McCormick, Ruth Hanna (1880-1944) Also known as: Simms, Ruth Hanna McCormick (1880-1944)

Image

Item Relations

Member of (5)
Mentioned in (10)
Received by (1)
Comments (0)

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

National Women's Trade Union League (NWTUL)

United States House of Representatives

Jane Addams to Ruth Hanna McCormick, July 14, 1913

Comments

Birth Date

1880-03-27

Death Date

1944-12-31

Birthplace

Cleveland, OH

Biographical Text

Ruth Hanna McCormick was a Republican politician and newspaper publisher. She was the daughter of one senator, Mark Hanna of Ohio, and the wife of another, Joseph Medill McCormick. Hanna was educated in boarding schools and took to politics early, stumping for woman suffrage, organizing women's Republican clubs in Illinois, and serving as her father's secretary in Washington, DC. She worked for the Progressive party in 1912 and in 1913, she succeeded Alice Paul as the head of the Congressional Committee for the National American Woman Suffrage Association, remaining until 1914. From 1919- 1924, McCormick was the chairman of the first woman's executive committee of the Republican National Committee and an associate member of the national committee. In 1924, she was appointed Illinois' national committeewoman, a position she served until 1928. After her husband's death in 1925, McCormick became more active in politics, she was elected to the United States House of Representative, serving Illinois 1929-1931. She ran unsuccessfully for her husband's Senate seat in 1929. McCormick then purchased the Rockford Daily Republic and became its publisher, bought a dairy farm, and opened a school for girls in New Mexico. McCormick was also engaged in fighting child labor and bettering working conditions for women. In 1940, she returned to politics and became a key figure in Thomas E. Dewey's presidential campaign.

McCormick married Senator Joseph Medill McCormick in 1903. The couple had three children, Katrina, Ruth, and John. After his death in 1925, she married former politician and banker Gallatin Simms in 1932. McCormick died in 1944.