THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Lindy Boggs

March 13, 1916 – July 27, 2013

“The major issues of importance that I’ve worked for are economic ones: equal rights for women in business, banking and home ownership; the promotion of women in the workplace; better jobs in government contracts; and equal opportunities for higher education, especially in science and medicine.”

Served Louisiana for nine terms in Congress and later as United States Ambassador to the Holy See. The first woman elected to Congress from Louisiana. Permanent chairwoman of the 1976 Democratic National Convention, which met in New York City to nominate the Carter-Mondale ticket. The first woman to preside over a major party convention. Influential in composing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974. When the Banking committee marked up the ECOA, she added the provision banning discrimination due to sex or marital status without informing the other members of the committee beforehand, personally inserting the language on her own and photocopying new versions of the bill.

Photo. Lindy Boggs during her Congressional campaign in 1973 (Photo: United Press International).