Edith Nourse Rogers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chair of theHouse Veterans' Affairs Committee | |
| In office January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955 | |
| Preceded by | John E. Rankin |
| Succeeded by | Olin E. Teague |
| In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | John E. Rankin |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's5th district | |
| In office June 30, 1925 – September 10, 1960 | |
| Preceded by | John Jacob Rogers |
| Succeeded by | F. Bradford Morse |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edith Nourse (1881-03-19)March 19, 1881 Saco, Maine, U.S. |
| Died | September 10, 1960(1960-09-10) (aged 79) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
Edith Rogers (néeNourse; March 19, 1881 – September 10, 1960) was an Americansocial welfarevolunteer andpolitician who served as a Republican in theUnited States Congress. She was the first woman elected to Congress fromMassachusetts. Until 2012, she was the longest serving congresswoman and was the longest serving female representative until 2018 (a record now held byMarcy Kaptur).[1] In her 35 years in theHouse of Representatives she was a powerful voice forveterans and sponsored seminal legislation, including the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (commonly known as theG.I. Bill), which providededucational and financial benefits for veterans returning home fromWorld War II, the 1942bill that created theWomen's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), and the 1943 bill that created theWomen's Army Corps (WAC). She was also instrumental in bringingfederal appropriations to herconstituency,Massachusetts's 5th congressional district.[2]
Edith Nourse was born on March 19, 1881, inSaco, Maine, to Franklin T. Nourse, the manager of atextilemill,[3] and Edith France Riversmith, who volunteered with theChristian church and social causes.[4] Both parents were from oldNew England families, and were able to have their daughter privately tutored until she was fourteen. Edith Nourse then attended and graduated fromRogers Hall School, a privateboarding school for girls inLowell, Massachusetts, and then Madame Julien's School, afinishing school atNeuilly near Paris, France.[5]
Like her mother, she volunteered with the church and other charities. In 1907, she marriedJohn Jacob Rogers, newly graduated fromHarvard Law School, who passed thebar and began practicing in Lowell in the same year. In 1911, he started his career inpolitics, becoming involved in the city government, and the next year he became the school commissioner. In 1912 he was elected as aRepublican to the63rd United States Congress as the Representative from the 5th District of Massachusetts, and began service inWashington, D.C. on March 13, 1913.
World War I soon broke out. In 1917, John Rogers, as a member of theHouse Foreign Affairs Committee, traveled to theUnited Kingdom andFrance to observe the conditions of the war firsthand. He remained a Congressman during his brief enlistment as aprivate in anartillery trainingbattalion, the 29th Training Battery, 10th Training Battalion, Field Artillery, Fourth Central Officers' Training School from September 2, 1918, until hishonorable discharge on November 29, 1918.
During this period, Edith Rogers volunteered with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in London for a short time, then from 1917 to 1922 as a "Gray Lady" with theAmerican Red Cross in France and with theWalter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. This was the start of what became a lifelong commitment to veterans. She also witnessed the conditions faced by women employees and volunteers working with theUnited States armed forces; with the exception of a fewnurses, they werecivilians, and received no benefits including no housing, no food, noinsurance, nomedical care, no legal protection, nopensions, and no compensation for their families in cases of death. In contrast, the women in theBritish Army loaned to theAmerican Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France were military, with the attendant benefits and responsibilities.
At the end of the war, her husband joined theAmerican Legion veteran's organization, and she joined the auxiliary. Her experience with veteran's issues ledPresidentWarren G. Harding to appoint her as the inspector of new veterans' hospitals from 1922 to 1923, for $1USD a year. She reported on conditions and her appointment was renewed by both theCoolidge andHoover administrations. Her first experience in politics was serving as an elector in theU.S. Electoral College during Calvin Coolidge's1924 presidential campaign.
This experience served her well when her husband died in Washington, D.C, on March 28, 1925, a little more than three weeks after starting his seventh term. Spurred by pressure from the Republican Party and theAmerican Legion who approved of her stance on veteran's issues and wanted the sympathy vote, she was urged to run for her late husband's seat. She ran in aspecial election as the Republican candidate for Representative to the69th United States Congress from the 5th District of Massachusetts,[6] and beatEugene Foss, the formerGovernor of Massachusetts, with a landslide 72 percent of the vote. LikeMae Ella Nolan andFlorence Prag Kahn before her, she won her husband's seat.
