This was the first of a twopart program, you can view this and all other american artifacts programs at her website, cspan. Org history. Each week American History tvs american artifacts visits museums and historic places. Up next we take you inside thes house wing of the u. S. Capital to learn about the history of women in congress. And second of a twoFarar Elliott program we continue the story beginning in the 1940s with republican congresswomen Clare Boothe Luce. Im Farar Elliott curateor for the house of representatives, which means i take care of the artwork and objects that document the houses rich heritage. Im Matthew Wasniewski and historian at the house. And my job is to collect biographical information on members, to gather data and historic lists, and to con dpdu oral histories. We reference questions in our office that come from on the hill and off the hill. And we try to tell the story of the house, which is this very big, very Old Institution in a way in which people can kind of connect with it at a human level. So we do that through telling biographical stories or clips from oral histories that give people kind of a human sense of very large institution. And today we thought we would try and do that with you by telling you about the history of women in congress, which is a history that dates back to the early 20th century. This is a nifty piece of campaign thing. Its for Clare Boothe Luce her Reelection Campaign and its quite handy even tells you what to do, use this column for voting for Clare Boothe Luce how you go into the voting booth and make sure you are pulling the levers to elect Clare Boothe Luce. And Clare Boothe Luce would have been the republican counterpart of helen hagen douglas. Someone wellknown to the general public. Her career really had started as a writer and editor. She was managering editor for vanity fair magazine in the 1930s and eventually later in the 1930s married henri luce founder of time and life and fortune magazines. So she had a very prominent background before she came to congress. And she was elected to two terms in the 1940s. She originally had been a supporter of the new deal. And then she turned against fdrs domestic policies. But by the time she comes to congress shes one of the more eloquent spokes people in terms of criticisms of fdrs wartime management. And shes not an isolationist. Shes an internationalist. She also is a woman who supports the equal rights amendment. And enhanced role for women in the military services and outside the home. So shes something of a feminist as well. From america, this congressional delegation comes to the western front on a dp democratic mission, mrs. Luce serve op the house of Representatives Affairs committee. The group travels toward the battle line observing american weapons and supplies powering the big push to the rhine. After looking over nearly liberated on the lines, on their return home they will make their report to the american nation. She serves two terms. This would have been for her 1944 reelection. But about that time she suffers a personal tragedy. Had her only daughter is killed in a car wreck near stanford where she was going to college. And with that, she kind of lost a lot of her zeal for public office. And she retires from the house at the end of the 79th congress in 1947. She and douglas would have overlapped for a term. But they certainly would have been known by the general public as two very prominent women with both in a political sense, but also kind of in a cultural sense. This is favorite buttons, it says continue with co coya knuthson. This is wonderful person. Matt talks about these women and whats going on in the nation at large. But she pays the price in some ways of the changing view of women in the 1940s and 50s after world war ii ends. This is a photograph of her with her husband andy in front of andys hotel and he plays a prominent role in how her career ends. Yeah. Up to this point in the story, there is so many women who come to congress through that connection to their husband. Through some kind of familial collection. And this is a story she loses her congressional career because of that familial connection. She came up through the, first of all, she represented a district in minnesota for two terms. But came up through the Democratic Farmer Labor Party in minnesota. And thats how she got her political start. She served in the minnesota house of representatives. And had a very promising political career. In 1954, she decides to run for a u. S. House seat. And she goes against the wishes of democratic farmer labor leaders who are not happy with the fact that she doesnt want to stay in the state house of representatives. So she has to fund her own political campaign. And she does so. She wins election. Her husband andy at this point, this was a strained marriage to begin with, he grows jealous of her political success. And so in the house though she has a very successful career. She gets on the agricultural committee. Its a very promising career. One of the things she does because of her background as a teacher she wants to push for a federal student loan program. And she managers after the sputnik crisis to slip in a provision, an amendment to the National Defense education act in 1958, that establishes federal student loans. So she knows the legislative ropes and really pushes her agenda. Unfortunately, she runs for election that year, and democratic farmer labor operatives sabotage her campaign. They write alert that they get her husband andy to sign. And the letter says that their marriage is suffering because shes far from home. And it in timates that there might be something