“Pioneering in any area is always exciting and I recommend it. There are new worlds to conquer. The challenge of governing is immense. The privilege of serving people is to my thinking a high calling that imposes awesome responsibility and demands rapid growth—the adding of an extra dimension to our lives. I greet each day with enthusiasm—nearly always.”
In 1974, Ella Tambussi Grasso was the first woman in the U.S. to be elected state governor in her own right. She served as Connecticut’s governor from 1975 to 1980. Ella, daughter of immigrants, attended Mount Holyoke College on a scholarship. Married with two small children, she began her political career in 1952 as a state legislator. She went on to serve three terms as Connecticut’s secretary of the state and two terms as a U.S. representative to congress before running for governor.
Connecticut Legislature
Useful Links:
Connecticut State Library http://www.cslib.org/gov/grassoe.htm
Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, Ella T. Grasso Papers: An Online Exhibit http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/library/arch/exhpro/exhibits/Grasso.shtml
Five College Archives and Manuscript Collection, Ella Grasso’s Papers, http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/mountholyoke/mshm301.html#list-ser8
National Governors Association http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/title_grasso_ella.html