ABZUG, BELLA 1920-

CONGRESSWOMAN

Flamboyant Advocate

Bella Abzug made news in the 1970s as a vocal and flamboyant advocate for equal rights for women. Born in New York City in 1920, Bella Savitsky Abzug was the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants. She attended Bronx public schools, and, after graduating from Hunter College and Columbia University Law School, she was admitted to the New York bar in 1947. In the 1950s and 1960s she was a leader in the anti-McCarthy and civil rights movement and served as a labor and American Civil Liberties Union lawyer.

Elevation to Congress

By the mid 1960s she lobbied for nuclear disarmament and was a vigorous critic of the Vietnam War policies of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Her leadership roles in the women's liberation movement and in the new Democratic coalition led to her serving in Congress from 1971-1976.

First Jewish Congresswomen

Defeating a seven-term regular Democrat in 1970 in her first political campaign, Bella Abzug was one of only twelve women in the House and the first Jewish woman to be elected to Congress. In the House Abzug was well-known for her large hats, colorful personality, and fierce determination to act and talk as forcefully as her male colleagues. She attracted much media attention, as well as much criticism from congressional conservatives unaccustomed to liberated women in the House.

Challenging Seniority

Disregarding the quiet role adopted by most freshman members of Congress, Abzug challenged the House seniority system and assumed a leadership role in the antiwar and women's rights movements. Her campaign against the selective service system and demands for national day-care centers and the Equal Rights Amendment won her national support. Losing a campaign for the United States Senate in 1976 and another campaign for the House in 1978, Abzug became cochair of the President's National Advisory Committee on Women (1977-1979). Abzug pressured the government to fund the 1978 Houston Women's Conference, a nationwide convention organized to explore the problems of working women and working mothers. When, following the conference, Abzug's committee issued a report critical of the Carter administration's fiscal priorities, which they felt hurt working women, and demanded a firm administration commitment to the ERA, Abzug was fired. Carter staffers attempted to make political hay of the event by portraying Abzug as an extremist and reaffirming Carter's centrism. The tactic failed, and many women dropped their support for Carter in the 1980 election. Abzug wryly noted the error. Carter's staff, she said, "had as much information on the women's movement as they had on Iran."