Patricia Schroeder
Encyclopedia
Patricia Nell Scott Schroeder (born July 30, 1940), American
politician
, was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives
from Colorado
, serving from 1973 to 1997. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Colorado.
, she moved to Des Moines, Iowa
with her family as a child. After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1958 she left Des Moines and attended the University of Minnesota
and majored in history. She graduated with a B.A. in 1961 and later earned a law degree
from Harvard Law School
in 1964. Moving to Denver, Colorado
, she worked for the National Labor Relations Board
from 1964 to 1966. She later worked for Planned Parenthood
and taught in Denver's public schools.
, based in Denver, over freshman Republican incumbent James McKevitt
. At age 31, Schroeder is the second-youngest woman ever elected to that body. McKevitt, previously the Denver district attorney
, had been the first Republican to represent the district, regarded as the most Democratic in the Rockies
, since Dean M. Gillespie in 1947. Schroeder won by just over 8,000 votes, but was re-elected eleven more times without a contest nearly as close, and served 24 years as a U.S. Representative.
Interestingly enough, she found out years later that during that very first congressional campaign the FBI had had her and her staff under surveillance. The bureau had paid a man named Timothy Redfern to break into her home, and she also noticed that someone had been rifling through her car's glovebox. The FBI amassed a 60 page file on her (which she obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request). Schroeder said she that as a taxpayer that she was enraged to learn this, and wondered why the FBI couldn't have found a simpler way to get information on her.
While in Congress, she became the first woman to serve on the House Armed Services Committee. Known in her early tenure for balancing her congressional work with motherhood, even bringing diapers to the floor of Congress, she was known for advocacy on work-family issues, a prime mover behind the Family and Medical Leave Act and the 1985 Military Family Act. Schroeder was also involved in reform of Congress itself, working to weaken the long-standing control of committees by their chairs, sparring with Speaker Carl Albert
over congressional "hideaways," and questioning why Members who lived in their offices should not be taxed for the benefit.
She chaired the 1988 presidential campaign
of Gary Hart
in 1987 until his withdrawal. She then herself ran for President of the United States
, before announcing her own withdrawal in an emotional press conference on September 28, 1987.
She did not seek a thirteenth term in 1996, and was succeeded by state house minority whip Diana DeGette
, a fellow Democrat. In her farewell press conference, she stated that she had "spent 24 years in a federal institution." The humorous title for her memoir, published in 1998, was 24 years of House Work...and the Place Is Still a Mess.
of the Association of American Publishers
in 1997 and served in that post for 11 years. She has been a vocal proponent of stronger copyright law, supporting the government in Eldred v. Ashcroft
and opposing Google
's plan to digitize books and post limited content online. She has publicly criticized libraries for distributing electronic content without compensation to publishers, writers and others in the publishing industry, telling the Washington Post, "They aren't rich...they have mortgages." At the same time, she has tried to make the publishing industry more socially responsible, cooperating with organizations for the blind and others with reading difficulties to help make materials more accessible to them, particularly by encouraging publishers to release books so that nonprofit groups can transfer them to electronic formats. She has also sat on the panel of judges for the PEN/Newman's Own Award, a $25,000 award designed to recognize the protection of free speech as it applies to the written word.
, a master-planned community built by the Walt Disney Company. Schroeder is a resident of the 8th congressional district, and in the 2010 general election came out in strong support of Democrat Alan Grayson
for re-election to Congress, citing in particular the candidates' differences on women's issues. Grayson was not re-elected.
in 1988 in a skit where Nora Dunn
, acting as Schroeder, repeatedly burst into tears while moderating a Democratic primary debate. http://snltranscripts.jt.org/87/87jdemocrats.phtml
Schroeder is in the National Women's Hall of Fame.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician
Politics of the United States
The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States , Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.The executive branch is headed by the President...
, was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, serving from 1973 to 1997. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Colorado.
Early years
Born in Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, she moved to Des Moines, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
with her family as a child. After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1958 she left Des Moines and attended the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
and majored in history. She graduated with a B.A. in 1961 and later earned a law degree
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
in 1964. Moving to Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, she worked for the National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
from 1964 to 1966. She later worked for Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...
and taught in Denver's public schools.
U.S. Representative
In 1972, Schroeder won election for Congress in Colorado's first districtColorado's 1st congressional district
Colorado's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Colorado based primarily in the City and County of Denver in the central part of the state...
, based in Denver, over freshman Republican incumbent James McKevitt
Mike McKevitt
James Douglas "Mike" McKevitt was a U.S. Representative from Colorado.Born in Spokane, Washington, McKevitt graduated from Grant High School in Sacramento, California....
. At age 31, Schroeder is the second-youngest woman ever elected to that body. McKevitt, previously the Denver district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
, had been the first Republican to represent the district, regarded as the most Democratic in the Rockies
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, since Dean M. Gillespie in 1947. Schroeder won by just over 8,000 votes, but was re-elected eleven more times without a contest nearly as close, and served 24 years as a U.S. Representative.