with staffer. And the tag line on the letter is, coyna, come home. And she loses the election because of the negative publicity generated by the letter. And a lot of it was the social expectation that womens place was in this domestic sphere inside the home. And that really comes back to hurt the campaign. In the 1958 midterms, shes the only incumbent democrat to lose her seat and her career comes to a close. She later tries to run for congress again, but shes unsuccessful. Julia butler hanson of Washington State is definitely one of the women in this era who is pushing the ball along for women in terms of this apprenticeship they are serving as a group. She becomes a very influential member of the house. And her background was actually as a member, a long time member of the Washington State house of representatives. So shes got a lot of legislative experience before she ever comes to capitol hill. She was a chair of a couple of committees in the legislature. Spoke as speaker pro tem. One of the things in Washington Prime mover from establishing the fairy system in the state. Ferry system. And shes not typical freshman when shes elected in 1960 in special election. And very quickly moves into a position of influence. She gets a seat on the Appropriations Committee in the house. And by the mid 1960s she vies for a subcommittee chairman ship, one of the socalled cardinals of the Appropriations Committee. And she competes for a seat on the interior and related agencies subcommittee. And its a tough competition, but she wins out. But the chairman of the committee, man by the name of george ma hand of texas, full committee, decides he tested her in getting the chairman ship, and hes going to test her as a new chairman. So the first time she comes to the full committee with her bill for interior and related agencies, which is hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, its a big appropriations bill, he says to her, julia, this is great, but you got to cut 2 million out of it. And she kind of looked at him and said, yes, mr. Chairman, and she left. And she went back to her subcommittee. And she comes back a couple days later to the full committee, and she says, mr. Chairman, i want to report back to you, i found 2. 5 million to cut out of the bill. Julia, thats just wonderful. Wherever did you find it . Right out of your district, mr. Chairman. And he never bothered her again. Martha griffiths who was a power in her own right said of julia hansen, that she knew how to exercise power than any women who she had seen in any legislature, and coming from martha, thats high praise. So here we have a campaign postcard of Martha Griffiths who was one of the influential women members from the 1950s into the 1970s. She represented a michigan district. And like some of the earlier women here, like julia butler hansen, she has a lot of experience before she ever comes to congress. Shes a lawyer. She serves as a judge in michigan. And shes elected to the house in 1954. She comes in in 1955. And she too very quickly moves into positions of influence. Shes the first woman after a number of women in congress had campaigned with the speaker to get a seat on the very exclusive ways and means committee, the tax committee. And from that position, she really ways in on a lot of issues affecting women, monetarily, but shes probably best known as the mother of the equal rights amendment. Every year she reintroduced the equal rights amendment, which has a history in the house, in Congress Going back to 1923. And the bill was just stuck in the Judicial Committee and never came out. And she was a lawyer by training. She was very critical of the Supreme Court. She didnt think the Supreme Court was ever going to decide a case that would make women truly equal with men. And so she got behind the equal rights amendment. She gets it out of the Judiciary Committee with a discharge in early 1970s. Passes in the house, and stalls in the senate. Then she comes back and does it again in the following congress. And finally era passes in 1972 and it goes out to the states. It is never approved as a constitutional amendment, but Martha Griffiths was really among a core group of women, prime mover behind that. Other thing she does is during the 1964 civil rights act, she was very interested in pushing an an amendment through that would give women equal rights in terms of employment. But she was very cagey about how she did it. She knew that the chairman of the house rules committee, howard smith, who was a committed segregationist, that he wanted to sink the civil 1 0 civil rights act, and was going to have sex into equal opportunity, title 7 of the act, and she held back because she knew smith could bring a lot of southern votes with him. And he did this as a gimmick to sink the civil rights act. So he gets on to the floor and talks about how he wants to insert the word sex into this amendment, and there is laughter and gig elgles around the chamb. And Martha Griffith follows him up on the behalf of the amendment. If there was any need to prove if we need this amendment, the laughing prior to me getting up here, this he proved it. And the chamber fell silent. They proved it. Eventually in title 7 was included in the civil rights act. So again another key legislative action by Martha Griffiths. This is a Campaign Poster for shirley chism, first africanamerican women in congress. I love this because it says unbought and unbossed. But its not for her congressional campaign. Its actually for Something Else entirely. Chisolm. Yeah, its actually from a president ial campaign she waged in 1972. And went to the Democratic Convention and rounded up 