Schenken Suzanne O’Dea. From Suffrage to the Senate: An Encyclopedia of American Women in Politics (2 Volumes)

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

Jackson Lee, Sheila (b. 1950)

Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas entered the U.S. House of Repre-

sentatives on 3 January 1995. Elected president of the Democratic fresh-

man class, Jackson Lee helped found the bipartisan Congressional Chil-

dren’s Caucus during her second term. She has introduced and passed

legislation relating to adoption, jobs for public housing residents, and re-

search grants for historically black colleges and universities as well as

those serving Hispanics. Flood control and support for the National Aero-

nautics and Space Administration (NASA) are two areas important to her

constituents that she has also worked on.

Jackson Lee has supported affirmative action programs, saying that, as

an African American, she would not have attended Yale University without

them. She explained: “It is so intensely personal, I have trouble containing

myself when I debate this issue.” When Congress considered the crime bill,

she offered an amendment to use money normally reserved for building

prisons for building boot camps for offenders. The amendment passed, but

the funds became part of block grants that allowed states to determine their

use. Believing that block grants contributed to segregationist policies, Jack-

son Lee voted against the bill. Her achievements included an amendment

to provide adequate funding for the African Development Foundation, a

U.S. federal agency that supports community-based self-help initiatives to

alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development in Africa.

Homelessness, gun safety and responsibility, welfare reform empha-

sizing back-to-work programs, and science and technology issues are

355

among Jackson Lee’s legislative priorities. She advocates funds for antivi-

olence programs in schools, full funding for Head Start, and increased

support for school lunch programs.

Born in Jamaica, New York, Sheila Jackson Lee earned her bachelor’s

degree in political science from Yale University in 1972 and her law degree

from the University of Virginia Law School in 1975. Jackson Lee worked

for the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations

as staff counselor from 1977 to 1978. She moved to Houston, Texas, and

entered into private law practice for the next several years.

Appointed an associate judge on the Houston Municipal Court in

1987, Jackson Lee later served on the Houston City Council from 1990 to

1994. As a council member, she sponsored and won passage of a gun

safety law containing penalties for adults who do not have their guns

locked away from children. She expanded the summer hours for city parks

and recreation areas as a way to discourage gang activity, and she created

a city-authorized committee on homelessness.

See also Affirmative Action; Brady, Sarah Jane Kemp; Congress, Women in;

Lesbian Rights

References Congressional Quarterly, Politics in America 1996 (1995); Doherty,

“Surface Racial Harmony on Hill Hides Simmering Tensions” (1998); Gill,

African American Women in Congress (1997); www.house.gov/jacksonlee/bio.

Jenckes, Virginia Ellis (1877–1975)

Democrat Virginia Jenckes of Indiana served in the U.S. House of Repre-

sentatives from 4 March 1933 to 3 January 1939. Jenckes based her con-

356 Jenckes, Virginia Ellis

Representative Sheila

Jackson Lee (D-TX)

delivered her opening

statement to the

House Judiciary Com-

mittee during

the impeachment

hearings of President

Bill Clinton, 1998

(Associated Press AP)

gressional campaign on ending Prohibition, arguing that because alcohol

used grain in its manufacture, legalizing it would improve the market for

the grain raised by her constituents. As a member of Congress, flood con-

trol legislation was her chief concern, but she did not serve on a commit-

tee that dealt with the issue, which limited her ability to use her expertise

in the area. She ran for a fourth term but lost in the general election.

During her tenure in Congress, Jenckes was a U.S. delegate to the

1937 Paris meeting of the Interparliamentary Union, a world organization

of parliaments that provides forums for international dialogues between

nations with peace as its primary goal. In 1956, she gained attention for

her role in helping five priests escape from Hungary during the 1956 up-

rising in that country. She later worked for the American Red Cross.

Born in Terre Haute, Indiana, Jenckes became a farmer in 1912. She

was a founder and secretary of the Wabash Maumee Valley Improvement

Association, serving from 1926 to 1932.

See also Congress, Women in

References Breckenridge, Women in the Twentieth Century (1933); Engelbarts,

Women in the United States Congress, 1917–1972 (1974); Office of the

Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, Women in Congress, 1917–1990

(1991).

