Nellie Tayloe Ross: A Governor First

She stayed in the background a Wyoming politician's pretty wife and what she always said was her highest calling a mother. Then suddenly her life and American politics took a radical new direction. Nellie Tayloe Ross was the first American woman to take office as an elected governor. Wyoming Public television presents. Nellie Tayloe Roths. She stayed in the background a Wyoming politician's pretty wife and what she always said was her highest calling a mother. Then suddenly her life and American politics took a radical new direction. My grandfather died. She has to pick up those pieces.

And. They ask her if she'd like to run for governor Well of course she had no job. Four children two in college. A 12 year old. Nellie Taylor Ross was the first American woman to take office as an elected governor. Nellie was truly a standout. She brought attention to Wyoming. That the state had never had before. Nationwide attention and uniformly the reviews of her performance and her behavior outside the state were very positive. She really helped to further the view of Wyoming as an equality state. Wyoming Public television presence Nelly Tayloe Roths. Life the night before Nelly Tayloe role since 1926 was not the same

with neat history a loyal politician's wife lovingly raising her children enjoying the social scene in Cheyenne Wyoming. The tragedy. The road story. My grandfather dies. She has to pick up those pieces. And. They ask her if she'd like to run for governor. Well of course she had. No job. Two in college a 12 year old. In 1976 Nelly Tayloe Ross turned 100 years old honored and revered. She was living in Washington D.C. as she had for much of her long life. Once she had been a famous or a tour on the Chatauqua

circuit urged to run for vice president on the Democratic ticket director of the U.S. Mint when Fort Knox was built and the first woman to be sworn in as an elected governor in the United States. But there were few living on her 100 birthday who could recall that day in Cheyenne Wyoming. The past was distant. She had outlived her fame. And no one no one but she that is could remember the early days when she was a child in Missouri and then a young bride with roots in the American South. Like much of America now the J-Lo rolls his family moved west during the country's difficult early years. From Virginia to Kentucky Tennessee Missouri Kansas. From slaveholding plantation owners they were reduced to near poverty after the Civil War but they maintained hero tag. It was on a family visit back in Tennessee that Nellie Tayloe met William

Bradford Ross William Ross moved west apparently for health reasons. He went to Denver first and then he traveled up to Cheyenne one time and like Cheyenne so he thought he would start his law practice there which he did in September of 1995. So Cheyenne had about 14000 people. Wyoming had about ninety two thousand people at the time and I believe he saw a chance for him to get him involved in politics which in fact he did go on to do. They were married in Omaha Nebraska in the a.m. too. And in that you know two nearly joined her husband YOUR he had preceded her. They came there. They started anew. My grandparents had a family. They embraced everything that Wyoming had to embrace. They love the people. They had a new beginning at that time there was still a holdover from the cattle baron days when you know there was incredible balls.

And dinners. And while Nelly Tayloe Ross had some doubts about William's interest in politics the two seemed very much in love. I love you so much My precious wife. I am very lonesome without you. You seem to be the whole house. There is no home without you. I would never take away pleasure or happiness in life if it was not for you. Rugs pictures beautiful fracture would mean nothing without you. One of the chief compensations which our evenings at home afforded us was reading together. We decided that only classics of proved worth should claim our time and we adhered strictly to that plan so interested did we become that often we would read far into the night taking turns until the voices of both of us would fail completely. Nellie Tayloe Ross had endured in her Missouri childhood the struggles of

many emigre families from the self. Now she enjoyed stability and happiness. And. Remember that she had suffered such a difficult childhood for the financial pressures on her family. And I'm sure when she married an attorney and moved to Cheyanne and saw how well whose young practice was doing that she was thrilled. She thought that finally she was going to be financially secure. My grandfather was a law and order. Person. And had been Laramie County. Secure it had run for Congress. It was a Republican state it was very hard to. Kill now to move forward. Despite now only two low Rosss objections. When you ran for governor twice and the second time in 1922 he won by less than 1000.

