Edith Nourse Rogers

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Edith Nourse Rogers
Chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee
In office
January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955
Preceded byJohn E. Rankin
Succeeded byOlin E. Teague
In office
January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJohn E. Rankin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 5th district
In office
June 30, 1925 – September 10, 1960
Preceded byJohn Jacob Rogers
Succeeded byF. Bradford Morse
Personal details
Born
Edith Nourse

(1881-03-19)March 19, 1881
Saco, Maine, U.S.
DiedSeptember 10, 1960(1960-09-10) (aged 79)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
(m. 1907; died 1925)

Edith Rogers (née Nourse; March 19, 1881 – September 10, 1960) was an American

social welfare volunteer and politician who served as a Republican in the United States Congress. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts. Until 2012, she was the longest serving Congresswoman and was the longest serving female Representative until 2018 (a record now held by Marcy Kaptur).[1] In her 35 years in the House of Representatives she was a powerful voice for veterans and sponsored seminal legislation, including the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (commonly known as the G.I. Bill), which provided educational and financial benefits for veterans returning home from World War II, the 1942 bill that created the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), and the 1943 bill that created the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She was also instrumental in bringing federal appropriations to her constituency, Massachusetts's 5th congressional district.[2]
Her love and devotion to veterans and their complex needs upon returning to civilian life is represented by the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford Massachusetts that is named in her honor.

Early life

Edith Nourse was born on March 19, 1881, in Saco, Maine, to Franklin T. Nourse, the manager of a textile mill,[3] and Edith France Riversmith, who volunteered with the Christian church and social causes.[4] Both parents were from old New England families, and were able to have their daughter privately tutored until she was fourteen. Edith Nourse then attended and graduated from Rogers Hall School, a private boarding school for girls in Lowell, Massachusetts, and then Madame Julien's School, a finishing school at Neuilly near Paris, France.[5]

Like her mother, she volunteered with the church and other charities. In 1907, she married

63rd United States Congress as the Representative from the 5th District of Massachusetts, and began service in Washington, D.C.
on March 13, 1913.

honorable discharge
on November 29, 1918.

During this period, Edith Rogers volunteered with the Young Men's Christian Association (

American Expeditionary Force
(AEF) in France were military, with the attendant benefits and responsibilities.

At the end of the war, her husband joined the

1924 presidential campaign
.

Congresswoman

Margaret Speaks, left, daughter of Rep. John C. Speaks of Ohio, photographed while selling peanuts to Edith N. Rogers and Senator Frederick H. Gillett at the game between the Democratic and Republican teams of the House of Representatives.

This experience served her well when her husband died on March 28, 1925, in the middle of his seventh term in Washington, D.C. Spurred by pressure from the Republican Party and the

Mae Ella Nolan and Florence 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, after

Hattie Wyatt Caraway would become the first woman elected to the Senate in 1932. Rogers was also the first woman elected to Congress from New England, and the second from an Eastern state after Norton, who was from New Jersey
.

After her election to the 69th Congress, Rogers was reelected to the

Committee on Veterans' Affairs. She chaired 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 as Speaker pro 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 and

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]

Legislator

Claude Bowers, right, is pictured with Rep. Sol Bloom. chairman of the Committee, and Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers, Republican of Massachusetts

Rogers was regarded as capable by her male peers and became a model for younger Congresswomen. Her trademark was an orchid or a gardenia 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 the Department of Veteran's Affairs, and benefits for disabled veterans and veterans of the Korean War.

In 1937 she sponsored a bill to fund the maintenance of the neglected

child 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 a petition against the expanded business regulations of the New Deal, and all 1,200 signatures, into the Congressional Record. Rogers voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960.[8][9]

Rogers was an advocate for the textile and

Fort Devens, Massachusetts
in 1931, and was responsible for many other jobs and grants in the state.

A confidential 1943 analysis of the

Foreign Office described Rogers as[10]

an Isolationist up to and including the Lend-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.

German refugees

Rogers was one of the first members of Congress to speak out against

Jewish refugees
under the age of 14 to settle in the United States.

The bill was supported by religious and

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
was unable to support the bill, and it failed.

WAAC

Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts presides over the House Chamber in this image from 1926 of the Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

Women had served in the United States military before. In 1901, a female

Navy Nurse Corps was established. However, despite their uniforms the nurses were civilian employees with few benefits. They slowly gained additional privileges, including "relative ranks
" 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 the

clerical 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" who worked 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 the

price controls
, and ramping up war production.

After the December 7, 1941

George 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" into Public 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 of prisoners of war (POWs).