Johnson, Claudia Alta (Lady Bird) Taylor (b. 1912)

Lady Bird Johnson was first lady from 1963 to 1969, the years her husband

Lyndon Baines Johnson was president of the United States. As first lady,

Johnson promoted her husband’s Great Society programs, making three or

four national tours annually to bring attention to them. A strong supporter

of its education components, she served as honorary chair of Head Start.

An environmentalist, she organized the 1965 White House Conference on

Natural Beauty, played a significant role in the passage of the Highway

Beautification Act of 1965, and led a national beautification project that in-

cluded recruiting friends to help plant thousands of tulip and daffodil

bulbs in Washington, D.C. Through Project Green Thumb, Johnson en-

listed retired farmers who volunteered to improve highway borders. After

leaving the White House, she continued her environmental work, serving

on national boards and founding the National Wildlife Research Center.

Born in Karnack, Texas, Lady Bird Johnson’s given name is Claudia

Alta Taylor, but when a nurse caring for her as a baby said that she was as

“pretty as a lady bird,” it became her name. Johnson earned her bachelor’s

degree in history in 1933 and a journalism degree in 1934, both from the

University of Texas. She married Lyndon Johnson in 1934.

Lady Bird Johnson campaigned for her husband throughout his career,

including his congressional, senatorial, vice presidential, and presidential

Johnson, Claudia Alta (Lady Bird) Taylor 357

campaigns. During World War II, she managed his congressional office af-

ter he enlisted in the military and directed many of the couple’s financial

investments, including the purchase of a radio station in the 1940s and

other property. During the years that Lyndon Johnson was vice president,

Lady Bird Johnson traveled more than 120,000 miles and visited thirty

foreign countries on behalf of the United States. Lady Bird Johnson was

riding in the Dallas, Texas, motorcade the November 1963 day that Presi-

dent John Kennedy was assassinated. Her husband became president of

the United States a few hours after the shooting. Johnson wrote A White

House Diary (1970) and coauthored Wildflowers across America (1988).

References Crawford and Ragsdale, Women in Texas (1992); Gould, “First Lady

as Catalyst: Lady Bird Johnson and Highway Beautification in the 1960s”

(1986).

Johnson, Eddie Bernice (b. 1935)

Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas entered the U.S. House of Rep-

resentatives on 5 January 1993. Johnson held the leadership position of

Democratic deputy whip in the 106th Congress (1999–2001). Johnson’s

first career was in nursing, as chief psychiatric nurse at a Veterans Admin-

istration hospital from 1956 to 1972. She is the only member of Congress

who is a registered nurse. Congresswoman Johnson’s dominant concerns

are unemployment and the attendant social concerns. She believes that

358 Johnson, Eddie Bernice

First Lady Claudia

“Lady Bird” Johnson

conferred with her

assistant Elizabeth

Carpenter while

planning a dinner,

1963 (Corbis/

Bettmann)

education and job training are the keys to

solving those problems. She explained:

“I’m not opposed to cracking down on

crime and eliminating violence in the

country, but I’ve always believed that edu-

cation and job training are the best crime

fighters around.”

Her other congressional priorities in-

clude the economy, the environment, ac-

cessible health care, and job opportunities

for minorities. She has sponsored mea-

sures for expanded research on osteoporo-

sis and related bone diseases, to protect ac-

cess to reproductive health care services, to

expand health care services under

Medicare, and to reform tax policies re-

lated to deducting health insurance costs.

Other legislation she has sponsored would

encourage women to enter scientific and technical professions.

A member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1973 to 1977,

Johnson passed legislation for age-appropriate public education programs

for self-reliance and preventative health care, and she and Sarah Wed-

dington passed a bill prohibiting school districts from firing pregnant

teachers. She held hearings to examine and expose racism in city and state

hiring and contracting.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Johnson regional direc-

tor for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), where

she served until 1979. She became executive assistant to the HEW admin-

istrator for primary health care in 1979 and held the office until 1981. She

resumed her political career in 1987, when she entered the Texas Senate,

and served until 1993.

Born in Waco, Texas, African American Eddie Johnson earned her

nursing diploma at St. Mary’s College at the University of Notre Dame in

1955, her bachelor of science degree from Texas Christian University in

1967, and her master’s degree in public administration from Southern

Methodist University in 1976.

