Marion West Higgins (January 9, 1915 – December 24, 1991) was an American Republican Party politician who served as the first female
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
of the
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
) to serve as speaker of a state House of Representatives in the United States.''The Almanac of Women and Minorities in American Politics 2002'', Mart Martin, Westview Press, 2001, She also served as Acting
Governor of New Jersey
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official r ...
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...
, serving from 1911 to 1943. She attended
New Rochelle High School
New Rochelle High School (NRHS) is a public high school in New Rochelle, New York. It is part of the City School District of New Rochelle and is the city's sole public high school.
Its student body represents 60 countries from around the world. I ...
before entering Mount Holyoke College, where she graduated with a degree in political science in 1936. In 1941 she married William F. Higgins, and in 1949 they moved to
Hillsdale, New Jersey
Hillsdale is a borough in the New York City metropolitan area in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 10,219,Bergen County Republican politics, and in 1959 she was elected to the
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...
, where she served three terms. In 1964 she was selected as majority leader, and in 1965 she was selected as Speaker. When Governor Richard J. Hughes was out of the state in January 1965, Higgins became Acting Governor. Normally, New Jersey Senate President Charles W. Sandman, Jr. would have taken the post, as he stood first in the line of succession to the governorship. However, Sandman absented himself from the state so that Higgins would be accorded the honor of serving as the first woman to lead the state.
Higgins ran for State Senate in 1965 on the Republican Party's Bergen County slate, but all four Republican candidates went down to defeat in the general election, as Democrats took control of both houses of the Legislature.
After her tenure in the Assembly, Higgins continued to operate the Hillsdale real estate business with her husband. In 1973 she followed in her father's footsteps by becoming a member of the Bergen County Council of the Boy Scouts of America. She was also the first woman to serve on the board of Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc.
In 1991, at the age of 76, Higgins died at Pascack Valley Hospital in
Westwood, New Jersey
Westwood (known as "The Hub of the Pascack Valley") is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 10,908,Mahwah.