Mary Teresa Norton

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Mary Norton
Mary Teresa Norton cph.3b14795.jpg
Chair of the House Administration Committee
In office
January 3, 1949 � January 3, 1951
Preceded by Karl LeCompte
Succeeded by Thomas Stanley
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey
In office
March 4, 1925 � January 3, 1951
Preceded by Charles O'Brien
Succeeded by Alfred Sieminski
Constituency 12th district (1925�33)
13th district (1933�51)
Personal details
Born March 7, 1875
Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Died August 2, 1959 (aged 84)
Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Robert Norton
Education Packard Business College
Mary Teresa Norton (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.

Contents
1 Early life and education
2 Early career
3 Congress
3.1 Committees
4 Death
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Early life and education
She was born as Mary Teresa Hopkins in Jersey City, New Jersey. She attended
parochial schools and Jersey City High School (since renamed William L. Dickinson
High School) and 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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

Death
Norton died on August 2, 1959, in Greenwich, Connecticut, aged 84.[4] She was
interred in the Holy Name Cemetery, Jersey City. Her memoir Madame Congressman was
never published.

See also
Women in the United States House of Representatives
References
"W.H. Kelly Elected Chairman of Jersey Democratic Group; Succeeds Mrs. Norton",
The New York Times, January 23, 1935. Accessed June 10, 2008.
"Representative Hart Elected to Succeed Mrs. Norton", The New York Times, August
18, 1944. Accessed June 10, 2008.
The Living New Deal Archives. Clara Beyer (c. 1892-1990).
"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.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mary Teresa Norton.
United States Congress. "Mary Teresa Norton (id: N000153)". Biographical Directory
of the United States Congress.
Mary T. Norton at Women in Congress
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Charles O'Brien Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey's 12th congressional district
1925�1933 Succeeded by
Frederick Lehlbach
Preceded by
Frederick Zihlman Chairperson of the House District of Columbia Committee
1931�1933 Succeeded by
Jennings Randolph
New constituency Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey's 13th congressional district
1933�1951 Succeeded by
Alfred Sieminski
Preceded by
William Connery Chairperson of the House Labor Committee
1937�1947 Succeeded by
Fred Hartley
Preceded by
Alfred Bulwinkle Chairperson of the House Memorials Committee
1941�1943 Succeeded by
John Murdock
Preceded by
Karl Le Compte Chairperson of the House Administration Committee
1949�1951 Succeeded by
Thomas Stanley
Chairperson of the Joint Library Committee
1949�1951
Chairperson of the Joint Printing Committee
1949�1951
Party political offices
Preceded by
Harry Heher Chairperson of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee
1932�1935 Succeeded by
William Kelly
Preceded by
Crawford Jamieson Chairperson of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee
1940�1944 Succeeded by
Edward Hart
vte
Chairs of the United States House Committee on House Administration
vte
Chairmen of the United States House Committee on the District of Columbia
vte
Chairs of the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce
Authority control Edit this at Wikidata
Categories: 1875 births1959 deathsBurials at Holy Name Cemetery (Jersey City, New
Jersey)Chairmen of the New Jersey Democratic State CommitteeCounty commissioners in
New JerseyDemocratic Party members of the United States House of
RepresentativesFemale members of the United States House of RepresentativesMembers
of the United States House of Representatives from New JerseyNew Jersey
DemocratsPeople from Greenwich, ConnecticutDemocratic Party members of the United
States House of Representatives from New JerseyWilliam L. Dickinson High School
alumniPoliticians from Jersey City, New JerseyWomen in New Jersey politicsCatholics
from New JerseyCatholics from Connecticut
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