Edith
Nourse
was born in 1881. She worked as a volunteer Red
Cross worker during the First World War.
After the war she became the presidential representative in charge
of assisting disabled veterans under Warren
Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert
Hoover.
When her husband, John J. Rogers, died in 1925, she completed his
term in Congress and went on to win seventeen subsequent elections,
making her the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. House
of Representatives.
In Congress she fought for an end to child
labour, the 48 hour week and equal pay for women. During the Second
World War Rogers introduced legislation to establish the Women's
Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC).
After the war, Rogers was a leading advocate of the G.I. Bill of Rights,
which gave returning veterans the opportunity to go to college and
to receive low-interest loans to buy houses. Edith Nourse Rogers died
in 1960.
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