Green, Edith Starrett (1910–1987)

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Green, Edith Starrett (1910–1987)

American politician who served in the U.S. Congress from 1954 to 1974. Born Edith Starrett in Trent, South Dakota, on January 17, 1910; died in Tulatin, Oregon, on April 21, 1987; daughter of James Vaughn Starrett and Julia (Hunt) Starrett (both schoolteachers); grew up in Oregon; attended Willamette University and University of Oregon, B.S., 1939; graduate studies at Stanford University; married Arthur N. Green (a businessman), on August 19, 1933; children: James S. Green; Richard A. Green.

Edith Starrett Green was born Edith Starrett in Trent, South Dakota, in 1910, the daughter of James Vaughn Starrett and Julia Hunt Starrett , both schoolteachers. Six years later, the family moved to Oregon. Early in her career, Edith Green taught in the 1930s and 1940s, enjoyed a stint as radio announcer in Portland, and directed several statewide educational conferences while serving as legislative chair of the Oregon Congress of Parents and Teachers. After an unsuccessful campaign for Oregon's secretary of state in 1952, she entered the race for the U.S. House seat as a Democrat from Oregon's 3rd District (1954), defeating Republican Tom Mc-Call by 6,000 votes.

As a recognized expert on education policy, Green was appointed to the Committee on Education and Labor in her freshman year. During her House tenure (January 3, 1955–December 31, 1974), she served on various committees, including the Committee on Appropriations. She played a central role in the enactment of the National Defense Education Act (1958); authored the Higher Education Facilities Act (1963), Equal Pay Act (1963), and Higher Education Act (1972), which included Title IX, prohibiting institutions receiving federal funds from discriminating on the basis of sex; she was also responsible for the first federal program for undergraduate scholarships.

At successive Democratic National Conventions, Green was chosen to second the presidential nomination for Adlai Stevenson (1956) and John F. Kennedy (1960). Declining Kennedy's offer of ambassador to Canada, Green was appointed to the Presidential Committee on the Status of Women which allowed her to focus on a pet concern: equal pay. Though she backed most of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society legislation, she incurred his wrath for voting against funding to escalate the Vietnam war. Disillusioned with social legislation, Green began to drift from the Democratic fold and was co-chair of Democrats for Gerald Ford in 1976. Upon her retirement, she taught at Warner Pacific College.