Julia Butler Hansen (June 14, 1907 – May 3, 1988) was an American politician who served as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

from 1960 to 1974. She represented Washington's Third Congressional District as a Democrat. She was the second woman and first Democratic woman elected to Congress from Washington.

Early life and education

Her father, Donald C. Butler, was sheriff of Wahkiakum County and her mother, Maude Eliza (Kimball), was named Washington's "Mother of the Year" in 1960. Hansen attended public school in Washington. She attended Oregon State College from 1924 to 1926, and graduated from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

(Seattle) with a Bachelor of Arts in home economics in 1930.

Entry to public service

Hansen's political career began as a member of the Cathlamet, Washington, city council, where she served from 1938 to 1946. She served in the Washington State Legislature as a member of the State House of Representatives from January 1939 until November 1960, serving as the first woman speaker pro tempore from 1955 to 1960. She served as chairman of the Western Interstate Committee on Highway Policies for 11 western states from 1951 to 1961.

United States Congress

She was elected simultaneously as a Democrat to the

Eighty-sixth Congress The 86th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1959 ...

and to the Eighty-seventh Congress by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative Russell V. Mack, and was re-elected to the six succeeding Congresses (November 8, 1960 – December 31, 1974). She served on the

House Appropriations Committee The United States House Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives that is responsible for passing appropriation bills along with its Senate counterpart. The bills passed by the Appropriations Comm ...

after serving for years on Education, Labor, Veteran's Affairs, Interior and Insular Affairs Committees.

Later career

Hansen did not run for re-election to Congress in 1974, and was appointed in 1975 to a six-year term on the

Washington State Toll Bridge Authority The Washington Toll Bridge Authority was created in 1937 by the Washington State Legislature, with a mandate to finance, construct and operate toll bridges. The first act of the Authority was to purchase the Manette Bridge The Manette Bridge ...

and State Highway Commission. She served as chair of the Washington State Transportation Commission from 1979 to 1981.

Anti-Semitism Allegation

Edward I. Koch, later New York City mayor, recounted overhearing a conversation on the floor of the House in 1973 during a vote to fund arms replenishment to Israel during the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Eg ...

. Speaking with two other members of Congress, Hansen allegedly "went off on a bizarre tangent, saying, 'You know, I was once cheated by a Jew,' and launching into a diatribe about how she did not like Jews." Koch, Edward I., with William Rauch, ''Politics'' (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985), pp. 183-84, cited in Soffer, Jonathan. Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012). ISBN 978-0-231-15032-3, p. 83.

Personal life

Hansen was the author of a book for children titled ''Singing Paddles'', published by Binfords and Mort in 1935, which won the Julia Ellsworth Ford Foundation Award for Juvenile Literature. She married Henry A. Hansen, a logger, on July 15, 1939; they were parents of one natural son, David, and Henry's adopted son Richard. Hansen was also manager of the Wahkiakum County Abstract Company and the G. Henry Hanigan Insurance Co. in Cathlamet, and served as chairman and member of the board of trustees of Century 21, State of Washington, beginning in 1958.

Death and legacy

Hansen lived in Cathlamet until her death there on May 3, 1988. She is honored by the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-Tailed Deer, a

National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge System is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to ...

established in 1972 in Cathlamet; the Julia Butler Hansen Elementary School, opened in 1994 in the Olympia School District in

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. Europea ...

; and the Julia Butler Hansen Bridge connecting Cathlamet to Puget Island, Washington.

References

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061015054225/http://www.fws.gov/pacific/refuges/field/WA_julia.htm Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refugebr>Julia Butler Hansen entry
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Julia Butler 1907 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Washington (state) Female members of the United States House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the Washington House of Representatives Oregon State University alumni Politicians from Portland, Oregon University of Washington alumni Women state legislators in Washington (state) Washington (state) city council members People from Cathlamet, Washington Women city councillors in Washington (state)