Oveta Culp Hobby ( Eng.Oveta Culp Hobby ; January 19, 1905 , Killeen , Texas , USA - August 16, 1995 , Houston , Texas , USA ) - American statesman, US Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare ( 1953-1955).
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| The president | Dwight Eisenhower | ||||||
| Predecessor | Position established | ||||||
| Successor | Marion Bayard Folsom | ||||||
| Birth | January 19, 1905 Killeen , Texas , USA | ||||||
| Death | August 16, 1995 (90 years old) Houston , Texas , USA | ||||||
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| The consignment | Republican Party | ||||||
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Biography
Born in the family of Isaac William Culp and Emma Elizabeth Hoover. She studied independently, studied for some time at Mary Hardin Baylor Women's College, but she did not graduate. She also attended South Texas Law School, but also did not receive a diploma.
At the age of 21, she began her political career, for several years she was a member of the Texas House of Representatives. In 1931, she married the former Texas governor and the Houston Post publisher William Hobby ; shortly afterwards, she received an editorial post in the newspaper. Then she became executive vice president, president and publisher of the newspaper.
During World War II, she headed the women's unit of the Department of Defense (War Department's Women's Interest Section), then was appointed director of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps - units created for the participation of women in military service. If before that the only women in the US Army were nurses, the creation of the Women's Corps radically changed the situation. Hobby herself during the war reached the rank of colonel and was awarded the medal “Outstanding Merit”, becoming the first woman to receive this award.
In 1953, President Eisenhower was appointed its head of the Federal Security Agency, but it was abolished a few months later.
In 1953-1955 - The first US Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare to be established. In this post, she particularly endorsed the use of the polio vaccine invented by Jonas Solk .
In 1955, she retired and returned to Houston. Around the same time, it became one of the defendants in the scandal surrounding Kater’s laboratories (part of the vaccine released by the laboratory contained live polio strains). In Houston, she again became president and editor of the Houston Post; actively collaborated with social movements and various entrepreneurs throughout the country.
For her work, 17 colleges and universities, including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania , awarded her honorary doctorates. Also, several Texas research and educational institutions are named after her.
Her son, William Pettus Hobby, Jr. , for many years (1973-1991) served as vice governor of Texas. Jessica's daughter married the future United States Ambassador to Britain Henry Catto (Jr.), was an activist in the environmental movement of the Democratic Party.