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Oveta Culp Hobby (January 19, 1905 – August 16, 1995) was an American politician and businessperson who served as the first United States secretary of health, education, and welfare from 1953 to 1955. A member of 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 ...
, Hobby was the second woman ever to serve in a
presidential cabinet A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countrie ...
. 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 Killeen, Texas, to Texas lawyer and legislator Isaac William Culp and Emma Elizabeth Hoover. She briefly attended Mary Hardin Baylor College for Women, and attended law classes at South Texas College of Law and Commerce, but did not graduate from either school. She went on to study law at the University of Texas Law School, but she did not formally enroll and therefore never received a degree. Starting at age 21, she served for several years as parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives and was an unsuccessful candidate for the legislature in 1930, before beginning a journalism career in 1931, at age 26.


War service

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, Hobby headed the Women's Interest Section in the War Department's Bureau of Public Relations for a short time and then became the director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) (later the Women's Army Corps AC, 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. 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. 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. 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 ( FICA and SECA), and was met with strong opposition. She resigned her post in 1955. At the time of her resignation she was embroiled in controversies related to the polio vaccine Cutter Incident. Back in Houston, Hobby resumed her position with the ''Houston Post'' as president and editor and cared for her ailing husband. She went on to serve on many boards and advisory positions with various civic and business institutions around the country. Seventeen colleges and universities, including
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 Manha ...
and the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...
, awarded her honorary doctoral degrees. She was the first woman who was considered for a United States presidential candidacy by an incumbent United States President; Eisenhower encouraged her to run for president in 1960, but she did not run.


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''. 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. 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. She died of a stroke in 1995, in Houston, and was buried at Glenwood Cemetery. Her son William P. Hobby, Jr., served as the 37th lieutenant governor of Texas from 1973 to 1991, the longest serving in that position. Her daughter Jessica was married to Henry E. Catto, Jr., the former United States Ambassador to Great Britain and was an activist for environmental causes and for the Democratic Party. Hobby's grandson Paul Hobby narrowly lost the election for comptroller of Texas to
Carole Strayhorn Carole Stewart Keeton (born September 13, 1939), formerly known as Carole Keeton McClellan, Carole Keeton Rylander and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, is an American politician and the former Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Elected to the comptr ...
in the 1998 general election.


Legacy

* The library at Central Texas College is named after her. * A residence
dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university ...
at Texas A&M University in
College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. As ...
, is named after her. * The Oveta Culp Hobby Soldier & Family Readiness Center at Fort Hood, Texas is named for her. * An
elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
in Killeen, Texas (
Killeen ISD Killeen Independent School District is a public school district based in Killeen, Texas (USA). In addition to Killeen, the district serves the cities of Harker Heights and Nolanville as well as all students residing at Fort Hood. The distri ...
) 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. * In 1996, Hobby was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. * On December 7, 2021, her 1943 oil portrait in uniform painted by noted portrait artist
Seymour M. Stone Seymour may refer to: Places Australia *Seymour, Victoria, a township *Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria *Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria *Seymour, Tasmania, a locality ...
was installed in the Killeen Main Library in Killeen, Texas.


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

* List of female United States Cabinet members


Further reading

*


References


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''
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobby, Oveta Culp 1905 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American Episcopalians 20th-century American newspaper publishers (people) 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians Burials at Glenwood Cemetery (Houston, Texas) Businesspeople from Houston Eisenhower administration cabinet members Hobby family Journalists from Houston Members of the Junior League People from Killeen, Texas Politicians from Houston Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Texas Republicans United States Army colonels United States Secretaries of Health, Education, and Welfare Women members of the Cabinet of the United States Women's Army Corps soldiers