10 of the votes. First africanamerican women to run for president and she did it on a shoestring budget and had a very admirable showing. But she had a reputation, a National Reputation well before 1972. Shes elected to congress in 1968 from a district that encompasses much of brooklyn. And she becomes very prominent in that campaign. Her opponent in the general election on the republican, liberal republican ticket, was james farmer, one of the great civil rights leaders. And there is this back and forth between these two. And farmer really runs on the idea that, you know, brooklyn needs a man in congress. And shirley chisol lm, boy, she fires back, and her campaign is like on this poster, im here to be your congresswomen. So shes very much she embraces this advocacy role. Shes elected and becomes the first africanamerican women in congress in 1969. And she serves a career that in a lot of ways is symbolic. Shes the first. She helps establish the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971. And then she also gains a very prominent committee assignment. Sheels the first africanamerican women to serve on the house rules committee. Shes. Which is the committee that pulses legislation on to the floor. So she had her hands on a lot of important developments in the house. But she also had a National Reputation. And she was someone who was very outspoken, which represents really a lot of the women who are coming into congress at this point. Her colleague from new york city was bella who served for a couple terms in the house in the 1970s and would later go on and try to be elected mayor of new york, unsuccesfully. But these were two women who spoke their mind, whether it was about Committee Assignments that they didnt agree with. Shirley was assigned originally to the Agriculture Committee and went to the leadership and she was told by the speaker of the house, be a good soldier. So she went out on to the house floor and she started saying things like, i got a lot more veterans in my district than i do trees. Shes signed to the Veterans Affairs committee. So these were not people who were going to sit and be quiet either in terms of the expectation for freshman generally, or for women members. So they really kind of challenged the system. And this really reflects a lot of whats going on in Wider Society with the womens Rights Movement in the 1960s and 1970s. That women are challenging these roles that had been carved out for them. And really trying to participate in a much more important and fuller way in u. S. Society. And Shirley Chisolm certainly represents that. One of the things that we did in the last ten years was commission portraits of some of the pioneers in the house. And that certainly included shirl Shirley Chisolm. And that depicts a lot of what matt was talking about, about her. That she had a national agenda. And she took on a voeadvocacy r. So this highlight the figure, the subject that is there, but the capital is present too, so you no he where she is. But it very much makes the capitol smaller than her stature. She was taking on those roles. And its also a very assertive portrait. Shes looking at gesturing to the viewer. And in order to do that, we sought out artists who we felt could tell a story very quickly. And that included Childrens Book illustrators. And this particular portrait was done by someone who is nationally and internationally Award Winning Childrens Book illustrator. And interestingly, its become one of the portraits that is the most beloved by children who visit the capitol because they look at it and immediately can see what is going on. And its a piece of history thats a great thing for kids to hear and for tour guides to be telling when they bring kids around to see this. One of the things thats happening with chisolm, too, shes a great example in this era, which we would really call the modern aer a from 1970s up, a lot of women elected to congress increasingly have prior legislative experience. She served in the new york legislature, the new york state legislature. And she had that background. And a lot of the women who are coming in with her have that kind of legislative experience already. And that makes a tremendous difference when you get into the latter decades of the 20th century, the 80s, 90s, because you have women strong at running campaigns and stronger candidates and thats why we see the growth of women in congress particularly in 1990s when we go to what had never been more than really 20 women in any one time to 40, 50, 60 women serving in any one congress. These are just a few of the hundreds of Campaign Buttons that we have in the house collection. But i love seeing them all together. Matt and i often say we try to put a human face on the house. And to give people individual stories to latch on to and understand. And each of these women, rankin, lyndey, hansen have fascinating stories, but what i love is seeing them all together and this richness and variety of women putting themselves forward to serve their country and congress. I am deeply impressed by all the women who have run by congress and all the women who have served there. One of my favorite is probably lindy bogs. She comes into congress in 1973 in a special election. And its interesting because this is the time period when we see more and more women who have political careers in their own right who are elect toded to th house. About you she follows the old widows mandate route. Her husband hale bogs had represented new Orleans Center district for almost three decades. Risen to become majority leader in the house. And many people expected him to become speaker of the house. And until