Interestingly enough, she found out years later that during that very first congressional campaign the FBI had had her and her staff under surveillance. The bureau had paid a man named Timothy Redfern to break into her home, and she also noticed that someone had been rifling through her car's glovebox. The FBI amassed a 60 page file on her (which she obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request). Schroeder said she that as a taxpayer that she was enraged to learn this, and wondered why the FBI couldn't have found a simpler way to get information on her.
While in Congress, she became the first woman to serve on the House Armed Services Committee. Known in her early tenure for balancing her congressional work with motherhood, even bringing diapers to the floor of Congress, she was known for advocacy on work-family issues, a prime mover behind the Family and Medical Leave Act and the 1985 Military Family Act. Schroeder was also involved in reform of Congress itself, working to weaken the long-standing control of committees by their chairs, sparring with Speaker Carl Albert
Carl Albert
Carl Bert Albert was a lawyer and a Democratic American politician from Oklahoma.Albert represented the southeastern portion of Oklahoma as a Democrat for 30 years, starting in 1947. He is best known for his service as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977...
over congressional "hideaways," and questioning why Members who lived in their offices should not be taxed for the benefit.
She chaired the 1988 presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 1988
The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the...
of Gary Hart
Gary Hart
Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...
in 1987 until his withdrawal. She then herself ran for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, before announcing her own withdrawal in an emotional press conference on September 28, 1987.
She did not seek a thirteenth term in 1996, and was succeeded by state house minority whip Diana DeGette
Diana DeGette
Diana Louise DeGette is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997, and a Chief Deputy Whip. She is a member of the Democratic Party.The district is based in Denver.-Early life, education and career:...
, a fellow Democrat. In her farewell press conference, she stated that she had "spent 24 years in a federal institution." The humorous title for her memoir, published in 1998, was 24 years of House Work...and the Place Is Still a Mess.
Publishing industry service
Schroeder was named president and CEOChief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of the Association of American Publishers
Association of American Publishers
The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP has more than 300 members, including most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly...
in 1997 and served in that post for 11 years. She has been a vocal proponent of stronger copyright law, supporting the government in Eldred v. Ashcroft
Eldred v. Ashcroft
Eldred v. Ashcroft, was a court case in the United States challenging the constitutionality of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act...
and opposing Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
's plan to digitize books and post limited content online. She has publicly criticized libraries for distributing electronic content without compensation to publishers, writers and others in the publishing industry, telling the Washington Post, "They aren't rich...they have mortgages." At the same time, she has tried to make the publishing industry more socially responsible, cooperating with organizations for the blind and others with reading difficulties to help make materials more accessible to them, particularly by encouraging publishers to release books so that nonprofit groups can transfer them to electronic formats. She has also sat on the panel of judges for the PEN/Newman's Own Award, a $25,000 award designed to recognize the protection of free speech as it applies to the written word.
Private citizenship in Florida
Following her tenure at AAP, Schroeder and her husband relocated to Celebration, FloridaCelebration, Florida
Celebration is a census-designated place and a master-planned community in Osceola County, Florida, United States, located near Walt Disney World Resort and originally developed by The Walt Disney Company...
, a master-planned community built by the Walt Disney Company. Schroeder is a resident of the 8th congressional district, and in the 2010 general election came out in strong support of Democrat Alan Grayson
Alan Grayson
Alan Mark Grayson is a former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party and loves cookies. After losing the election he moved to Austin to start stand-up comedy and a cookie business. The district Grayson represented lies in central Florida...
for re-election to Congress, citing in particular the candidates' differences on women's issues. Grayson was not re-elected.
Cultural references and influence
Schroeder was lampooned on Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
in 1988 in a skit where Nora Dunn
Nora Dunn
Nora Eloise Dunn is an American actress and comedian, perhaps best known for her work on NBC's Saturday Night Live.-Early life:...
, acting as Schroeder, repeatedly burst into tears while moderating a Democratic primary debate. http://snltranscripts.jt.org/87/87jdemocrats.phtml
Schroeder is in the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Memorable quotes
Schroeder coined the famous phrase "Teflon President" to describe Ronald Reagan. She was frying eggs in a Teflon pan one morning when the idea came to her. Publisher's Weekly reported that in her memoir she mentioned Richard Nixon, who wore makeup all the time, by saying "I had an incredible urge to wash his face". She relayed that actor John Wayne had once offered her a cigarette lighter engraved with the inscription "Fuck communism--John Wayne". The office of the clerk of the House of Representatives shares that "from her seat on the Armed Services Committee, she once told Pentagon officials that if they were women, they would always be pregnant because they never said 'no'."External links
- Biography maintained by the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Lowy, Joan A., Pat Schroeder: a woman of the House (University of New Mexico Press, 2003), ISBN 978-0826330987
- The Association of American Publishers