Emily Taft Douglas was a Democratic Party politician from the U.S. state of Illinois. She served as a U.S. Representative

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...

 at-large from 1945 until 1947 and was married to U.S. Senator

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 Paul Douglas

Paul Douglas

Paul Howard Douglas was an liberal American politician and University of Chicago economist. A war hero, he was elected as a Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois from in the 1948 landslide, serving until his defeat in 1966...

 from 1931 until his death in 1976. She was the first female Democrat elected to Congress from Illinois, and her election made Illinois one of the first two states (the other was California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

) to have been represented by female House members from both parties.

Douglas was born in Chicago, Illinois to sculptor Lorado Taft

Lorado Taft

Lorado Zadoc Taft was an American sculptor, writer and educator. Taft was born in Elmwood, Illinois in 1860 and died in his home studio in Chicago in 1936.-Early years and education:...

 and his wife Ada Bartlett Taft. Douglas graduated from the University of Chicago Laboratory School and then the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 with honors in French. She was a working actress for two years before going to work for the League of Women Voters

League of Women Voters

The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...

 in 1924. She married University of Chicago economics professor Paul Douglas in 1931.

While vacationing in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 in 1935, the Douglases witnessed the aftermath of Mussolini's

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....

 invasion of Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. The experience convinced them that the forces of fascism

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

 represented a grave threat to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Both Douglases became involved in Illinois state and local politics in the years leading up to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. After the outbreak of the war, Paul Douglas enlisted in the Marine Corps

Marine corps

A marine is a member of a force that specializes in expeditionary operations such as amphibious assault and occupation. The marines traditionally have strong links with the country's navy...

 in 1942. Emily Taft Douglas ran for the Illinois at-large congressional seat in 1944, defeating Republican incumbent Stephen A. Day

Stephen A. Day

Stephen Albion Day was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.Born in Canton, Ohio, Day attended the public schools at Canton, the University School at Cleveland, Ohio, and Asheville School. He graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1905, and subsequently served as secretary to...

. Day was a member of the isolationist

Isolationism

Isolationism is the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by...

wing of the Republican Party.

Douglas authored several books, including:
Appleseed Farm (1948), Remember the ladies; The story of great women who helped shape America (1966), and Margaret Sanger; Pioneer of the Future (1969).