Lottie (Holman) O'Neill (November 7, 1878 – February 17, 1967) was an American politician from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

who was the first woman elected to the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...

. First elected in 1922, O'Neill served 40 years in the Assembly, the longest-serving female elected official in the United States at the time. O'Neill's record as the longest-serving female legislator in Illinois history for her service during 19 General Assemblies was surpassed when Barbara Flynn Currie was reelected to a twentieth term.

Biography

She was born November 7, 1878, in

Barry, Illinois Barry is a city in Pike County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,303 at the 2020 census. History Barry was previously known as Worcester, which was platted in 1836. In 1839, residents petitioned to establish a post office, but b ...

. She attended the common schools. She earned a business degree, and then moved to Chicago. In 1904 she married

Irish Australian Irish Australians () are ‌‍‍‍‍residents of Australia who are either fully or partially of Irish people, Irish descent. Irish immigrants and their descendants have had a prominent presence in Australian society since the First Fle ...

immigrant William O'Neill, with whom she had two sons. The family moved to

Downers Grove, Illinois Downers Grove is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, whose surname serves as the eponym for the village. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the village was ...

, in 1908. O'Neill became an activist for equal voting rights, working with the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...

Political career

O'Neill was inspired by the political success of

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. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, who in 1916 was the first woman elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. In 1920, women in Illinois gained the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...

. In the next election cycle, O'Neill was encouraged by her husband to run for the legislature. She ran as a Republican and won one of the 41st district's three seats. At the beginning of her legislative career, she was frustrated when out of her thirteen proposed bills only three were able to pass the Illinois House. During her early career, she focused on equal rights for women, introducing the eight-hour work day and improving state assistance for disabled children. In 1930, O'Neill ran against incumbent Richard J. Barr in the 41st district Republican primary for the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

. She lost the Republican primary, but entered that year's United States Senate election as an

independent candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

with the backing of the Illinois chapter of the

Anti-Saloon League The Anti-Saloon League, now known as the American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems, is an organization of the temperance movement in the United States. Founded in 1893 in Oberlin, Ohio, it was a key component of the Progressive Era, an ...

. O'Neill ran an aggressive campaign accusing Republican

Ruth Hanna McCormick Ruth McCormick (née Hanna, also known as Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms; March 27, 1880 – December 31, 1944), was an American politician, activist, and publisher. She served one term in the United States House of Representatives, winning an at-l ...

of corruption and attacking McCormick's inconsistent stance on

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

. McCormick, who defeated Charles S. Deneen in the Republican primary, lost the election to Democrat J. Hamilton Lewis with O'Neill finishing a distant third. She returned to the Illinois House in 1933. In 1935, a Democratic lawmaker called for O'Neill to be expelled from the House after she and a colleague introduced a resolution critical of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

and Governor

Henry Horner Henry Horner (November 30, 1878 – October 6, 1940) was an American politician. Horner served as the 28th Governor of Illinois, serving from January 1933 until his death in October 1940. Horner was noted as the first Jewish governor of Illinois. ...

. The matter was settled after the offending resolution was withdrawn. Holman O'Neill was the chief sponsor of the bill that allowed women to serve on juries in Illinois. The bill passed in 1939, decades after Alta Hulett became the first woman admitted to the Illinois bar. During her second House tenure O'Neill grew more conservative, a trend that would continue for the rest of her political career. She opposed federal income tax, growing state budgets, and "excessive regulations." Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was a supporter of the

America First Committee The America First Committee (AFC) was an American isolationist pressure group against the United States' entry into World War II. Launched in September 1940, it surpassed 800,000 members in 450 chapters at its peak. The AFC principally supporte ...

and the

Ludlow Amendment The Ludlow Amendment was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States which called for a national referendum on any declaration of war by Congress, except in cases when the United States had been attacked first.H.J. Res. 167, 74 ...

. After the war was declared, she remained a critic of the Roosevelt administration's wartime conduct and decisions. Her isolationist tendencies would continue after World War II. She was a supporter of the Bricker Amendment and an opponent of American membership in the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. In 1946, she successfully prevented

National Federation of Republican Women The National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) is a political action committee that serves as the women's wing of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in the United States. It was founded in 1938 by Marion Martin (Maine pol ...

from endorsing the proposed United Nations. Her opposition to the UN was so strong she even wished to see a ban on public buildings in Illinois flying the

flag of the United Nations The flag of the United Nations is a sky blue banner containing the United Nations' emblem in the centre. The emblem on the flag is coloured white; it is a depiction of the world map in the azimuthal equidistant projection (centred on the North ...

. In 1950, O'Neill ran for the Illinois Senate in the 41st again. This time she faced James M. Barr, the nephew of retiring Senator Richard Barr, in the Republican primary. She won the Republican nomination by over 1,000 votes. In the general election, she easily defeated Democratic candidate and former state legislator Joseph Sam Perry of

Glen Ellyn Glen Ellyn is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. A suburb located due west of downtown Chicago, the village has a population of 28,846 as of the 2020 Census. History Glen Ellyn, like the neighboring town to the east, Lombar ...

. In the Illinois House, she was succeeded by John M. King who at 23 was the youngest person elected to said body since

Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a United States Senate, U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party (United States) ...

. O'Neill defeated the party's preferred slate of delegates to the

1956 Republican National Convention The 1956 Republican National Convention was held by the Republican Party of the United States at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, from August 20 to August 23, 1956. U.S. Senator William F. Knowland was temporary chairman and form ...

, which re-nominated

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

. Prior to Eisenhower's nomination, she pressed the RNC on whether or not Eisenhower had adequately recovered from his heart attack, embarrassing the party. In 1958, 29 year old DuPage County Assistant State's Attorney, Harris Fawell challenged O'Neill in the 41st district Republican primary for the

. She defeated Fawell and was reelected to her sixth term. In 1960, she founded the Northern Illinois Conservatives with the hopes of creating a voting bloc that would move the Republican Party further right. The organization lobbied delegates at the

1960 Republican National Convention The 1960 Republican National Convention was held in Chicago, Illinois, from July 25 to July 28, 1960, at the International Amphitheatre. It was the 14th and most recent time overall that Chicago hosted the Republican National Convention, more ...

to take up their positions including fiscally conservative stances against taxation and spending and opposition to the 1960 Democratic National Convention's platform in favor of civil rights for African Americans. O'Neill would blame Nixon's loss on his stances as a

Rockefeller Republican The Rockefeller Republicans were members of the United States Republican Party (GOP) in the 1930s–1970s who held moderate-to- liberal views on domestic issues, similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York (1959–1973) and Vi ...

. She announced her retirement from the legislature January 8, 1962. She was succeeded in the Illinois Senate by her 1958 primary opponent Harris Fawell. In the 1964 presidential election, O'Neill was a staunch supporter of

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...

. She was described as strong willed and independent, and was referred to by her colleagues as the "conscience of the Senate".

Later life

O'Neill retired from politics in 1963 at age 84. She died in

, on February 17, 1967, at age 88. She is buried at Oak Crest Cemetery in Downers Grove.

Legacy

A historical marker about her achievements can be found next to her gravesite. O'Neill Middle School in

, is named in her honor. A statue in the rotunda of the

Illinois State Capitol The Illinois State Capitol, located in Springfield, Illinois, houses the legislative and executive branches of the government of the U.S. state of Illinois. Becoming the seat of the legislature in 1876, the current building is the sixth to serve ...

was erected in 1976 to commemorate O'Neill.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Lottie Holman 1878 births 1967 deaths Politicians from Chicago People from Barry, Illinois Republican Party Illinois state senators Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Women state legislators in Illinois People from Downers Grove, Illinois American temperance activists Illinois independents 20th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly 20th-century American women politicians