Oveta Culp Hobby and the Women's Army Corps
September 4, 2005 8:15 AM Subscribe
Oveta Culp Hobby and the Women's Army Corps. Early in 1941 Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts (the first woman to serve in the United States House of Representatives) met with General George C. Marshall, the Army's Chief of Staff, and informed him that she intended to introduce a bill to establish an Army women's corps, separate and distinct from the existing Army Nurse Corps. Rogers remembered the female civilians who had worked overseas with the Army under contract and as volunteers during World War I: serving without benefit of official status, they had to obtain their own food and quarters, and they received no legal protection or medical care. Upon their return home they were not entitled to the disability benefits or pensions available to U.S. military veterans. Rogers was determined that if women were to serve again with the Army in a wartime theater they would receive the same legal protection and benefits as their male counterparts. After a long and acrimonious debate, the following year the bill was finally approved by Congress and signed into law by FDR. Oveta Culp Hobby, chairman of the board of the Houston Post, was appointed as Director of the WAAC.
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posted by PenguinBukkake at 8:17 AM on September 4, 2005
Edith Nourse Rogers was not the first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Jeannette Rankin was.
posted by cerebus19 at 8:55 AM on September 4, 2005
posted by cerebus19 at 8:55 AM on September 4, 2005
you're right, this page confused me:
1925 – Edith Nourse Rogers (Republican – Massachusetts) is the first woman to serve in the United States House of Representatives.
it was a page about Mass. women, though. my bad. I'll ask mathowie to edit the post, if at all possible. thanks cerebus.
posted by PenguinBukkake at 9:29 AM on September 4, 2005
1925 – Edith Nourse Rogers (Republican – Massachusetts) is the first woman to serve in the United States House of Representatives.
it was a page about Mass. women, though. my bad. I'll ask mathowie to edit the post, if at all possible. thanks cerebus.
posted by PenguinBukkake at 9:29 AM on September 4, 2005
Thank you cerebus. I was about to say that. (Go Montana!)
posted by Alison at 11:30 AM on September 4, 2005
posted by Alison at 11:30 AM on September 4, 2005
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