Her term started on June 30, 1925, making her the sixth woman elected to Congress, afterJeannette Rankin,Alice Mary Robertson,Winnifred Sprague Mason Huck,Mae Nolan,Florence Kahn, andMary Teresa Norton. Like all but Norton, Rogers was a Republican, and like them all she was a member of the House of Representatives;Hattie Wyatt Caraway would become the first woman elected to theSenate in 1932. Rogers was also the first woman elected to Congress from New England, and the second from anEastern state after Norton, who was fromNew Jersey.
After her election to the 69th Congress, Rogers was reelected to the70th,71st,72nd,73rd,74th,75th,76th,77th,78th,79th,80th,81st,82nd,83rd,84th,85th, and86th Congresses.[4] She continued to win with strong majorities, serving a total of 35 years and 18 consecutive terms, until her death on September 10, 1960. She was considered a formidable candidate for U.S. Senate in 1958 against the much youngerJohn F. Kennedy, but decided not to run. This was the longest tenure of any woman elected to the United States Congress, until surpassed byBarbara Mikulski in 2012. Like her husband, she served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and also on theCivil Service Committee and theCommittee on Veterans' Affairs. Shechaired the Committee on Veterans' Affairs from 1947 to 1948 and again from 1953 to 1954, during the 80th and 83rd Congresses. She was also the first woman to preside asSpeakerpro tempore over the House of Representatives.
On the afternoon of December 13, 1932, Marlin Kemmerer perched on the gallery railing of the U.S. House of Representatives, waved a pistol, and demanded the right to speak. As other representatives fled in panic, Reps. Rogers andMelvin Maas (R-MN) approached the would-be gunman. Rogers had counseled shell-shocked veterans at Walter Reed Hospital; she looked up at Kemmerer and told the troubled young man, "You won't do anything." Maas, a Marine inWorld War I, stood next to Rogers and asked Kemmerer to throw down his pistol. When he did so, he was apprehended by Congressman (R – NY, and future mayor of New York City)Fiorello H. La Guardia and an off-duty D.C. police officer. Kemmerer was released a month later at the request of House members.[7]
Rogers was regarded as capable by her male peers and became a model for younger Congresswomen. Her trademark was anorchid or agardenia on her shoulder. She was also an active legislator and sponsored more than 1,200 bills, over half on veteran or military issues. She voted for a permanent nurse corps in theDepartment of Veteran's Affairs, and benefits for disabled veterans and veterans of theKorean War.
In 1937 she sponsored a bill to fund the maintenance of the neglectedCongressional Cemetery, even though her husband was placed at rest in their hometown. She opposedchild labor, and fought for "equal pay for equal work" and a 48-hour workweek for women, though she believed a woman's first priority was home and family. She supported local economic autonomy; on April 19, 1934, she read apetition against the expanded business regulations of theNew Deal, and all 1,200signatures, into theCongressional Record. Rogers voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957 and1960.[8][9]
Rogers was an advocate for the textile andleather industries in Massachusetts. She acquired funding forflood control measures in theMerrimack River basin, helped Camp Devens becomeFort Devens, Massachusetts in 1931, and was responsible for many other jobs and grants in the state.
In 1935 Rogers twice introduced resolutions to authorize funding for traffic safety studies, eventually resulting in $75,000 forBureau of Public Roads to study traffic safety conditions.[10]
A confidential 1943 analysis of theHouse Foreign Affairs Committee byIsaiah Berlin for the BritishForeign Office described Rogers as[11]
an Isolationist up to and including theLend-Lease, after which, however, she swung in behind the President on all major foreign policy measures. Though she is likely to continue her support, she will only do so after she has convinced herself that America's own best interests are thoroughly protected and that the Administration is not trying to "put something across." She is regarded in Congress as a capable, hard-working and intelligent woman. A pleasant and kindly old battle-axe— but a battle-axe. An Episcopalian; age 62. Probably nationalist rather than internationalist in outlook.
It is noted in the private papers of ETO Logistics Chief Lt. Gen.John C. H. Lee that she was received at Cherbourg, France on 4 October 1944. The following day she decorated Col.Benjamin B. Talley, commander of operations atOmaha Beach on and after D-Day with theLegion of Merit for his work in operating the beach-port at Omaha.