See also Abortion; Congress, Women in; Weddington, Sarah Ragle

References Congressional Quarterly, Politics in America 1996 (1995); Gill,

African American Women in Congress (1997); www.house.gov/ebjohnson/

bio.htm.

Johnson, Eddie Bernice 359

Representative Eddie

Bernice Johnson

(D-TX) spoke on the

floor during the U.S.

House debate over

the four articles of

impeachment against

President Bill Clinton,

1998 (Associated Press

APTN)

Johnson, Lady Bird

See Johnson, Claudia Alta (Lady Bird) Taylor

Johnson, Nancy Lee (b. 1935)

Republican Nancy Johnson of Connecticut entered the U.S. House of

Representatives on 3 January 1983. Congresswoman Johnson has been a

leader in health care reform, introducing the first comprehensive bill to

provide universal access to care and to control costs. She is also involved

in developing trade export policies and assisting the ball-bearing and

roller-bearing industry, an important employer in Connecticut. Johnson

developed a comprehensive child care package that would have provided

vouchers to pay the fees.

As chair of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct,

Johnson led the two-year investigation of Speaker Newt Gingrich’s fund-

360 Johnson, Lady Bird

Representative Nancy

Johnson (R-CT) shook

hands with a small

girl during her cam-

paign for reelection,

1998 (Associated Press

AP)

raising activities, organizations in the fundraising activities, and the fi-

nancing of the college course he taught. Accused by Democrats of at-

tempting to protect Gingrich, Johnson also underwent intense pressure

from Republicans who wanted her to avoid a vendetta against Gingrich.

In December 1996, Gingrich admitted that he had failed to properly man-

age the financing of his political activities and that he had given the ethics

committee misleading information. In January 1997, the House voted to

reprimand Gingrich and to impose a penalty of $300,000 against him.

Johnson held the leadership position of secretary of the Republican Cau-

cus in the 103rd Congress (1993–1995).

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Nancy Johnson earned her bachelor’s de-

gree from Radcliffe College in 1957 and attended the University of Lon-

don from 1957 to 1958. Before entering politics, Johnson was a commu-

nity activist and an adjunct professor of political science at Central

Connecticut State University. She served in the Connecticut Senate from

1977 to 1983.

See also Congress, Women in; Reproductive Rights; State Legislatures,

Women in

References Congressional Quarterly, Politics in America 1994 (1993), Politics

in America 1998 (1997).

Johnson v. Transportation Agency of Santa Clara County (1987)

In Johnson v. Transportation Agency, the legality of an affirmative ac-

tion plan for women was the issue. The U.S. Supreme Court decided in

1987 that the plan was permissible under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

of 1964.

In 1978, the Santa Clara County Transit District Board of Supervi-

sors adopted an affirmative action plan and included sex as one of the fac-

tors to be considered in deciding among qualified applicants for a posi-

tion. When the job of road dispatcher opened, Diane Joyce, the county’s

first female road maintenance worker, applied for it. She and six men were

certified eligible for the position, with Joyce receiving a seventy-three on

the qualifying interview and Paul Johnson, another qualified applicant,

receiving a score of seventy-five on the interview. After a second interview,

Johnson was recommended for the job, but the agency director, who ulti-

mately made the decision, chose Joyce. The Court found the affirmative

action plan and the decision to hire Joyce acceptable.

See also Affirmative Action; Employment Discrimination

References Becker, “Prince Charming: Abstract Equality” (1988); Johnson v.

Transportation Agency of Santa Clara County, 480 U.S. 616 (1987).

Johnson v. Transportation Agency of Santa Clara County 361

Jones, Stephanie Tubbs (b. 1949)

Democrat Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio entered the U.S. House of Rep-

resentatives on 3 January 1999. Jones’s congressional priorities include us-

ing budget surpluses to fund Social Security, making child day care more

available and less expensive, and increasing funding for Head Start and

similar programs. Jones opposes mandatory sentencing, explaining that

she believes it takes away the need for a judge. The former county judge

and county prosecutor was elected to the Cleveland Municipal Court

when she was thirty-one years old.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Jones earned her bachelor’s degree in 1971

and her law degree in 1974, both at Case Western Reserve University. Af-

ter serving on the municipal court, Jones was the first black woman in

Ohio history to serve on the Court of Common Pleas, holding the posi-

tion from 1983 to 1991. She was then Cuyahoga County prosecutor from

1991 until her election to Congress in 1998.

