Keys, Martha Elizabeth (1930—)

American politician who served in the U.S. Congress (1974–78). Born Martha Elizabeth Ludwig in Hutchinson, Kansas, on August 10, 1930; daughter of S.T. Ludwig and Clara (Krey) Ludwig; attended Olivet College, Kankakee, Illinois, 1946–48; University of Missouri at Kansas City, Mus.B., 1952; married second husband Andrew Jacobs, on January 3, 1976; children: (previous marriage) Carol, Bryan, Dana, Scott.

Martha Keys was born in 1930 in Hutchinson, Kansas, and raised and educated in Kansas City, Missouri. A 1951 graduate of the University of Missouri, Keys gained her early political experience as the Kansas state coordinator of the George McGovern presidential campaign in 1973. Future senator Gary Hart, her brother-in-law at the time, was McGovern's national campaign manager. In 1974, when Second District Republican William Roy resigned from the House of Representatives to challenge Senator Robert Dole, Keys ran for and won the vacated congressional seat. As a freshman member of Congress, she was appointed to the prestigious Ways and Means Committee but spent the majority of her time drumming up support in her

district for a difficult reelection bid. Narrowly defeating her Republican opponent, she served a second term but lost her seat in 1978 to Jim Jeffries. From 1979 to 1980, Keys was a special adviser to the secretary of health, education and welfare, and then served as assistant secretary of education from 1980 to 1981. She stayed on in Washington as a political consultant and headed the Center for the New Democracy from 1985 to 1986.

sources:

Office of the Historian. Women in Congress, 1917–1990. Commission on the Bicentenary of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1991.