Wyoming was fairly depressed. Agriculture was going through a drought and that affected will and what he thought he could accomplish. One of his goals was to of course reduce the tax burden on the average taxpayer in Wyoming which he was more or less able to do. He wanted to run an efficient state government which he more or less was able to do. He supported child labor laws which in fact passed by the Republican House and Senate and he also was a person who believed in the strict enforcement of prohibition. At that time and whatever ambivalence Nellie Tayloe Ross had once felt toward her husband's political career once he was in office she thoroughly enjoyed the role of first lady teas receptions and the stream of visiting dignitaries and Wyoming citizens and the ear of the governor. You know my grandmother had written speeches for my grandfather. She

had she had been a CO. Governor I think he was a big thinker and I think that really have helped him formulate those big thoughts of things that had to happen. But Governor William Ross would not have much time to make things happen in only their second year in the governor's mansion. He was stricken with appendicitis. William Ross's sudden death was both a tragedy and a political dilemma for Democrats. A special election would have to be held to finish out the two remaining years of his term. It was just the most frankly the most by the opportune time. And by the time William died he had.

Put his. Insurance policies up for long and she was left with quite a debt. Now you couldn't know it. I wouldn't have you know it. But this grief is to know that William has gone out of my life that I will never in this world see him again or here is here for us. He couldn't dream what it means. She has to pick up those pieces. And they ask her if she'd like to run for governor. Her brother George came to join her. He was here for William's funeral and stayed to support her. And he wrote a letter to his wife Nell talking about how ambitious Nellie was. The state was considering creating some kind of a new AP for Nellie or perhaps giving her a job such a state librarian

because they knew that she had no money. But George could see that he was personally ambitious. He said No no one ever wanted it more than Ellie. So Ross agreed to run in her husband's stead to fulfill his goal. She ran wearing the black. And she won. My grandmother you know. A couple years before said. Pinch me we're. We're actually here William. And then a couple of years later. You know. Pinch me again you know Governor and. It was. Very difficult I think. A widow with a 12 year old son William still touring. But I'm not sure it would have happened had she run her own right and been elected at that time. John Kendrick said that he would have been governor of Wyoming and at that point

Senator from Wyoming that since Wyoming was the first state to grant women suffrage that Wyoming should be the first state to have a woman governor. And so the slogan that came out of that was beat Texas to it and then I came out because a woman was running for governor in Texas at the same time and she in fact did win but she took office about two weeks after he took office. Well certainly the election now they tell us in 1924 was pretty remarkable especially given that women had only received the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment at least in the U.S. as a whole. Women in Wyoming have had to vote much longer since about 1869. It's really hard to. Underestimate. The shock of the nation when not just one but two women were elected governor the same day and the country just really struggled with what this meant and what

this said about the position of women in America for almost anyone. It would have been the pinnacle of life's achievement. But for all of us she was only midway on the journey of the century. She won the state house in Cheyenne by running as a dignified widow intent on carrying out the policies of her husband. But once in office Nellie Tayloe role added her own agenda. I believe because of her strong belief in her principles and her self-confidence that she was able to think beyond what we all had done. And so she also believed in protecting Wyoming's water. She also wanted to protect why we miners there had been a mine disaster in Kemmerer nine thousand twenty

three. And so now we use that to bring forward mining safety legislation. So she did have a mind of her own. It really fits in with a lot of what women or farmers were doing in the late 19th and early 20th century they were talking about a broader mandate for government and broader responsibility for children for women for families and building a social safety net. That was one of the main legacies of that era in the United States. And you know Governor Asa really fit into what women reformers at the time were doing. And she was really talking about expanding government and new ways through this kind of social housekeeping model that women were pushing. Now Lee Tayloe role this was a Democratic governor in a very Republican state. And when she pushed her of an agenda resistance was strong they Republican Party had stacked every single commission against her.

The legislature was against her. Two thirds to one third. But while she's struggling with her Republican foes in Iowa right. Ross was gaining recognition nationally. When Governor Ross placed the three year old she was paying homage to the wonders of Providence. Nature had endowed Yellowstone with a very heavy duty. And really it was true a stand out brought attention to Wyoming that the state had never had before. Nationwide attention and uniformly the reviews of her performance and her behavior outside the state were very positive. She really helped to further the view of Wyoming as an equality state. But there were personal costs though she spoke of the importance of motherhood and wifehood were also also talked about the responsibility of women to get involved in public life and that was the choice she made. I look at the Sheraton for this afternoon longer than it takes to get Chicago.

