Cecil M. Harden
Cecil Murray Harden | |
---|---|
Fred Wampler | |
Personal details | |
Born | Cecil Murray November 21, 1894 Covington, Indiana, U.S. |
Died | December 5, 1984 Lafayette, Indiana, U.S. | (aged 90)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Frost Revere Harden |
Children | Murray Harden |
Cecil Murray Harden (November 21, 1894 – December 5, 1984) was an American educator who became a Republican politician and an advocate of women's rights.[1] She served five terms in the U.S. Representative (January 3, 1949 to January 3, 1959) representing Indiana's 6th congressional district. Harden was the only Republican woman elected to represent Indiana in the U.S. Congress until 2012, when Susan Brooks and Jackie Walorski were elected to serve in the 113th United States Congress beginning in January 2013.[2]
Initially assigned to the Veterans' Affairs Committee in the
Harden, who became active in politics in 1932, served as the Republican precinct vice chairman from 1932 to 1940; vice chairman of the Fountain County, Indiana, Republican Party from 1938 until 1950; Indiana's Republican National committeewoman from 1944 to 1959 and from 1964 to 1972; and delegate-at-large to the Republican National Conventions in 1948, 1952, 1956, 1968, and in 1972. Harden was appointed to serve as special assistant for women's affairs to U.S. Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield (March 1959 to March 1961) and served on the National Advisory Committee for the White House Conference on Aging in 1972–73.
Early life and education
Cecil Murray was born on November 21, 1894, at Covington in Fountain County, Indiana,[3] to Jennie (Clotfelter) and Timothy J. Murray. Cecil's father was a real estate broker and a longtime leader of the local Democratic Party.[4]
She attended local public schools and graduated from Covington High School in 1912.[5] Murray enrolled at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, but left IU to become a teacher in the Troy township schools, at later in her hometown of Covington.[4]
On December 22, 1914, Cecil Murray married Frost Revere Harden, "who eventually became an automobile dealer in Covington."[4] Their only child, a son named Murray Harden (1915-1989), became a doctor in Lafayette, Indiana.[1][4]
Career
Local and state politics
Despite her father's ties to the Democratic Party, Harden became active in the local
Harden entered politics in 1932 as the Republican precinct vice chairman, a position she retained until 1940. Beginning in the 1930s and 1940s, Harden was active in Indiana politics. In 1938, she became vice chairman of the Fountain County Republican Party, a position she held until 1950, and served as the vice chair of an Indiana congressional district.[2][3]
Harden joined the Republican National Speakers Bureau in 1940. She was elected Indiana's Republican National committeewoman in 1944, serving until 1959, and again from 1964 to 1972. Harden also served as a delegate-at-large to the Republican National Conventions in 1948, 1952, 1956, and 1968.[1][4]
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1948, when Indiana Republican
In her first term in Congress in 1949, Harden was initially assigned to the Veterans' Affairs Committee, but the next term she transferred to the House Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments (later called Government Operations). During the 83rd Congress, Harden chaired the Inter-Governmental Relations subcommittee of Government Operations. She also served six years (1953–59) on the Committee on the Post Office and Civil Service. While serving on these congressional committees, Harden toured military installations to evaluate and looking for ways to improve the military's procurement procedures. In an effort to cut government costs under the Eisenhower administration, she also urged military and other government offices to consider using private companies to perform some of their work.[4]
Harden, an advocate for women's rights, joined with
Harden served her Indiana constituents by promoting flood control in the Wabash River valley, helping to secure federal funding for flood control projects in her state. She was also critical of U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's plan in 1956 to close its heavy water plant in Dana, Indiana, which was within her congressional district. Harden claimed that 900 workers would become unemployed as a result of the closure.[3][4]
Harden, who aligned her political interests with the Eisenhower administration, lost her bid for a sixth term in the U.S. House to Democrat Fred Wampler, a Terre Haute high school football coach, in 1958 by slightly more than a two-percent margin.[2][7] Harden was one of Indiana's seven Republican congressional members who were defeated in the 1958 election (and one of the forty-seven seats in the U.S. House that the Republicans lost in the election). Her defeat was blamed, in part, on a recession that negatively affected industrial employment in Terre Haute.[4]
Other service
Although her final congressional term ended in January 1959, Harden remained in
Later years
Harden outlived her husband, Frost Harden, by nearly two decades. Following her retirement from politics in the early 1970s, Harden returned to her home in Covington, Indiana.[3][4] She spent her final years in an assisted living facility.[1][8]
Death and legacy
Cecil Harden died of cancer on December 5, 1984, at the age of ninety, in Lafayette, Indiana.[1][8] Her remains are at Mount Hope Cemetery in Fountain County.
