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 401 Collections and/or Records:
Request for Speech on Negro Soldiers in WWII
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_23_1_0078
Request for Speech on the Negro Soldier from Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_23_1_0059
Request for Speech on the Record of Negro Servicemen
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_23_1_0079
Request for Speech on the Role of African Americans in WWII
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0089
Request for Study on the Role of Negro Soldiers in WWII
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_23_1_0009
Request for Summary of Accomplishments of Negras in World War II
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0076
Request for Summary of Accomplishments of Negras in World War II, 1946-01-01 - 1946-12-31
Item — Box: 22, Folder: 9
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0076
Overview
79th (1945-1947)
Request for Summary of Achievements of Negro Soldiers and Sailors of the War
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0090
Request for War History of Negroes in World War One
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0074
Requests for Material: '"Negroes in the War' Distribution List
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_23_2_0019