See also Congress, Women in

References “Stephanie Tubbs Jones” (1998).

Jordan, Barbara Charline (1936–1996)

Democrat Barbara Jordan of Texas served in the U.S. House of Represen-

tatives from 3 January 1973 to 3 January 1979. Throughout her public ca-

reer, Jordan reminded Americans of their nation’s highest ideals and the

362 Jones, Stephanie Tubbs

Representative

Stephanie Tubbs

Jones (center)

(D-OH) gathered

with other first-year

Congressmembers on

the steps of the U.S.

Capitol; to the left is

Representative Grace

Napolitano (D-CA),

1998 (Associated

Press AP)

need to include all citizens in attaining them, using language so simple

and direct that she carried her audiences with her.

Born in Houston, Texas, Barbara Jordan attended Houston’s segre-

gated public schools and earned her bachelor of arts degree in political

science and history from Texas Southern University in 1956 and her law

degree from Boston University in 1959. Following her admission to the

bar, she opened a private practice. She entered politics in 1960, working in

Harris County, Texas, on John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Orga-

nizing precincts to identify Kennedy supporters, she began speaking be-

fore increasingly larger groups and learned that her speaking style and

message resonated with voters.

With her interest in politics sparked, Jordan ran for the Texas House

of Representatives in 1960 but lost in the primary. She lost again in 1962,

but reapportionment in 1966 placed her in a new district, and she won her

race for the state Senate. When she took office in 1967, Jordan became the

first African American woman to serve in the Texas legislature. Despite

her status as an elected state official, racism continued to interfere in her

life. For example, she could not eat at the segregated private clubs where

her colleagues gathered for meetings, conversation, and meals.

In the legislature, Jordan sponsored and passed measures that created

the Texas Fair Employment Commission, that improved workers’ compen-

sation, and that expanded minimum wage provisions to cover employees

not included in the federal law. She introduced the state’s first Fair Housing

Act and chaired the Senate’s Reapportionment Committee. She wrote and

passed legislation that created the Texas Department of Community Af-

fairs, developed programs for education and training programs for handi-

capped persons, and reformed the workers’ compensation program. Jordan

served in the state Senate until 1972, when she ran for Congress.

While campaigning for Congress, Jordan said: “All blacks are militant

in their guts. But militancy is expressed in different ways.” Jordan expressed

her militancy with an elegance and intellectual clarity that compelled lis-

teners to respond to her message. After winning her seat in the U.S. House

of Representatives, Jordan sought the counsel of former president Lyndon

B. Johnson, a fellow Texan, who advised her to seek a seat on the presti-

gious Judiciary Committee and used his influence to help her obtain it.

Americans came to recognize Jordan’s intelligence and powerful or-

atory during the 1974 House Judiciary Committee’s deliberations on the

impeachment of Richard Nixon. In a memorable speech, she decried the

Constitution’s drafters’ omission of black Americans: “‘We the people’—

it is a very eloquent beginning. But when the Constitution of the United

States was completed on the seventeenth day of September in 1787, I was

not included in that ‘We the people.’ I felt for many years that somehow

Jordan, Barbara Charline 363

George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake.

But through the process of amendment, interpretation and court deci-

sions, I have finally been included in ‘We, the people.’” She continued:“My

faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total. I am not going

to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion and

the destruction of the Constitution.” After making her case against Nixon,

she said that if the committee did not impeach Nixon, “then perhaps the

eighteenth-century Constitution should be abandoned to a twentieth-

century paper shredder.” The authority and confidence with which she

spoke camouflaged her concern about voting to impeach a president. She

wept after casting her vote.

Jordan worked to develop national programs to combat disease, to

increase the minimum wage, and to improve the standard of living of im-

364 Jordan, Barbara Charline

Representative

Barbara Jordan

(D-TX) delivered

her second keynote

address to the

Democratic National

Convention in 1992

(Associated Press AP)