Maude Elizabeth Kee (née Simpkins; June 7, 1895 – February 15, 1975), known generally as Elizabeth Kee, was a U.S. Democratic politician. She was the first woman elected to the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, serving from 1951 to 1965. Kee specialized in veterans' and unemployment issues during her congressional career.

Biography

Maude Elizabeth Kee was born Maude Elizabeth Simpkins in

Radford, Virginia Radford (formerly Lovely Mount, Central City, English Ferry and Ingle's Ferry) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of 2020, the population was 16,070 by the United States Census Bureau. For ...

, in 1895. She was one of 11 children of John Jesse Wade Simpkins and Cora French Hall Simpkins. Both of her parents held strong conservative views, which she began to challenge at a young age. She rejected her parents' strict Baptist faith, converting to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. After moving with her family to Roanoke, Virginia, she attended the National Business College there. Around 1916, Lee worked as secretary for the ''Roanoke Times'' business office, and later worked as a court reporter for a local law firm. After a failed first marriage to a railway clerk, James Alan Frazier, she married

John Kee John Kee (August 22, 1874 – May 8, 1951) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1933 until his death in Washington, D.C., in 1951. Biography He was born in G ...

, who had been Frazier's attorney in his divorce from Elizabeth. She, Kee, and her two children from her previous marriage moved to

Bluefield, West Virginia Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 9,658 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Bluefield micropolitan area extending into Virginia, which had a populatio ...

. John Kee was first elected to Congress from the Fifth Congressional District in 1932, and Elizabeth Kee served as her husband's executive secretary until his death in 1951. She won a special election to succeed him for the rest of the term, then went on to be elected to six full terms and served from July 17, 1951, to January 3, 1965, in the 82nd through the 88th U.S. Congresses. In Congress, Kee served on the House Government Operations, Interior and Insular Affairs, and Veterans Affairs committees, chairing the last's Veterans' Hospitals Subcommittee. After struggling to win support for economic redevelopment plans for her home district in West Virginia during the

Eisenhower Administration Dwight D. Eisenhower's tenure as the 34th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1953, and ended on January 20, 1961. Eisenhower, a Republican from Kansas, took office following his landslide victor ...

, Kee supported

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

's successful campaign in 1960 and, through the Accelerated Public Works Act, funneled millions of dollars to the state through an Area Redevelopment Administration. She did not sign the 1956

Southern Manifesto The Declaration of Constitutional Principles (known informally as the Southern Manifesto) was a document written in February and March 1956, during the 84th United States Congress, in opposition to racial integration of public places. The manife ...

and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but voted present on the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

. Kee did not seek re-election in 1964, and was succeeded in Congress by her son,

James Kee James Kee (April 15, 1917 – March 11, 1989) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served in the United States House of Representatives for West Virginia's 5th congressional district ...

. She retired to Bluefield, West Virginia, where she died in 1975. The Elizabeth Kee Federal Building in Bluefield, WV is named in her honor.

References

External links

*
Elizabeth Kee
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 Politics of the United States, American political figures and List of United States political families, political families, along with other informa ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kee, Elizabeth Politicians from Bluefield, West Virginia Female members of the United States House of Representatives Women in West Virginia politics 1895 births 1975 deaths People from Radford, Virginia Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from West Virginia 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American Episcopalians 20th-century West Virginia politicians 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Biography

See also

References

External links