On July 30, 1942, Public Law 77-554 created the

Marine Corps Women's Reserve soon followed. The September 27, 1944, Public Law 78-441 allowed WAVES to also serve in Alaska and Hawaii
.

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.

Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers addresses the graduates of the first WAAC officer candidate class at Fort Des Moines, August 29, 1942.

The rumors of immoral conduct were widely published by the

venereal disease was almost non-existent, and the pregnancy
rate was far below civilian women. Despite this, the June 30, 1943, enlistment reached 60,000.

Women's Army Corps

WACs assigned to the Eighth Air Force in England operate teletype machines.

Edith Rogers introduced a bill in October 1942 to make the WAACs a formal part of the

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 and Oveta 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 full colonel
, 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 now

maternity
care.

As part of the regular Army, WACs could not be permanently assigned as

antiaircraft gun crew, though they were not allowed to fire the 90 mm weapon. Several were also assigned to the Manhattan Project
.

WACs also served overseas, and close to the front lines. During the invasion of

Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, a 60-woman platoon served in the advance headquarters, sometimes only a few miles from the front lines; and in the south Pacific WACs moved into Manila, Philippines only three days after occupation. By V-J Day
, one fifth had served overseas.

On

Army Ground Force
.

Despite the noncombatant status of her directorate, Oveta Hobby was awarded the Distinguished 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 62 Legions of Merit, 565 Bronze Stars, 3 Air Medals, and 16 Purple 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 to Dwight 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 the Army-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 Representative Margaret 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 of

Harry Truman
signed the "Women's Armed Services Integration Act", making it Public Law 80-625.

On December 3, 1948, the Director of the WACs, Colonel

Mary 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 and Vietnam 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.

G.I. Bill

In 1944, Edith Rogers helped draft, and then co-sponsored the G. I. Bill, with Representative

unemployment 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 the Forever 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.[11]

After World War II

During the

communist China were admitted.[2] In 1954, she opposed sending U.S. soldiers to Vietnam
.

Death and legacy

Edith Rogers died on September 10, 1960, at Philips House,

Boston, Massachusetts[5] in the midst of her 19th Congressional campaign. She was interred with her husband in Lowell 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, the

bears her name.

The Women's Army Corps Museum (now the

Fort McClellan, Alabama, was renamed the Edith Nourse Rogers Museum on August 18, 1961, but returned to its original name on May 14, 1977.[13]

The E.N. Rogers Middle School in Lowell, Massachusetts is named after Edith Rogers. Among its famous graduates is former Congressman, and current chancellor of The University of Massachusetts Lowell, Marty Meehan, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 5, 1993, to July 1, 2007. E.N. Rogers Middle School serves approximately 500 students in grades 5 through 8.

In 1998, Rogers was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[14]

Governor Deval Patrick signed a Proclamation declaring June 30, 2012, as "Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers Day."[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur Makes History As Longest-Serving Woman In The House". NPR.org. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  2. ^ . Retrieved October 22, 2018 – via Hathi Trust.
  3. ^ Casey, Phil (September 11, 1960). "Rep. Edith Rogers, 79, Dies; Served in House 35 Years". The Washington Post. p. B12.
  4. ^ a b "Rogers, Edith Nourse". History, Art, & Archives: United States House of Representatives. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Edith Nourse Rogers, 79, Dies; Served in Congress 35 Years". The New York Times. September 11, 1960. p. 82.
  6. ^ "ROGERS, Edith Nourse - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  7. ^ Dustin Waters, "The Depression-era gunman who tried to hold Congress hostage: 'I demand the right to the floor for 20 minutes.'" The Washington Post, 1/19/20, retrieved 1/19/20. [1]
  8. ^ "HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957". GovTrack.us.
  9. ^ "HR 8601. PASSAGE".
  10. JSTOR 4634869. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on October 21, 2013.
  11. ^ "[USC02] 38 USC 3320: Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship". uscode.house.gov. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  12. ^ "503 Service Unavailable". Archived from the original on May 26, 2005. Retrieved February 19, 2005.
  13. ^ "History - Army Women's Museum". awm.lee.army.mil. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  14. ^ National Women's Hall of Fame, Edith Nourse Rogers.
  15. ^ July 3, John Quealey says; Am, 2012 at 6:53 (July 2, 2012). "Edith Nourse Rogers Day ceremony". RichardHowe.com. Retrieved October 22, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Further reading

External links

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 5th congressional district

1925–1960
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee
1947–1949
Succeeded by
Chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee
1953–1955
Succeeded by