Virginia Smith

Virginia Smith

Virginia Dodd Smith (born June 30, 1911 in Randolph , Fremont County , Iowa , † January 23, 2006 in Sun City West , Arizona ) was an American politician ( Republican Party ). Between 1975 and 1991 she represented the third constituency of the state of Nebraska in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Virginia Smith was born Virginia Dodd and attended Manti Rural School and Shenandoah High School in Iowa. Then she studied until 1936 at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln . On August 27, 1931, she married Haven Smith (1909-1997). The marriage remained childless.

The Smiths spent most of their lives in Chappell , Deuel County . There they campaigned for the interests of the rural population and agriculture. Virginia Smith worked for the US Department of Agriculture between 1950 and 1960. In 1960 she was a delegate to a conference convened by the president to deal with children and young people. From 1971 to 1972 she served as the chair of a presidential commission that dealt with rural development. In 1973 and 1974 she worked on similar commissions for the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Commerce.

Virginia Smith took part as a delegate to the Republican National Conventions between 1956 and 1972 and was elected as her party's candidate in the US House of Representatives in 1974, where she replaced David T. Martin on January 3, 1975 . Although their election victory was very narrow with a margin of only 737 votes, it was still remarkable because it went against the federal trend at the time, which was in favor of the Democratic Party after the Watergate affair .

After she was able to defend her mandate in Congress in the following seven elections, she remained in the House of Representatives until January 3, 1991. There she campaigned again for rural areas, especially in Nebraska, and was against a raise in Congress members' salaries. Smith was part of the budget committee. In 1990 she declined to run again. After her tenure in Congress ended, she retired.

Web links

• Virginia Smith in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Virginia Smith in the database of Find a Grave (English)