Mae Ella Nolan (September 20, 1886 – July 9, 1973) was an American politician who became the fourth woman to serve in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

, the first woman elected to Congress from

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, the first woman to chair a Congressional committee, and the first to fill the seat left vacant by her husband's death. She took her seat in 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 ...

in 1923.

Biography

Mae Nolan was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California, and attended

public schools Public school may refer to: *State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England and ...

, St. Vincent's Convent, and Ayres Business College of San Francisco.

Congress

Nolan was elected as a Republican to the

67th Congress The 67th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 192 ...

by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband,

John Ignatius Nolan John Ignatius Nolan (January 14, 1874 – November 18, 1922) was an American Foundry#Mold making, iron molder and politician who represented a Californian district in the United States House of Representatives from 1913 to 1922. Backgro ...

, on November 18, 1922. She served in the 67th and

68th Congress The 68th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1923, ...

es, from January 23, 1923, to March 3, 1925. Mae E

Nolan was the fourth woman elected to Congress, after

Jeannette Rankin Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was an American politician and women's rights advocate who became the first woman to hold federal office in the United States in 1917. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representat ...

, Alice Mary Robertson, and

Winnifred Sprague Mason Huck Winnifred Sprague Huck (née Mason; September 14, 1882 – August 24, 1936) was an American journalist and politician from the state of Illinois who became the third woman to serve in the United States Congress, after Jeannette Rankin and Ali ...

. All four were elected as Republicans to the House of Representatives. Nolan was a Catholic, hence she was the first woman from such a background who served in the federal legislature. Nolan was the first woman elected to her husband's seat in Congress, which is sometimes known as the "widow's succession". As of 2004, 36 widows have won their husbands' seats in the House, and 8 in the Senate. Recent examples are Representatives

Mary Bono Mary Bono (née Whitaker and formerly Mary Bono Mack, born October 24, 1961) is an American politician, businesswoman, and lobbyist who served Palm Springs and most of central and eastern Riverside County, California, in the U.S. House of Represen ...

(widow of Sonny Bono) and Lois Capps and Doris Matsui, all of California, and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri. The most successful example is

Margaret Chase Smith Margaret Madeline Smith (née Chase; December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S. representative (1940–1949) and a U.S. senator (1949–1973) from Maine. She was the firs ...

of Maine, who served a total of 32 years in both houses and became the first woman elected to both the House and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The third woman elected to Congress, Winnifred Huck, was similarly elected to her father's seat. Nolan initially supported her late husband's stance on

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, but later supported the right of women to vote. During her term, she was the chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department. She was not a candidate for renomination in 1924 to the 69th Congress, claiming "

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

is man's business".

Death

Nolan moved to

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

in her later years, where she died. She was interred in

Holy Cross Cemetery Holy Cross Cemetery may refer to: United States California *Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California) *Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California * Holy Cross Cemetery (Menlo Park, California) * Holy Cross Cemetery (Pomona, California) *Holy C ...

in Colma.

References

* * Associated Press.
Husbands' deaths often propel widows to office
. ''Columbia Daily Tribune'', January 22, 2005. Retrieved February 15, 2005.
alternate source
* Office of History and Preservation, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives (2006). "'I'm No Lady, I'm a Member of Congress': Women Pioneers on Capitol Hill, 1917–1934". ''Women in Congress 1917–2006.'' U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 24–25. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Mae Ella 1886 births 1973 deaths Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California) Catholics from California Female members of the United States House of Representatives Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California Women in California politics 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians

Biography

Congress

Death

See also

References