Douglas, Helen Gahagan, 1900-1980

Person

Staff Only

Biographical:

Helen Gahagan Douglas (1900-1980) began her professional career on the Broadway stage and was deemed a "star" at age twenty-two. By the 1930s, she left the Northeast and moved to California with her husband, Hollywood actor Melvyn Douglas. Although she made only one movie herself--the science fiction film, She--she soon found herself immersed in politics. She worked with the Farm Security Administration and later was elected Democratic National Committeewoman from California. In 1944, she was elected as the representative of California's Fourteenth District in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was successfully reelected to this position in 1946 and 1948. A tireless New Deal Democrat, Douglas was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and served as an alternate delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations. In 1950, she opposed Richard M. Nixon in the general election for the U.S. Senate. The campaign was especially brutal with the Republicans quite "liberal" in their charges that Douglas was a communist. Nixon easily won the election. Though Douglas never entered the political fray again, she remained a tireless public speaker and activist.

Found in 407 Collections and/or Records:

Inquiry for Articles on Social Justice for the Negro

Digital item

Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_23_1_0028

Found in: Carl Albert Center Congressional and Political Collections

Inquiry on the Record of African American Soldiers in World War II, 1946-01-01 - 1946-12-31

Item — Box: 22, Folder: 9

Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0080

Overview 79th (1945-1947)

Found in: Carl Albert Center Congressional and Political Collections / Helen Gahagan Douglas Collection / 79th Congress / General Files / Negro Soldiers: Correspondence and Data, January-February 16