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 state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, the first woman to chair a

Congressional committee A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress). Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the ...

, 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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

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

Congress

Nolan was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

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 ...

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, John Ignatius Nolan, on November 18, 1922. She served in the 67th and 68th Congresses, 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 Alice Mary Robertson (January 2, 1854 – July 1, 1931) was an American educator, social worker, Native Americans' rights activist, government official, and politician who became the second woman to serve in the United States Congress, and the fi ...

, and Winnifred Sprague Mason Huck. 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 Repres ...

(widow of

Sonny Bono Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (; February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and politician who came to fame in partnership with his second wife Cher as the popular singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republica ...

) and

Lois Capps Lois Ragnhild Capps (née Grimsrud; January 10, 1938) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1998 to 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 22nd District from 1998 to 2003 a ...

and

Doris Matsui Doris Okada Matsui (; born Doris Kazue Okada; September 25, 1944) is an American politician from the Democratic Party, serving since 2005 in the House of Representatives. She represents (until 2013 numbered the 5th district), covering the city ...

, all of California, and

Jo Ann Emerson Jo Ann Emerson (née Hermann; born September 16, 1950) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 1996 to 2013. The district consists of Southeast and South Central Missouri and includes the Bootheel, the Lead Belt an ...

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 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