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 267 Collections and/or Records:
Congratulations on Your Speech: A Tribute to the Negro Soldiers of WWII
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0072
Congressional Speech Request
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0015
Contribution for Negro History Week
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0059
Contribution for Negro History Week, 1946-02-11
Item — Box: 22, Folder: 9
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0059
Overview
79th (1945-1947)
Contributions of Negro and Jewish Soldiers to the War Effort
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0001
Corrections and Gratitude: A Letter from Other Pilot to Mrs. Douglas
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0005
Corrections and Gratitude: A Letter from Other Pilot to Mrs. Douglas, 1946-01-01 - 1946-12-31
Item — Box: 22, Folder: 9
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0005
Overview
79th (1945-1947)
Correspondence from De Gazon to Helen Gahagan Douglas
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_22_9_0073
Cousins invites Douglas to briefing on Vietnam with Senator Clark.
Digital item
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_8.12_9_24_0002
Disappointment in Response to The Negro Soldier - Letter from Little, Brown & Company Editor-in-Chief, 1946-03-29
Item — Box: 23, Folder: 1
Identifier: CAC_CC_014_2.2_23_1_0030
Overview
79th (1945-1947)