Todd Young: “I often speak of Hoosiers whose service, patriotism, and sacrifice capture the spirit we celebrate on civic holidays.…”

“I often speak of Hoosiers whose service, patriotism, and sacrifice capture the spirit we celebrate on civic holidays. For Flag Day, however, I rise to share the story of a Hoosier who didn't merely embody the occasion. She helped establish it, and she made history too. Alice Sanger played such an important part in Benjamin Harrison's Presidential campaign in 1888 as a stenographer that he made her an important part of his Presidential staff. So Alice left her home in Indianapolis for Washington, DC, to become the first woman ever to serve on a President's staff. This historic distinction doesn't quite capture the breadth of Alice's service to the President and to our Nation. Neither did her title of ``clerk'' or contemporary reporters' descriptions of her, which often dwelled on her looks and her clothes. So let me share with you what this clerk did in the White House. It is quite remarkable. A renaissance woman who was skilled with a paintbrush and had an ear for music, Alice could take dictation at 200 words a minute without a single misspelling. She had a discretion seldom seen in Washington--now or then--and she was known as a ``jewel of secrecy'' in the White House. Not only did she type President Harrison's annual address to Congress, she was given sole responsibility of safekeeping it until it was sent here to the Capitol.…”