Thomas Daschle: “I rise today to pay tribute to someone whom I have admired for many years, Emily Taft Douglas, a writer and former…”

“I rise today to pay tribute to someone whom I have admired for many years, Emily Taft Douglas, a writer and former Member of the House of Representatives, who died of cardiac arrest on Friday at the age of 94. Mrs. Douglas was the daughter of sculptor Lorado Taft, a distant cousin of William Howard Taft, the former U.S. President and Chief Justice, and the widow of former Senator Paul H. Douglas. But having served in the House of Representatives from 1945 to 1947, she was the first American woman to precede a husband to Congress, and a path breaker in her own right. As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mrs. Douglas was an active proponent of post-war U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Agency programs. Immediately following the war she traveled extensively in war-ravaged Europe, backing the relief efforts of the United Nations. Continuing her campaign for the underserved, Mrs. Douglas introduced legislation for library bookmobiles to bring library services to rural America.”