Rogers was one of the first members of Congress to speak out againstAdolf Hitler's treatment ofJews. The expulsion of Jews fromGermany without proper papers caused a refugee crisis in 1938, and after theEvian Conference failed to lift immigration quotas in the 38 participating nations, Edith Rogers co-sponsored theWagner-Rogers Bill withSenatorRobert F. Wagner. Introduced to the Senate on February 9, 1939, and to the House on February 14, it would have allowed 20,000 GermanJewish refugees under the age of 14 to settle in the United States.
The bill was supported by religious andlabor groups, and thenews media, but was strongly opposed bypatriotic groups who believed "charity begins at home". After rancorous1938 elections in the House andSenate, Congress had turnedconservative, and despite provisions requiring the children to be supported by private individuals and agencies, not public funds, organizations like the American Legion, theDaughters of the American Revolution, and theAmerican Coalition of Patriotic Societies lined up against it. With risingnativism andantisemitism,economic troubles, and Congress asserting its independence, PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt was unable to support the bill, and it failed.
Women had served in the United States military before. In 1901, a femaleNurse Corps was established in theArmy Medical Department and in 1907 aNavy Nurse Corps was established. However, despite theiruniforms the nurses were civilian employees with few benefits. They slowly gained additional privileges, including "relativeranks" and insignia in 1920, a retirement pension in 1926, and a disability pension if injured in the line of duty in 1926. Rogers voted to support the pensions.
The first American women enlisted into the regular armed forces were 13,000 women admitted into active duty in theNavy andMarines during World War I, and a much smaller number admitted into theCoast Guard. These "Yeomanettes" and "women Marines" primarily served inclerical positions. They received the same benefits and responsibilities as men, including identical pay, and were treated as veterans after the war. These women were quickly demobilized when hostilities ceased, and aside from the Nurse Corps, the soldiery became once again exclusively male. In contrast, the army clerks and "Hello Girls" whoworked the telephones during World War I were civilian contractors with no benefits.
Rogers' volunteer work in World War I exposed her to the status of the women with theUnited States Army, and the much more egalitarian role of women in theBritish Army. With this inspiration and model, Edith Rogers introduced a bill to the 76th Congress in early 1941 to establish a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) during World War II. The bill was intended to free men for combat duty by creating a cadre of 25,000 noncombatant clerical workers. The bill languished in the face of strong opposition to women in the army, and indifference in the face of higher priorities like thelend-lease bill,price controls, and ramping up war production.
After the December 7, 1941attack on Pearl Harbor, manpower shortages threatened as productivity increased. Rogers approached theArmy Chief of StaffGeorge Marshall, and with his strong support she reintroduced the bill to the 77th Congress with a new upper limit of 150,000 women, and an amendment giving the women full military status. The amendment was resoundingly rejected but the unamended bill passed, and on May 14, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's signature turned "An Act to Establish the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps" intoPublic Law 77-554.
While "Auxiliaries", and thus not a part of the regular army, the WAACs were given food, clothing, housing, medical care, training, and pay. They did not receive death benefits, medical care as veterans, retirement or disability pensions, or overseas pay. They were given auxiliary ranks which granted no command authority over men, and also earned less than men with comparable regular army ranks, until November 1, 1942, when legislation equalized their remuneration. Since they were not regular army they were not governed by army regulations, and if captured, were not protected by international conventions regarding the treatment ofprisoners of war (POWs).
On July 30, 1942, Public Law 77-554 created theWAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the Navy. The law passed with no significant opposition, despite granting the WAVES full status as military reserves, under the same Naval regulations that applied to men. The WAVES were granted equal pay and benefits, but no retirement or disability pensions and were restricted to noncombat duties in thecontinental United States. The similarly empoweredSPARS (from themottoSemper Paratus/"Always Ready") in the Coast Guard, and theMarine Corps Women's Reserve soon followed. The September 27, 1944, Public Law 78-441 allowed WAVES to also serve inAlaska andHawaii.
The initial goal of 25,000 WAACs by June 30, 1943, was passed in November 1942. The goal was reset at 150,000, the maximum allowed by law, but competition from sister units like the WAVES and the private war industry, the retention of high educational and moral standards, underuse of skilled WAACs, and a spate of vicious gossip and bad publicity in 1943 prevented the goal from ever being reached.
