Isabella Greenway - Activism and Politics

Activism and Politics

Isabella's political interests and social activism paralleled the interests of her friend Eleanor. During the First World War she developed and directed a network of southwest women who farmed while the men were overseas. During the late 1920s she opened Arizona Hut, a furniture factory employing disabled veterans and their immediate families. In 1928 she became Arizona's Democratic national committeewoman, and in 1932 she campaigned heavily for Franklin Roosevelt. She made one of the speeches seconding his nomination at the 1932 Democratic National Convention.

Greenway, a Democrat, was elected as Arizona's sole Representative to the 73rd Congress in 1932 to complete the unexpired term of resigning Rep. Lewis W. Douglas, who had been appointed the U.S director of the budget. She won reelection in 1934. On her fiftieth birthday she announced that she was retiring from public office. There was some expectation that had she run in the 1936 election, she would have been unopposed in both the primary and general elections.

Though she broadly supported New Deal legislation during her terms in Congress, she demonstrated her political independence by breaking with the President over some issues of concern to veterans, an important part of her political base in Arizona. She opposed legislation to reduce the pensions of World War I servicemen, funds for which FDR planned to shift to fund economic recovery programs. She also opposed some provisions of the Social Security Act, which she believed would be impossible to implement in the long term.