The "Cecil Murray Harden Papers, 1938–1984," are housed in the collections of the Indiana Historical Society in Indianapolis.[4]
On December 14, 1974, President
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Joan Cook (December 8, 1984). "Ex-Rep. Cecil Harden Dies; Worked for Women's Rights". New York Times: Section 1, 17. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "Harden, Cecil Murray". United States House of Representatives. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Cecil Harden" (PDF). Writing Her Story. Indiana Commission for Women. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
- ^ ISBN 9780160767531.
Cecil Harden.
- ^ a b c "Harden, Cecil Murray, (1894 – 1984)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 – Present. United States Congress. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
- ^ "HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957". GovTrack.us.
- ^ "Republicans Gain in Womanpower in Congress, Total Now is 17". Retrieved September 22, 2019.
- ^ a b "Cecil Harden, former U.S. congresswoman". The Evening Independent. St. Petersburg, Florida. December 7, 1984. pp. 21–A. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
- ^ "Cecil M. Harden Lake, Raccoon State Recreation Area" (PDF). Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved September 24, 2019. See also: "Cecil M. Harden Lake (Raccoon SRA)". Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved September 24, 2019. Also: "Cecil Harden Lake". Lakebrowser.com. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- ^ Wonning incorrectly states that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the authorization to change the name to Harden Lake, but Gerald Ford was the U.S. president on December 14, 1974, and signed the legislation to rename the lake.
See: Paul R. Wonning (2019). Parke County Covered Bridge Auto Trails: A West-Central Indiana Road Trip. Exploring Indiana’s Highways and Back Roads Series. Mossy Feet Books. p. 46. ISBN 9781370063062.
References
- "Cecil Harden" (PDF). Writing Her Story. Indiana Commission for Women. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
- "Cecil Harden, former U.S. congresswoman". The Evening Independent. St. Petersburg, Florida. December 7, 1984. pp. 21–A. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
- "Cecil Harden Lake". Lakebrowser.com. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
- "Cecil M. Harden Lake (Raccoon SRA)". Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
- "Cecil M. Harden Lake, Raccoon State Recreation Area" (PDF). Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
- "Cecil Murray Harden" in Committee on House Administration by the Office of History & Preservation, U.S. House of Representatives. (2006). Women in Congress, 1917-2006. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. pp. 273–77. ISBN 9780160767531.
Cecil Harden.
- Cook, Joan (December 8, 1984). "Ex-Rep. Cecil Harden Dies; Worked for Women's Rights". New York Times: Section 1, 17. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
- "Harden, Cecil Murray". United States House of Representatives. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
- "Harden, Cecil Murray, (1894 – 1984)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 – Present. United States Congress. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
- "Republicans Gain in Womanpower in Congress, Total Now is 17". Toledo Blade. Toledo, Ohio. November 5, 1958. p. 31. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
- Wonning, Paul R. (2019). Parke County Covered Bridge Auto Trails: A West-Central Indiana Road Trip. Exploring Indiana’s Highways and Back Roads Series. Mossy Feet Books. p. 46. ISBN 9781370063062.
External links
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- United States Congress. "Cecil M. Harden (id: H000182)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- "Cecil Murray Harden Papers, 1938–1984," Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis