Edith Nourse Rogers (March 19, 1881 – September 10, 1960) was an American social welfare volunteer and politician who was one of the first women to serve in the United States Congress. She was the first woman elected to congress from Massachusetts. Until 2012, she was the longest serving Congresswoman, now having been surpassed by Barbara Mikulski, and in her 35 years in the House of Representatives she was a powerful voice for veterans and sponsored seminal legislation, including the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (commonly known as the G.I. Bill), which provided educational and financial benefits for soldiers returning home from World War II, the 1942 bill that created the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), and the 1943 bill that created the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She was also instrumental in bringing federal appropriations to her constituency, Massachusetts's 5th congressional district.
Read more about Edith Nourse Rogers: Early Life, Congresswoman, Legislator, German Refugees, WAAC, WAC, G.I. Bill, After WWII, Death and Legacy
Famous quotes containing the words edith and/or rogers:
“The ghost of the heart of manred Cain
And the more murderous brain
Of Man, still redder Nero that conceived the death
Of his mother Earth, and tore
Her womb, to know the place where he was conceived.”
—Dame Edith Sitwell (18871964)
“There is a universal truth that I have found in my work. Everybody longs to be loved. And the greatest thing we can do is let somebody know that they are loved and capable of loving.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)