october of 1972, during a Campaign Trip to alaska, his aircraft disappeared, and he was presumed dead. The seat was later vacated. And lind yiery was prevailed on run for the seat. She had been for years eyes and ears in the district. Ran his campaigns back home, particularly as he moved up the leadership ladder in the house. And she knew his office and his agenda intimately. And she came into congress, and it was unlike the Shirley Chisolms, she did a quiet determination to push womens rights along. And there is a great story she has in her memoirs of getting assignment to the banking and Currency Committee. And there was a bill before the banking and Currency Committee that would provide equal access to credit. And when the bill was being marked up in committee, the draft came around, and she looked at it, and it said, you know, equal access to credit without racial, age, veteran status, discrimination. But it said nothing about sex or marital status. And she had just become a widow and had to have all of the finances transferred over to her. So this was fresh in her mind. And so she quietly took a penicillin inserted the phrase sex or marital status. Got up. Walked to the copier. Made a photo copy for everyone on the dias. Handed it out. And said, knowing everyone on the committee as i do, i know that this was just an oversight, and i would assume that my addition here will be wholeheartedly greeted. And with that, the Committee Voted Unanimously for the change in the amendment. But thats how she worked. And she was a real institutionalist and someone who cared very much about the history of the house and loved to tell visitors about it and wanted folks to know about the richness and the history of this place. We are indeed a nation that is a majority of women. We also are a nation where the majority of women who are heads of households with children under six years of age are in poverty. We also as women started gaining power and the second wave of feminist got going in the 1 1970s,something happened that was really kind of wonderful and its called super sisters. And it happened in 1978 when a little girl in new york who collected baseball cards and was pretty young, i think she was eight or ten years old, came to her mom who was a School Teacher and said how come i have no baseball cards with girls on them. And her mom said i dont know thats crazy. She created a series of 70some cards of important women, mostly present but some past. And got a grant from new york state to produce them. And they became trading cards. And actually very popular. 15,000 sets of the 70 some cards were sold. And of those quite a few are women in congress. This is just a few. We dont have a full set of the super sisters. We have a full set of women in congress represented in the super sister. And fronts have image of them. And the backs, this is Shirley Chisolm, have stats, no rbis or anything like that, but birth, home, and little bits about each person. And they are wonderful because some of them have quotations from these women and what their accomplishments are and how they got there. And they became wonderful piece 1970s civic engagement. And i love looking at them. Not just for that, but also because some of them have some really fantastic hair. And those cards really coincide with a trend really that begins in the late 1970s, and thats women are organizing and empowering themselves to move further up the congressional leadership ladder. More women are being elected to congress. In 1977, both republican and Democratic Women come together and found the congressional womens caucus which has a successful legislative agenda pushing womens specific issues in 1980s and 1990s. In 1980s you begin to development of Political Action committees that fund women candidates. That had been one of the things that held women candidates back quite a bit was money for expensive campaigns. And then in the 1990s we begin to see greater numbers of women elected. 1992 campaign, the socalled year of the women, sends almost two dozen new women into the house. This is only a beginning. These women know how many talented, experienced, able, and prepared women there are in their states and in other states. It is our job together to make sure that they think about running, that we get them to accept the challenge of running, and then that we support them through that race to victory. Because this is what you can get if you work at it. Thanks. [ applause ] and every election after that, every cycle, the number begins to tick up slowly. And as there is more women elected to the house, they get better Committee Assignments, get a range of assignments, and move up into leadership positions. And right down to the modern era where we have rogers chair of the republican conference and nancy pelosi, who was the former speaker, and is still the de democratic leader. So the transmission women have made in the last time period has been one of great expansion. And when you look at it, you go back to 1917 with rankin, its been this span of 298 women, almost 300 women up to this point. So its a long story, but its a good one. Great. [ applause ] you can see this and all other american artifacts programs at our website cspan. Org history. Week nights this month we are featuring American History tv programs as preview of whats available every weekend on c span 3. Next, charles stewart, house and rise of party government. Talks about electricing speaker of the house. Afterwards u. S. Historian Matthew Wasniewski and house curator Farar Elliott use selection of artifacts to tell story of African Americans in congress
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