Oveta Culp Hobby
Oveta Culp Hobby | |
---|---|
Oscar Ewing | |
Succeeded by | Herself (Health, Education and Welfare Secretary) |
Personal details | |
Born | Oveta Culp January 19, 1905 Killeen, Texas, U.S. |
Died | August 16, 1995 Houston, Texas, U.S. | (aged 90)
Political party | Republican (after 1953) |
Other political affiliations | Democratic (before 1953) |
Spouse | |
Children | 2, including South Texas College of Law University of Texas at Austin |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Years of service | 1941–1945 |
Rank | Colonel |
Commands | Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later the Women's Army Corps) |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Awards | Army Distinguished Service Medal |
Oveta Culp Hobby (January 19, 1905 – August 16, 1995) was an American government official and businesswoman who served as the first United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1953 to 1955. A member of the Republican Party, Hobby was the second woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.
She also served as the first director of the Women's Army Corps from 1942 to 1945, and was sequentially editor, publisher and chair of the board of the Houston Post. She entered public service when President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed her administrator of the Federal Security Agency, soon after reorganized as a federal executive department, known then as Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and Hobby became its first head.
Early life
Culp was born on January 19, 1905, in
War service
During World War II, Hobby headed the Women's Interest Section in the War Department's Bureau of Public Relations[4] for a short time and then became the director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) (later the Women's Army Corps [WAC]), which was created to fill gaps in the Army left by a shortage of men. She was commissioned a colonel in the U.S. Army on 5 July 1943.[4] The members of the WAC were the first women other than nurses to wear U.S. Army uniforms and to receive military benefits through the GI Bill. Hobby devoted herself to integrating the WAC within the military, despite considering women's military involvement a temporary necessity, and worked to protect and strengthen the WAC and its image. As director, she raised admission standards and created a Code of Conduct specific to the WAC to create a tightly regulated, high quality organization that portrayed women's corps in a good light. These standards, along with actions to guard the morals and image of members, developed from Hobby's prior experience with publicity and knowledge of the importance of media representation.[5] Hobby achieved the rank of colonel and received the Distinguished Service Medal for efforts during the war. She was the first woman in the Army to receive this award.
Political career
Hobby joined the Eisenhower administration in 1953 after appointed as head of the Federal Security Agency, a non-cabinet post, although she was invited to sit in on cabinet meetings. Soon, on April 11, 1953, she became the first secretary and first woman, of the new Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which later became the Department of Health and Human Services.[6] This was her second time organizing a new government agency. Among other decisions and actions at HEW, she made the decision to approve Jonas Salk's polio vaccine.
Culp attempted to restructure Social Security payroll taxes (
Personal life and family
In 1931, she married William P. Hobby, an editor and future owner of the Houston Post, who served as the 27th governor of Texas from 1917 to 1921. They had two children together. She took a position on the editorial staff at the Post.[5] In ensuing years she became the newspaper's executive vice president, then its president, ultimately becoming its publisher and co-owner with her husband. In 1938, upon becoming vice president of the newspaper, she gave greater prominence to women's news.[1]
Hobby and her husband were both Southern Democrats, but soon became dissatisfied with the party throughout the 1930s. They believed Franklin D. Roosevelt's social programs overextended their original intent. After World War II, Hobby tried to sway Democratic voters to swing Republican for presidential nominees by establishing many statewide organizations.[5]
She died of a stroke in 1995, in Houston, and was buried at Glenwood Cemetery.
Her son
Legacy
- The library at Central Texas College is named after her.
- A residence dormitory at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, is named after her.
- The Oveta Culp Hobby Soldier & Family Readiness Center at Fort Cavazos, Texas is named for her.
- An Killeen ISD) is named after her.
- The U.S. Post Office issued an 84-cent stamp in her honor in 2011.
- A building on the grounds of the Peaceable Kingdom (Children's Retreat Center) in Killeen Texas is named after her.
- A Department of Health, Education and Welfare Service award was named in her honor to recognize superior devotion to duty.[8]
- In 1996, Hobby was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[9]
- On December 7, 2021, her 1943 oil portrait in uniform painted by noted portrait artist Seymour M. Stone was installed in the Killeen Main Library in Killeen, Texas.
- The Education Center at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas is named for her.
Sources
- Pando, Robert T. "Oveta Culp Hobby: A Study in Power and Control." Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University, 2008, 442 pages. https://books.google.com/books/about/Oveta_Culp_Hobby.html?id=id6lXwAACAAJ
- Treadwell, Mattie E. The Woman's Army Corps. The U.S. Army in World War II (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1954). https://history.army.mil/html/books/011/11-8/index.html
- "U.S. Army Women's Museum Celebrates Women's History Month: Oveta Culp Hobby" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs3-PBXqVq0&t=66s
- Walsh, Kelli Cardenas. "Oveta Culp Hobby: A Transformational Leader from the Texas Legislature to Washington, D.C." Ph.D. dissertation, University of South Carolina, 2006, 199 pages.
- Winegarten, Debra L. Oveta Culp Hobby: Colonel, Cabinet Member, Philanthropist. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014). https://books.google.com/books/about/Oveta_Culp_Hobby.html?id=M-dlAwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description
See also
Further reading
- Hutchison, Kay Bailey. "Women's History Month: "Oveta Culp Hobby"". Humanities Texas. Humanities Texas.
References
- ^ a b "Oveta Culp Hobby | Humanities Texas". www.humanitiestexas.org. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
- OCLC 872569551.
- ^ HOBBY, WILLIAM P. (2010-06-15). "HOBBY, OVETA CULP". tshaonline.org. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
- ^ a b Morden, Bettie J. (1990). "The Women's Army Corps, 1945-1978 - U.S. Army Center of Military History". history.army.mil. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
- ^ ISBN 9780231101455.
- ISBN 9780313291975.
- ISBN 9781400066933.
- ^ "Tucsonian Honored For Indian Work. Tucson Daily Citizen (Tucson, Arizona) April 13, 1962, p 18". Tucson Daily Citizen. 1962-04-13. p. 18. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
- ^ "Hobby, Oveta Culp". National Women’s Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
External links
- Papers of Oveta Culp Hobby, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
- Guide to the Oveta Culp Hobby Papers, 1817–1995 at the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University
- Oveta Culp Hobby and the Women's Army Corps
- Spring, Kelly. "Oveta Hobby". National Women's History Museum. 2017.
- Women in the U.S. Army
- War-time interview with Oveta Culp Hobby on January 16, 1944, edition of CBS's World News Today
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.