Fact #11: Who Was the "Real" First Female Governor? Part 2

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FACT #11: Who was the “real” first female Governor - Part 2?

Lurleen Wallace became governor of Alabama in 1967. Her husband, George Wallace, was governor prior to her. He planned on running for president in 1968 and wanted all the perks and favors that came with the governor’s office. However, term limits kept him from being governor again - so he had his wife run. Lurleen won but he was the de facto governor. His staff remained in the administration, he had an office across Lurleen, and they both were referred to by staff as Governor. She died less than 2 years into her term. Several years before assuming office doctors noticed questionable tissue when she gave birth to her last child. Doctors only told her husband, who decided to withhold it from Lurleen. This turned into uterine cancer which then required a hysterectomy. Just 5 months into her term as governor the cancer returned. She died less than two years into her term as governor.

The first woman elected governor -who got there on her own ability and not her husband’s- was Ella Grasso. She was elected to the Connecticut General Assembly and later served as the state’s Secretary of State for more than decade. She also chaired the Democratic State Platform Committee for 12 years

After becoming governor, she fought to keep it. Her own lieutenant governor tried to challenge her in the primary. Ella won her second term. Sadly she resigned in 1980, less than two years into her second term due to ovarian cancer. She passed away the following year. She may have been a pioneer for women but did not fit the mold of a typical feminist - she opposed abortion and did not support affirmative action.