Dorothy N. Nichols Dolbey (April 28, 1908 – February 12, 1991) was an American politician who served as

Mayor of Cincinnati The Mayor of Cincinnati is recognised as the official head and representative of the city for all purposes. There have been seventy-six mayors of Cincinnati, the first of which being David Ziegler in 1802. The current mayor is Aftab Pureval, w ...

for six months in 1954, and was the first woman to serve in this position. Born in Cincinnati, Dolbey graduated from the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

with a degree in child psychology. After marrying James Dolbey 1935, she became a stay-at-home mother, raising two children, but also served as Cincinnati Council of Church Women United's president. In 1951, she first ran for city council, one of two women to do so, but failed to win a spot. Dolbey ran again in 1953, this time winning election to city council. Entering the next council term, the

Charter Party A charterparty (sometimes charter-party) is a maritime contract between a shipowner and a "charterer" for the hire of either a ship for the carriage of passengers or cargo, or a yacht for pleasure purposes. Charter party is a contract of carriage ...

had a 5-4 advantage over the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

in council, and as such they were able to appoint the next mayor. Edward N. Waldvogel was named mayor while Dolbey was named vice-mayor. Dolbey became the first woman in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

history to throw out the

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pitch in 1954, when the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

had requested Waldvogel throw out the pitch. He was too ill to do so, so the honor was given to Dolbey. Waldvogel died a month later, and Dolbey became acting mayor until council could elect one, and she spent the next six months serving in that role. Council eventually re-appointed former mayor

Carl West Rich Carl West Rich (September 12, 1898 – June 26, 1972) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Cincinnati, three times from 1947 to 1948, 1951 to 1953, and 1955 to 1957 and Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohi ...

to the position after 16 ballots; the previous 15 had been split between Rich, Dolbey, and a third nominee. Dolbey remained in city council until 1961, and retired from politics afterwards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolbey, Dorothy N 1908 births 1991 deaths Cincinnati City Council members Mayors of Cincinnati Women mayors of places in Ohio University of Cincinnati alumni Women city councillors in Ohio Columbia University alumni 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians