Jessica "Judy" McCullough Weis (July 8, 1901 – May 1, 1963) was a two-term Republican member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. Weis was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, the daughter of Charles H. McCullough Jr. and Jessie Martin McCullough. Her father was president of the Lackawanna Steel Company in

Lackawanna, New York Lackawanna is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Erie County, New York, Erie County, New York (state), New York, United States, just south of the city of Buffalo, New York, Buffalo in western New York (state), New York State. T ...

. She was educated at the Franklin School in Buffalo, at Miss Wright's School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and at Madame Rieffel's French School in New York City. In 1921 she married Charles William Weis Jr. of Rochester, who became president of the Stecher Traung Lithographic Company. They had three children. As a young woman, Weis worked as a volunteer for the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

, the Junior League, and other charitable organizations. In 1923 she founded the ''Chatterbox Club'', a women's social club. Weis first became active in politics during the 1936 election campaign of Alf Landon, when she organized statewide road caravans to support his election. She held various posts in the local, state, and national Republican Party. She was vice chairman of the

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...

Republican Committee from 1937 until 1952. She was also a member of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...

from 1944 until 1963. Weis served as the first vice president of the newly founded National Federation of Republican Women and served as its president in 1941. She was a delegate at large to the

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

Republican National Conventions. In 1948 Weis seconded the nomination of

Thomas E. Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...

for president, the first woman to do so. She went on to work as associate campaign manager for the Republican Party in the 1948 election. In 1952 Weis was a member of the caucus that helped

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

select a running mate, an experience she described in an essay she contributed to the book, ''Politics USA''. In 1953, President Eisenhower appointed her to the National Defence Advisory Council, she was re-appointed to this post until her resignation in 1958. She was also an appointee to the Inter-American Commission of Women. In 1956, she was the planning chair of the Republican National Convention in San Francisco. When Kenneth Keating vacated his house seat to run for the US Senate, Weis was elected to Congress from New York's the 38th District. She was reelected in 1960, and served from January 3, 1959 until January 3, 1963. She served on the Committees on Governmental Operations, District of Columbia, and the newly formed Committee on Science and Astronautics. In 1961 Weis supported the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...

and the Equal Pay Act. Weis declined to run for a third term when she was diagnosed with cancer. She died in

, age 61, and was interred at Mount Hope Cemetery. Her papers are housed at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

's Schlesinger Library.

References

External links

Papers, 1922-1963.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weis, Jessica M. 1901 births 1963 deaths Burials at Mount Hope Cemetery (Rochester) Politicians from Rochester, New York Female members of the United States House of Representatives Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Women in New York (state) politics 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians

See also

References

External links