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SPEAKER_08: Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Encyclopedia Wamanica. I'm excited to introduce a brand new theme. For the month of October, leading up to the election, we're talking about politicians. Today's politician was a feminist and civil rights advocate who brought social issues to the forefront of American politics during her six years in Congress. Her story is about a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman. Her strong character, unique wardrobe, and refusal to bend from her principles paved the way for a new generation of professional women.
SPEAKER_09: Please welcome Bella Abzug. Women have to be at every place where decisions of life and death are made about women, whether it's around the negotiating peace tables, whether it's at the trade tables or at union tables, where decisions are made.
SPEAKER_08: Bella was born Bella Savitsky in the Bronx on July 24th, 1920. She was the second child born to Russian-Jewish immigrants Esther and Emanuel, who ran the Live and Let Live Meat Market on Ninth Avenue. Bella gave her first public speech on the subway while collecting for a Zionist youth organization. She later said that early activism inspired her desire to become a lawyer. Bella graduated from Hunter College in 1942 and then attended Columbia Law School. A few years later, Bella met Martin Abzug on a bus in Miami on the way to a Yehudi Menuhin concert. The pair married in 1944 and had two children. Bella graduated from Columbia Law School in 1947 and spent the next 20 years practicing law for people she described as being on the outside of power. Her defendants included individuals targeted by Senator McCarthy during the Red Scare and Willie McGee, an African-American man convicted of raping a white woman by an all-white jury and sentenced to death. Bella stayed his execution twice but ultimately lost the suit. In 1961, Bella successfully tried her hand at political activism. She co-founded Women Strike for Peace, a group that protested testing of nuclear arms and later American military involvement in Vietnam. Nine years later, at 50 years old, Bella ran for the US House of Representatives. Her slogan, now a familiar catchphrase, read, "'This woman's place is in the House, the House of Representatives.'" Her strong character and firm anti-war pro-feminist platform garnered national media attention. At the end of her campaign, she unseated a seven-term Democrat incumbent and won the general election with 52% of the vote. On January 3rd, 1971, Bella took the official oath of office and was inducted into the 92nd Congress. Afterwards, she turned and took a special people's oath administered by New York colleague Shirley Chisholm in front of a crowd of 600 people, shouting to, "'Give him hell, Bella.'" This introduction would be the first of many convention-breaking actions Bella would take during her time in office. On her first day in Congress, Bella introduced legislation to withdraw US forces from Vietnam by July 4th of the same year. The move was mostly symbolic, but set a precedent for the kinds of causes Bella would rally for and the level of determination with which she would do so. She quickly earned nicknames like Battling Bella and Mother Courage and amassed fame outside of the House. One of the most famous descriptions of Bella came from novelist Norman Mailer, who said her voice could boil the fat off a taxi cab driver's neck.
SPEAKER_09: The decade of women in which we can reach out and reenergize the existing networks, expand them, make them stronger, mobilize women all over the world to create the kind of planet where there is peace and justice and where there is health for all people in it.
SPEAKER_08: One of Bella's most famous battles was over her signature wide-brimmed hat. She'd begun to wear it as a young professional, as she believed it was the only way for men to take her seriously as a lawyer. Members of Congress, however, seemed to think otherwise. Once Bella caught wind of differing opinions on her hat, she fought for her right to wear it on the House floor and won. When asked why she waged such an embattled war for her hat, she replied, they didn't want me to wear it, so I did. Bella stood firm on many divisive issues, including ending the draft, providing national health insurance, and passing legislation for gay and lesbian rights. She also passed her Sunshine Laws, which required government hearings to be held in public. Bella fought to make anti-sex discrimination the standard in legislation. She extended minimum wage to domestic workers, co-sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment, and attempted to establish federal childcare programs and Medicaid-funded abortions. Her goal, Bella said, was for a woman schlemiel to get promoted as quickly as a male schlemiel. She established the National Women's Political Caucus, alongside the likes of Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and Shirley Chisholm in her first year in office. Throughout her time in Congress, Bella worked to, as she wrote in her later published journal, beat the machine and knock the crap out of the political power structure. She fought against the ingrained norms of keeping freshman representatives on low-level assignments. She was one of the first to call for President Nixon's impeachment, and, as one story has it, accepted an invitation to the White House only to inform him in person that her constituents requested a withdrawal from Vietnam. It's also said that Bella managed to get women admitted to the congressional swimming pool, which was all male at the time, only because the men disliked the idea of having to wear swimsuits. Is it not time to admit
SPEAKER_09: that the dominant male political leadership style has to be changed?
SPEAKER_08: While Bella's intensity made her a near unstoppable force, it also made her a controversial figure in the House. Ralph Nader once estimated her support of a bill could cost it as many as 30 votes. Bella's 1972 election further complicated her public image. She chose to run against William Fitz Ryan, a well-liked liberal Democrat battling cancer. Ryan won but died before the general election. Bella, the new Democratic nominee, then defeated Ryan's widow, Priscilla, who ran on a third-party ticket. Though ultimately victorious, the bitter battle made her into an even more polarizing figure. In 1976, Bella gave up her seat to run for Senate and lost the race. Though she entered many other close elections, including one for mayor of New York City, she didn't win. In her post-political career, Bella continued to fervently support feminist endeavors. She attended women's conferences around the world and was appointed to co-chair the National Advisory Committee on Women by President Jimmy Carter. After criticizing its economic policy, however, she was replaced. In the 1990s, Bella established the Women's USA Fund and the Women's Environmental and Development Organization, two nonprofit advocacy groups that worked to create influence for women's issues in the UN. She worked for these groups until the end of her life, delivering her final speech to the UN just weeks before her death. She died in New York City on March 31, 1998, at the age of 77, after years-long battles against breast cancer and heart disease. Bella shook up the political world. Her unapologetic nature inspired a new generation of women to enter the political sphere. As New York representative and the first woman to be nominated for vice president on a major party ticket, Geraldine Ferraro said at Bella's memorial in 1998, if there had never been a Bella Abzug, there would never have been a Jerry Ferraro. All month, we're talking about politicians. For more on why we're doing what we're doing, check out our newsletter, Womanica Weekly. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Encyclopedia Womanica, and follow me directly on Twitter at Jenny M. Kaplan. Special thanks to my favorite sister and co-creator, Liz Kaplan. Talk to you tomorrow.
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