Douglas, Helen Gahagan, 1900-1980
Person
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 560 Collections and/or Records:
Concerns about Demobilization: A Soldier's Plea
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_29_1_0004
Concerns about the American Negro Troops in World War II
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0007
Concerns and Critiques: A Letter to Helen Gahagan Douglas, 1947-01-01 - 1947-01-01
Item — Box: 74, Folder: 15
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_3.2_74_15_0048
Overview
80th (1947-1949)
Concerns and Recommendations for Veterans' Benefits
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.1_13_18_0008
Concerns Over the Closing of Van Nuys-Birmingham Hospital: Extension of Remarks by Hon. Helen Gahagan Douglas, 1950-04-18
Item — Box: 171, Folder: 3
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_5_171_3_0044
Concerns regarding slow mail service to servicemen in the South Pacific
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_29_1_0007
Concerns Regarding Veterans Benefits under the G.I. Bill and Federal Bonus
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.1_13_18_0010
Concerns Regarding Veterans Benefits under the G.I. Bill and Federal Bonus, 1946-11-26
Item — Box: 13, Folder: 18
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.1_13_18_0010
Overview
79th (1945-1947)
Congratulations on Your Speech: A Tribute to the Negro Soldiers of WWII, 1946-01-01 - 1946-12-31
Item — Box: 22, Folder: 9
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0072
Overview
79th (1945-1947)
Congratulations on Your Speech: A Tribute to the Negro Soldiers of WWII
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0072