I'm glad it affords me the opportunity to write to you my dear son. You may wonder that I never seem to have more time. I'm making this discovery that no man governor has the demands made of him that are made of me. That is because I'm the first woman governor. There is no end to the interviews and I must be nice to everyone. I miss you so much my sweet son. And it does seem too bad for you not to be near enough to even keep in touch with what your mother is doing. I cannot find the time to write you all about everything. When Ross ran for re-election in 1926 the widow's guard was gone. She campaigned vigorously driven all over the state in a big Hudson sometimes speaking at seven events in a day. The Republicans better organized and favored most of the state's newspapers attacked her without decorum.

I think that govern Iraq. The uniqueness was that she was doing two things one she was breaking a ceiling and a really important way and that made her controversial period. She was doing something new that women had never done before. And then when she stepped out of her husband's shadow. That became even more controversial Republican women then did not like the fact that they were told to vote yes because she was a woman for Nellie. And so they then began to ask those questions what has Nollie done for women. Has she ever supported women's suffrage. It was very valuable to have a woman serve as governor because then men and women all over the country could see that a women was capable was articulate was caring was strong and was formidable and perhaps a little ahead of her time. But that would not be the last groundbreaking chapter in Rossi's career. She now had the skills and the confidence to continue in public life.

But she had no roadmap in which she talked about her sense of loss and that. It was as if William had died again. Suddenly she didn't have the governor's position to think about she was loose and she had no idea what she was going to do the rest of her life how she was going to earn a living and of course she was desperately worried about that. But she said Janell that the one thing she was clear on is she could not leave Wyoming officially at that point because it would look as if she had. As she said look to the dust of Wyoming. And left in a pique. Wyoming dust was one of the things that intrigued the public about Ross when she told her story it was about a frontier love affair with William and her emergence in the rough and tumble world of cowboy state politics and telling that story turned out to be one of her great talents.

She became a speaker on the Chautauqua circuit the tenth lecture tour and it was this popular in the 1920s as a rock concert is today from nine hundred twenty seven until 1930. Nelly would travel the country often on the Chautauqua circuit giving a speech about what life was like as the first woman governor. And he would find her described as gracious and charming. And people really seem to enjoy her speech which wouldn't encompass some humor. As well as her experiences and then also some of her own. Philosophy of politics. This young cub reporter saying that Governor Ross had this beautiful hat on she had a beautiful blue dress and she. Just loved it. Absolutely beautiful. She came out it started to address the audience. All of the sudden the. Governor was she said hopped up on. It she just jumped up on this roster and. Of

course everybody came running out and she said she saw it. Palace have a quarter running under the curtain. After that I got the mouse cart about somebody with a broom and my grandmother got down as though nothing had ever happened. Continue with the speech to a wonderful conclusion. Getting paid well to make speeches allayed her lifelong fear of insolvency and made her more famous across the country. The National Democratic Party fed her hunger for the world of politics. She supported New York governor Al Smith for the presidency and delivered a seconding speech at the 1928 convention I think she really believes that is famous that she was at that point you know she campaigned effectively for Al Smith he might name her vice president. And it was probably more or less an honor perhaps taken seriously she only received 31 votes. But never before had that

happen. Smith did not choose her and lost the 928 election but he would repay Ross later. Overshadowing events in 1928 was a great personal loss for Nellie Tayloe Ross her beloved son Ambrose died in a car wreck in Wyoming. Well. I got the impression from my grandmother that the most devastating loss to her or him besides my grandfather and within the Democratic Party Ross was faced with a new impediment. The wife of a future democratic president Eleanor Roosevelt had been active in politics for a very long time and had come up the hard way licking the envelopes and and doing all the hard grunt work and county campaigns. I came into politics at the very top and to Nellie It was all about public speaking and speech making and networking.

Eleanor was uncomfortable with public speaking Nellie was great at it but perhaps the greatest blow to any relationship they might have had came when Al Smith bypassed Eleanor and named Nellie the vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Now Lee Tayloe Ross was the new director of the Democratic National Committee's Women's Division opposed. Eleanor Roosevelt thought it would be heard. Despite the differences with Eleanor when Franklin Roosevelt was elected president there was speculation that Ross might be in line for a prestigious appointment. I think Nellie had hoped that she might be rewarded for her service of the party by being given a cabinet position under Roosevelt and Roosevelt indeed was interested in appointing a woman to his cabinet. But Nellie lost out to Frances Perkins who was named secretary of labor. They continued to look for a position for Nellie and it was thought that she would be named a U.S.

treasurer until the secretary of treasury complained about the appointment of Nellie to that position. And in an embarrassing move the offer was withdrawn. She was named director of the U.S. Mint. During the history of the United States Mint there been six female directors. MILLIE ROSS was the first. Of hers right after. Roosevelt was nominated. The man began to expand. And under Nellie had the greatest expansion in both staffing and. Industrial capacity. That's history director also concentrate on efficiency and effectiveness of the United States met. She eliminated much of the be done her work was able to reduce the cost of making points of difficulty. Disney said that at one point director Ross astonished Congress by returning one million dollars of the men's 4.8 million dollar appropriations. Nelly to Ross was the longest serving director of United States met for over 20 years she served in 1933 through 1953.

