Edith Green
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOregon's3rd district
In office January 3, 1955 – December 31, 1974
Preceded by	Homer D. Angell
Succeeded by	Robert B. Duncan
Personal details
Born	Edith Louise Starrett (1910-01-17)January 17, 1910 Trent, South Dakota, U.S.
Died	April 21, 1987(1987-04-21) (aged 77) Tualatin, Oregon, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Arthur Green (1933–1963)
Education	Willamette University University of Oregon (BA) Stanford University

Edith Louise Starrett Green (January 17, 1910 – April 21, 1987) was an American politician and educator fromOregon. She was the second Oregonian woman to be elected to theU.S. House of Representatives and served a total of ten terms, from 1955 to 1974, as aDemocrat.

Green advanced women's issues, education, library support and social reform; she played an instrumental role in passing the 1972 Equal Opportunity in Education Act, better known asTitle IX.^[1]

She was born Edith Louise Starrett inTrent, South Dakota. Her family moved to Oregon in 1916, where she attended schools inSalem, graduating from Salem High School (Now known asNorth Salem High School) in 1927.^[2] Then attendingWillamette University from 1927 to 1929. She worked as a schoolteacher and advocate of education in 1929, married Arthur N. Green in 1930, and left school to begin a family.^[3]

In 1939 Green went back to school and earned abachelor's degree from theUniversity of Oregon and did graduate study atStanford University. She became a radio commentator and writer in the 1940s, but her interest in educational issues led her to become alobbyist for theOregon Education Association.^[4]

She was an honorary member ofDelta Sigma Theta sorority.

ADemocrat, Green first ran for political office in 1952 as the Democratic candidate forOregon Secretary of State. She was defeated in a close race by incumbentEarl T. Newbry.^[5] In1954, she was elected as the representative forOregon's 3rd congressional district, defeatingRepublican nominee (and futureOregon governor)Tom McCall. Green was the second woman (afterNan Wood Honeyman) to be elected to the House from Oregon, and one of only 17 women in the House at the time of her election.^[3]

Throughout her ten terms as a representative, Green focused on women's issues, education, and social reform. In 1955 Green proposed theEqual Pay Act, to ensure that men and women were paid equally for equal work. The bill was signed into law eight years later. Other significant legislation that she introduced included theAlaska Mental Health Enabling Act of 1956, which reformed the mental health care system of the thenAlaska Territory; theLibrary Services Act, which provided access to libraries for rural communities;^[6] theHigher Education Facilities Act of 1963, whichLyndon Johnson called "the greatest step forward in the field since the passage of theLand-Grant Act of 1862",^[3] and theHigher Education Act of 1965 and 1967. Green's commitment to education earned herepithets like "the Mother of Higher Education" and "Mrs. Education".^[7][8]

Green also provided significant input to theNational Defense Education Act of 1958, intended to keep the United States ahead of theSoviet Union during thespace race after the launch ofSputnik 1.

Green helped to develop the legislation that was to becomeTitle IX, now-called the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.^[1] The law prohibited sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions. In the late 1960s, after noting that while programs existed to keep boys in school but no similar programs existed for girls, Green sought to correct this inequality.^[8] She helped to introduce a higher education bill that contained provisions regarding gender equity in education.^[9] The hearings on this bill, working together with fellow RepresentativePatsy Mink and SenatorBirch Bayh, eventually resulted in the passage of Title IX in 1972.^[10] In 1964, she was the only woman in the House of Representatives who votedagainst including sex as a protected class inTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the amendment to do so had been introduced by Virginia CongressmanHoward W. Smith in an attempt to sink the bill. In order not to endanger passage of the bill prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin, Green was willing to forego the inclusion of sex, noting "For every discrimination that I have suffered, the Negro woman has suffered ten times that amount of discrimination."^[11][12]

SenatorMark Hatfield called Green "the most powerful woman ever to serve in the Congress".^[13]Adlai Stevenson selected her to second his nomination at the1956 Democratic National Convention, John F. Kennedy also selected her to second his nomination at the 1960 Democratic National Convention, and she headed the state primary campaigns forJohn F. Kennedy,Robert F. Kennedy, andHenry M. "Scoop" Jackson.^[3]

Green herself had been considered a contender forU.S. Senate several times, most notably in1966, against eventual winner Mark Hatfield.^[14] She declined each time, however, to turn her House seniority for junior status in the Senate.^[3]

Green decided not to seek an eleventh term in1974 and resigned on December 31, 1974, just before her final term expired; she was succeeded byRobert B. Duncan. She returned toPortland, Oregon, and became a professor of government atWarner Pacific College. In 1976, she was co-chairwoman of National Democrats for Gerald Ford.^[15] She was appointed to theOregon State Board of Higher Education in 1979. Later living inWilsonville, she was appointed by PresidentRonald Reagan to thePresident's Commission on White House Fellowships in 1981.^[16]

Edith Green died on April 21, 1987, inTualatin and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery inCorbett, Oregon.^[4] TheEdith Green – Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in downtown Portland is named in her honor along with CongressmanWendell Wyatt, alongside whom she served during part of her tenure in Congress.^[17]

• Women in the United States House of Representatives

• Cogswell, Philip."Edith Green".The Oregon Encyclopedia.
• Edith Green atFind a Grave

• 1910 births
• 1987 deaths
• 20th-century American women politicians
• Educators from Oregon
• Female United States representatives
• People from Moody County, South Dakota
• People from Wilsonville, Oregon
• Politicians from Salem, Oregon
• Radio personalities from Oregon
• Stanford University alumni
• University of Oregon alumni
• Warner Pacific University faculty
• Willamette University alumni
• Women in Oregon politics
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oregon
• Library law
• 20th-century United States representatives
• 20th-century American women academics

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• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata