Mary Teresa Norton

Mary Norton
Chair of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee
In office
1940–1944
Preceded byCrawford Jamieson
Succeeded byEdward J. Hart
In office
1932–1935
Preceded byHarry Heher
Succeeded byWilliam H. Kelly
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey
In office
March 4, 1925 – January 3, 1951
Preceded byCharles O'Brien
Succeeded byAlfred Sieminski
House positions
Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Printing
In office
1949 – January 3, 1951
Preceded byKarl M. LeCompte
Succeeded byThomas B. Stanley
Chair of the House Committee on House Administration
In office
January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951
Preceded byKarl M. LeCompte
Succeeded byThomas B. Stanley
Ranking Member of the House Committee on House Administration
In office
1947–1949
Succeeded byKarl M. LeCompte
Chair of the House Committee on Labor
In office
1937–1947
Preceded byWilliam P. Connery Jr.
Succeeded byKarl M. LeCompte
Chair of the House Committee on the District of Columbia
In office
1933–1937
Preceded byFrederick N. Zihlman
Succeeded byVincent L. Palmisano
Constituency12th district (1925–33)
13th district (1933–51)
Member of the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders
In office
1922
Vice Chair of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee
In office
1921–1931
Personal details
Born(1875-03-07)March 7, 1875
Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedAugust 2, 1959(1959-08-02) (aged 84)
Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Resting placeHoly Name Cemetery, Jersey City
PartyDemocratic
SpouseRobert Norton
EducationJersey City High School
Alma materPackard Business College

Mary Teresa Norton (née Hopkins; March 7, 1875 – August 2, 1959) was an American Democratic Party politician who represented Jersey City and Bayonne in the United States House of Representatives from 1925 to 1951.

She was the first woman member of the Democratic Party elected to Congress and the first woman elected to represent New Jersey, or any state in the Northeast. She chaired four House committees during her tenure and was a labor advocate and a supporter of women's rights.

Early life and education

Born as Mary Teresa Hopkins in Jersey City, New Jersey, Norton attended parochial schools and Jersey City High School (since renamed William L. Dickinson High School). She graduated from Packard Business College, New York City in 1896. She married Robert Francis Norton in 1909.

Early career

Norton was president of the Queen's Daughters' Day Nursery Association of Jersey City from 1916 to 1927. She was appointed to represent Hudson County on the New Jersey Democratic State Committee in 1920. She was elected a member of that committee in 1921, and served as vice chairperson from 1921 to 1931. She chaired the state committee from 1932 to 1935 and again from 1940 to 1944.[1][2] She also served as vice chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Committee.

She was elected to the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1922, and was a delegate at large to the Democratic National Conventions in 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, and 1948. She was a delegate to the International Labor Conference at Paris, France in 1945.

Congress

Norton was elected as a Democrat to the 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th, 81st United States Congresses, serving from March 4, 1925, to January 3, 1951. She originally represented New Jersey's 12th congressional district, then composed of Jersey City and Bayonne. Later, she represented the 13th district due to reapportionment.

Committees

Norton was the chairperson of the Committee on the District of Columbia (during the 72nd to 75th Congresses), the Committee on Labor (75th to 79th Congresses), the Committee on Memorials (77th Congress), and the Committee on House Administration (81st Congress). She helped pass the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, working with Clara Mortenson Beyer, Frances Perkins, and Mary La Dame as part of what was colloquially called the "Ladies' Brain Trust."[3]

Norton was not a candidate for renomination in 1950. She became a "Womanpower Consultant" for the Women's Advisory Committee on Defense Manpower, in the United States Department of Labor from 1951 to 1952.

Later politics

For the 1952 Democratic National Convention, Norton led an effort to nominate party vice chairwoman India Edwards as a candidate for the vice presidential nomination.[4]

Death

Norton died on August 2, 1959, in Greenwich, Connecticut, aged 84.[5] She was interred in the Holy Name Cemetery, Jersey City. Her memoir Madame Congressman was never published.

Electoral history

United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives elections, 1948[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mary Teresa Norton (incumbent) 84,487 68.05 3.62
Republican Leon Banach 39,661 31.95
Total votes 124,148 100.0
Democratic hold
United States House of Representatives elections, 1946[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mary Teresa Norton (incumbent) 69,440 64.43 15.18
Republican John A. Jones 36,270 33.66
Socialist Workers Arlene Phillip 1,637 1.52
Communist Sol Potegol 307 0.28
$250.00 State Bonds William S. Dowd 115 0.11
Total votes 107,769 100.0
Democratic hold
United States House of Representatives elections, 1942[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mary Teresa Norton (incumbent) 73,766 79.61 9.46
Republican Raymond J. Cuddy 18894 20.39 9.44
Total votes 92,660 100.0
Democratic hold
United States House of Representatives elections, 1940[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mary Teresa Norton (incumbent) 92,356 70.15 9.67
Republican Raymond J. Cuddy 39,274 29.83
Prohibition Oscar W. Nevins 24 0.02
Total votes 131,654 100.0
Democratic hold
United States House of Representatives elections, 1938[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mary Teresa Norton (incumbent) 89,287 79.82 4.01
Republican T. Burton Coyle 22,459 20.08
Communist Jay Anyon 121 0.11
Total votes 111,867 100.0
Democratic hold
United States House of Representatives elections, 1936[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mary Teresa Norton (incumbent) 93,702 75.81 2.6
Republican John J. Grossi 27,615 22.34
National Union for Social Justice Charles V. McCarthy 2,099 1.7
Socialist Jacob Neiburg 57 0.05
National Union for Social Justice Milton Rosenzweig 54 0.04
National Union for Social Justice Warren Taylor 38 0.03
Communist Louis Slootsky 34 0.03
Total votes 123,599 100.0
Democratic hold
United States House of Representatives elections, 1934[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mary Teresa Norton (incumbent) 73,342 73.21 1.12
Republican Anthony L. Montelli 26,447 26.4
Socialist William Kane Tallman 281 0.28
Communist Stanley Szelazek 105 0.1
Total votes 100,175 99.99
Democratic hold
United States House of Representatives elections, 1932[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mary Teresa Norton (incumbent) 73,779 72.09 3.83
Republican Mortimer Neuman 27,965 27.32
Socialist Archibald Craig 348 0.34 0.05
Liberty Michael G. Pipi 115 0.11
Communist Max Botwinick 106 0.1
Socialist Labor George Ludwig 33 0.03
Total votes 102,346 99.99
Democratic hold
United States House of Representatives elections, 1930[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mary Teresa Norton (incumbent) 53,565 75.92 13.94
Republican Douglas D. T. Story 16,715 23.69
Socialist Archibald Craig 206 0.29
Communist Nathaniel Honig 67 0.09
Total votes 70,553 99.99
Democratic hold
United States House of Representatives elections, 1928[15]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Mary Teresa Norton (incumbent) 56,748 61.98
Republican Philip W. Grece 34,817 38.02
Total votes 91,565 100.0
Democratic hold

See also

References

  1. ^ "W.H. Kelly Elected Chairman of Jersey Democratic Group; Succeeds Mrs. Norton", The New York Times, January 23, 1935. Accessed June 10, 2008.
  2. ^ "Representative Hart Elected to Succeed Mrs. Norton", The New York Times, August 18, 1944. Accessed June 10, 2008.
  3. ^ The Living New Deal Archives. Clara Beyer (c. 1892-1990).
  4. ^ "Women Determined To Play Big Role In Democratic Convention". The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware). The Associated Press. July 16, 1952. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Mary Norton, House Member 26 Years, Dies". Chicago Tribune. August 3, 1959. Mrs. Mary T. Norton, 84, the first woman Democrat in Congress, died of a heart attack Sunday.
  6. ^ "STATE OF NEW JERSEY Result OF THE General Election Held November 2nd, 1948" (PDF). p. 5. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  7. ^ "STATE OF NEW JERSEY Result of the General Election Held November 5th, 1946" (PDF). p. 5. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  8. ^ "STATE OF NEW JERSEY Result OF THE General Election Held November 3rd, 1942" (PDF). p. 4. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  9. ^ "STATE OF NEW JERSEY Result OF THE General Election Held November 5th, 1940" (PDF). p. 5. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  10. ^ "STATE OF NEW JERSEY Result OF THE General Election Held November 8th, 1938" (PDF). p. 3. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  11. ^ "STATE OF NEW JERSEY Result OF THE General Election Held November 3rd, 1936" (PDF). p. 5. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  12. ^ "STATE OF NEW JERSEY Result OF THE General Election Held November 6th, 1934" (PDF). p. 4. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  13. ^ "STATE OF NEW JERSEY Result OF THE General Election Held November 8th, 1932" (PDF). p. 5. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  14. ^ "STATE OF NEW JERSEY Result OF THE General Election Held November 4th, 1930" (PDF). p. 3. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  15. ^ "STATE OF NEW JERSEY Result OF THE General Election Held November 6th, 1928" (PDF). p. 4. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mary Teresa Norton.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.