The rumors of immoral conduct were widely published by thepress without verification, and harmed morale. Investigations by theWar Department and Edith Rogers uncovered nothing; and the incidence ofdisorderly andcriminal conduct among the WAACs was a tiny fraction of that among the male military population,venereal disease was almost non-existent, and thepregnancy rate was far below civilian women. Despite this, the June 30, 1943, enlistment reached 60,000.
Edith Rogers introduced a bill in October 1942 to make the WAACs a formal part of theUnited States Army Reserve. Fearing it would hinder other war legislation,George Marshall declined to support it and it failed. He changed his mind in 1943, and asked Congress to give the WAAC full military status. Experience showed that the two separate systems were too difficult to manage. Rogers andOveta Culp Hobby, the first Director of the WAACs, drafted a new bill which was debated in the House for six months before passing. On July 1, 1943, Roosevelt signed "An Act to Establish the Women's Army Corps in the Army of the United States", which became Public Law 78-110. The "auxiliary" portion of the name was officially dropped, and on July 5, 1943, Hobby was commissioned as a fullcolonel, the highest rank allowed in the new Women's Army Corps.
The WACs received the same pay, allowances, and benefits as regular army units, though time spent as a WAC did not count toward time served and the allowance for dependents was heavily restricted. The WACs were nowdisciplined, promoted, and given the same legal protections as regular Army units, and the 150,000 ceiling was lifted. While the legislators made it very clear they expected the WACs to be noncombatants, the bill contained no specific restrictions. Existing Army regulations still prohibited them from combat training with weapons, tactical exercises, duty assignments requiring weapons, supervising men, and jobs requiring great physical strength, unless waived by theUnited States Secretary of War; but of the 628 Army specialties, women now qualified for 406. Additional Army regulations were adopted to cover pregnancy,marriage, andmaternity care.
As part of the regular Army, WACs could not be permanently assigned ascooks,waitresses,janitors, or to any other civilian jobs. While most became clerks,secretaries, anddrivers, they also becamemechanics,weather observers,radio operators, medical technicians,intelligence analysts,chaplains,postal workers, andheavy equipment operators. The restriction against combat training and carrying weapons was waived in several cases, allowing women to serve aspay officers,military police, in code rooms, or as drivers in some overseas areas. On January 10, 1943, a 200-WAC unit was even trained as anantiaircraft gun crew, though they were not allowed to fire the 90 mm weapon. Several were also assigned to theManhattan Project.
WACs also served overseas, and close to the front lines. During the invasion ofItaly by theU.S. Fifth Army underLieutenant GeneralMark W. Clark, a 60-womanplatoon served in the advance headquarters, sometimes only a few miles from the front lines; and in thesouth Pacific WACs moved intoManila, Philippines only three days after occupation. ByV-J Day, one fifth had served overseas.
OnV-E Day, May 8, 1945, WACs reached their peak of 99,388 women in active duty, and a total of more than 140,000 WACs served during World War II. The majority served in theArmy Service Forces, but large numbers also served as "Air WACs" in theArmy Air Force, largely because of the enthusiastic and early support of GeneralHenry H. Arnold, and in the Army Medical Corps. Only 2,000 served in the combat-heavyArmy Ground Force.
Despite the noncombatant status of her directorate, Oveta Hobby was awarded theDistinguished Service Medal, the third-highest U.S. Army decoration and the highest one which can be awarded for non-combat service. The WACs were awarded a total of 62Legions of Merit, 565Bronze Stars, 3Air Medals, and 16Purple Hearts.
The initial bill called for the WACs to be discontinued 6 months after the President declared the war was at an end, but despite the resistance in the House and the smear campaign, the WACs performed capably and well. According toDwight D. Eisenhower, "During the time I have had WACs under my command they have met every test and task assigned to them.... Their contributions in efficiency, skill, spirit, and determination are immeasurable."Douglas MacArthur called them "my best soldiers". With the rush to send as many men home as quickly as possible after the cessation of hostilities, WACs were even more in demand.
Supported by Eisenhower, the "Act to Establish a Permanent Nurse Corps of the Army and Navy and to Establish a Women's Medical Specialists Corps in the Army", or theArmy-Navy Nurses Act of 1947, passed and became Public Law 8036, granting regular, permanent status to female nurses. Then in early 1946, Chief of Staff Eisenhower ordered legislation drafted to make the WACs a permanent part of the armed forces. The bill was unanimously approved by the Senate but the House Armed Forces Committee amended the bill to restrict women to reserve status, with only RepresentativeMargaret Chase Smith dissenting.
