Burton, Sala (1925–1987)

U.S. Representative, Democrat of California, 98th–100th Congresses, June 21, 1983–February 1, 1987. Born Sala Galante in Bialystok, Poland, on April 1, 1925; died in Washington, D.C., on February 1, 1987; attended San Francisco University; married Philip Burton (a congressional representative from 1964 to 1983), in 1953.

Before the Nazi occupation, Sala Burton fled Poland with her parents in 1939 and made a new home in California. After attending San Francisco University, she took a job as associate director of the California Public Affairs Institute. She was active in the Democratic Party and worked with the NAACP in its efforts against job and housing discrimination.

After her marriage to Phillip Burton in 1953, her own political career paralleled her husband's rise in Congress. As a founder of the California Democratic Council, she served as its vice president from 1951 to 1954. She was president of the San Francisco Democratic Women's Forum from 1957 to 1959 and held memberships in both the San Francisco County and California State Democratic Central Committees. From 1972 to 1974, she served as president of the Democratic Wives of the House and Senate.

In 1983, she was elected to the House of Representatives to fill the vacancy left by the death of her husband and was appointed to his former seats on the Committee on Education and Labor and the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. During her second term, she was named to the Committee on Rules. Her assignments afforded her opportunities to advocate for a number of policies, including social-welfare programs, child nutrition assistance, and bilingual education. She also supported the Equal Rights Amendment and defended Soviet dissidents. Burton was reelected to the 100th Congress but had to be sworn in at her home due to illness. She died on February 1, 1987.