neuberger (D)
Standing Committees: Banking and Currency
Commerce
Special Committee on Aging
Margaret Chase Smith (R)
Standing Committees: Aeronautical and Space Sciences
Appropriations
Armed Services
Republican Policy Committee
Committees of the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE S
Agriculture
Catherine May (R)

Government Operations
Florence P. Dwyer (R)

Appropriations
Julia Butler Hansen (D)

Interior and Insular Affairs
Charlotte T. Reid (R)

Banking and Currency
Florence P. Dwyer (R)
Leonor K. Sullivan (D)

Merchant Marine and Fisheries
Edith Green (D)
Leonor K. Sullivan (D)

Education and Labor
Edith Green (D)
Patsy Takemoto Mink (D)

Public Works
Charlotte T. Reid (R)

Foreign Affairs
Frances P. Bolton (R)
Edna F. Kelly (D)

Ways and Means
Martha W. Griffiths (D)

Joint Economic Committee of the SENATE and the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE S
Representative Martha W. Griffiths (D)

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

NUMBER OF WOMEN IN CONGRES , 1917-1965
Congress
89th .......
88th .......
87th .......
86th .......
85th .......
84th .......
83rd .......
82d .......
81st .......
80th .......
79th .......
78th .......
77th .......
76th .......
75th .......
74th .......
73d .......
72d .......
71st .......
70th .......
69th .......
68th .......
67th .......
66th .......
65th .... ·...

Total

Senate

2
2
2
1
1
1
2
1
1

13
19
17
16
17

.13
11
10
8
10
9
10
9
9
8
8
8
9
5
3
1

1
1
1

3
2
1
1

House
10

11
17
16
15
*16
11
10
9
8
10
8
9
8
6
6
7
7
9
5

3
1

*Includes the delegate from Hawaii.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

-t, U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING -OFFICE : !HS 0-767·714

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Full text of Women in the ... Congress : 89th

FRASER