First Jewish Congresswoman Honored

Aaron Keyak — May 21, 2009 – 11:02 am | Congress | Democrats | Republicans | Women's Issues Comments (1) Add a comment

Yesterday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined with fellow Representatives to honor Florence Kahn, the first Jewish Congresswoman, who served from 1925-1937 and represented part of San Francisco.

From JTA:

What does the first female Speaker of the House have in common with the first female Jewish member of Congress? They both represented the same congressional district.

While the district’s boundaries aren’t exactly the same some 80 years later, Nancy Pelosi today represents the same general area of San Francisco that Florence Kahn did from 1925-1937. And Pelosi was on hand Tuesday afternoon at the U.S. Capitol, joining Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) to unveil a portrait of Kahn as part of the celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.

“For personal, San Francisco-wide and national reasons, this is indeed a great cause for celebration to honor Florence Kahn and to unveil this,” said Pelosi, noting that Kahn represented the district during the building of both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Pelosi also told the crowd how much she loved a San Franciso park named after Kahn’s husband, Julius.

“I always said that apart from my own home and probably this Capitol now, I spent more time at Julius Kahn playground with my five children,” she said.

Kahn, a Republican, took over Julius’ seat in California’s Fourth District in 1925 after he died in office and was the seventh woman to serve in Congress. She was the first woman to serve on the Military Affairs—now the Armed Services—Committee and the Appropriations Committee. In recognition of the latter achievement, current Appropriatons Committee chairman Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) and Appropriations subcomittee chairwoman Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) both gave brief speeches as well.

“Florence Kahn was a trailblazer and pioneer,” Obey said.

Wasserman Schultz, who spearheaded legislation recognizing JAHM four years ago, pointed out a quote from Kahn that summed up how she felt about being a woman when politics was almost exclusively a man’s world: “There is no sex in citizenship, and there should be none in politics.”

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