After vehement objection by Eisenhower, who wrote "the women of America must share the responsibility for the security of their country in a future emergency as the women of England did in World War II"; the personal testimony ofSecretary of DefenseJames Forrestal; and support from every major military commander including theChief of Naval OperationsFleet AdmiralChester W. Nimitz, and MacArthur, the Commander ofUnited States Army Forces in the Far East, who wrote, "we cannot ask these women to remain on duty, nor can we ask qualified personnel to volunteer, if we cannot offer them permanent status"; supporting articles inThe New York Times andThe Christian Science Monitor, and the support of Senator and future PresidentLyndon B. Johnson and Representative Edith Rogers, the amended bill passed in the House but was rejected in the Senate. A compromise restored the original wording but limited the total number of women allowed to serve for the first few years, which then passed regular army, which was submitted to Congress in 1947 in the midst of a massive reorganization of the unanimously in the Senate, and 206 to 133 in the House. On June 12, 1948, PresidentHarry Truman signed the "Women's Armed Services Integration Act", making it Public Law 80-625.
On December 3, 1948, the Director of the WACs, ColonelMary A. Hallaren, became the first commissioned female officer in the U.S. Army. The WACs still were not equal. They were limited in numbers, had no command authority over men, were restricted from combat training and duties, had additional restrictions on claiming dependents, and aside from their director, no woman could be promoted above the rank of lieutenant colonel. WACs served in the Korean andVietnam Wars.
On November 8, 1967, Congress lifted the restriction on promotions, allowing the first WAC generals, and then, on October 29, 1978, the Women's Army Corps was disestablished and women were integrated into the rest of the Army.
In 1944, Edith Rogers helped draft, and then co-sponsored the G. I. Bill, with RepresentativeJohn E. Rankin, and SenatorsErnest McFarland, andBennett Champ Clark. The bill provided for education and vocational training, low-interestloans for homes,farms, andbusinesses, and limitedunemployment benefits for returning servicemen. On June 22, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed "The Servicemen's Readjustment Act", which became Public Law 78-346 and handed her the first pen. As a result of the bill, roughly half of the returning veterans went on to higher education.
In August 2019, as part of theForever GI Bill, the Edith Nourse Rogers Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) Scholarship will be available to veterans pursuing STEM careers. This scholarship will allow recipients to receive up to nine additional months Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.[12]
During theCold War Rogers supported theHouse Committee on Un-American Activities and SenatorJoseph McCarthy during the "Red Scare". Although she supported theUnited Nations, in 1953 she said that UN headquarters should be expelled from the U.S. ifcommunistChina were admitted.[2] In 1954, she opposed sending U.S. soldiers toVietnam.
Edith Rogers died on September 10, 1960, at Philips House,Massachusetts General Hospital, inBoston, Massachusetts[5] in the midst of her 19th Congressional campaign. She was interred with her husband inLowell Cemetery, in their hometown of Lowell.
She received many honors during her life, including the Distinguished Service Medal of the American Legion in 1950. In honor of her work with veterans, theEdith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital[13] inBedford, Massachusetts bears her name.
The Women's Army Corps Museum (now theUnited States Army Women's Museum), established on May 14, 1955, inFort McClellan, Alabama, was renamed the Edith Nourse Rogers Museum on August 18, 1961, but returned to its original name on May 14, 1977.[14]
The Edith Nourse Rogers Stem Academy in Lowell, Massachusetts is named after Edith Rogers. Among its famous graduates is former Congressman, and current chancellor of TheUniversity of Massachusetts Lowell,Marty Meehan, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 5, 1993, to July 1, 2007. Edith Nourse Rogers Stem Academy serves approximately 1200 students in grades K through 8.
In 1998, Rogers was inducted into theNational Women's Hall of Fame.[15]
Governor Deval Patrick signed a Proclamation declaring June 30, 2012, as "Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers Day."[16]
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's 5th congressional district 1925–1960 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Veterans' Affairs Committee 1947–1949 | Succeeded by |
| Chair of theHouse Veterans' Affairs Committee 1953–1955 | Succeeded by | |
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