Everything every minute of money. For medical care are by pretty good. Correct but you know if they're going to move the plane. There is no way that she would have been able to hold onto the secretary position for 20 years. I meant gave nelly an entire career and gave her the freedom to live the life that she wanted to live. Gave her the balance that I so admire her for she was lucky that she ended up as director of the Mint the balanced life included a very active role in the Washington D.C. social scene a series of farms along the Potomac River where she raised tobacco and enjoyed her children and grandchildren and travel. If some had initially dismissed her as a less educated less socially skilled arrival from the hinterlands she proved to be worldly cosmopolitan and comfortably adept at navigating the political society of the nation's capital.

She was constantly being invited to parties I spent at least 20 years of my life escorting Governor Ross to parties and she just loved to entertain and she loved to be entertained. Though she worked at the Mint well in her 70s she still have a long life ahead of her when she retired. A new generation of descendants would get a chance to know her. Travel with her and play canasta with her. Grandmother loved. And she was one who believed in education and she didn't just talk about it. She's the person who's reading the magazines from front to back. She's the one every night religiously watching the news. Stay up on what's going on. She had had several farms. Won in Calvert County tobacco farm. That was early on in the 30s. And then she bought made in point in 1948 40.

And we had no air conditioning growing up here. We had some cross-ventilation But the fact is is that she loved the heat and she just loved to be up stairs reading. Looking out over the river and things of that nature and so we would take turns going up to visit our grandmother and we couldn't stay with so long because it was so hot perspiration was dripping off of us. And of course she was happy at it as a clam at high tide she love that. Nelly lived to be 101 years old. She chose to be buried in Wyoming with her husband and her son. And I remember going there to the rotunda. And seeing her coffin lying there thinking to myself how. Wonderful it was that he after so many years the state wanted to pay such tribute to my grandmother. Everyone who had known Nellie had died. She never came back and lived in Wyoming. But I think Wyoming remained her psychic home.

Perhaps those who knew Nellie Taylor Ross before 1920 would not have forseen a life of such achievement. In tragedy. She found opportunity with opportunity. She made history. This morning our hostess for the coast. Is this is not a pillow Ross director of the Bureau of the mint. Is that the correct title in the rough. Nice to have you here this morning I don't know how we were lucky enough to get you because I think that you're just about the biggest woman. In the city of Washington. I wonder if you ladies and gentlemen knew that and it is now a pillow Ross. Besides being director of United States men which is a great honor was the first woman governor. Just briefly Mrs. Ross tell us about that. You were governor of Wyoming where I married a young Southerner and my husband missing young Tennessee and then remarried and he had gone out West.

I was living in Omaha at the time though I was assigned here. Set around the barn in the zone. I knew it was moving at Omaha and that my husband had gone out to Denver to convert my staff to an illness and he went up to Wyoming in like Wyoming so much that he hated there and that's where we spent our married life he was a young lawyer. Well I was on his death. You took over the government you have been elected you have been there and there are hundreds that the people in the state elected you to succeed in the. Course I have no idea and neither had he ever as long as he lived in the idea of my ever filling a public office. I've often said that there's just a chain of circumstances that projected me into public life. And ever so many women who I really feel deserve that opportunity before ever you thirst for coming to me. But it just seemed to be. Destiny that I should be the. One to come forward. I think the most wonderful thing Mrs. Ross is the way you have risen to these occasions heretofore didn't you tell me that you had never made a speech in your life to share to merit a

shot of myself at my own temerity in thinking that I could do these things. I think they have confidence that my friends indicated to me that they make courage to not to take them. And when you do you turn into a mixture a giver for a while that you know the fact is that until I was in the governor's office I've never said a word in public in my life except in the women's club meetings that time when I was governor there was so much for Tom Brown tell the people of the state that I got to know what you run on or to tell you I don't know.