Bella Abzug

Bella Abzug (born July 24, 1920, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died March 31, 1998, New York City) was a U.S. congresswoman (1971–77) and lawyer who founded several liberal political organizations for women and was a prominent opponent of the Vietnam War and a supporter of equal rights for women.

The daughter of Russian-Jewish émigrés, Bella Savitsky attended Hunter College (B.A., 1942) and Columbia University Law School, where she specialized in labour law and became editor of the Columbia Law Review. She earned her L.L.B. in 1947 and was admitted to the New York bar the same year. In 1945 she married Martin M. Abzug.

Over the next 23 years Abzug divided her time between the practice of law—focusing mainly on civil rights and labour law—and work on behalf of various causes, especially those of peace and disarmament. Among those defended by Abzug were individuals charged in Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist crusade. In 1961 Abzug founded Women Strike for Peace, and she chaired the organization from 1961 to 1970. In the late 1960s, as the growing involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War became a focus of public protest, she supported Senator Eugene McCarthy’s challenge to Democratic incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson.

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Elected to the House of Representatives for New York City’s 19th district in 1970, Abzug was a founder and chair of several of the country’s first and foremost liberal political organizations for women. She supported the Equal Rights Amendment, a women’s credit-rights bill, abortion rights, and child-care legislation. Her brash and flamboyant manner earned Abzug the nicknames "Battling Bella," "Hurricane Bella," and "Mother Courage," among others.

In 1971, with Gloria Steinem and Shirley Chisholm, Abzug cofounded the National Women’s Political Caucus, which aimed at increasing the participation of women in government. She was reelected to the House in 1972 and 1974 from the redrawn 20th district but relinquished the seat in 1976 to run for the Senate; she was defeated by Daniel P. Moynihan. The following year Abzug lost a primary election for mayor of New York City and in 1978 she lost a special election for a vacated congressional seat.

After playing a prominent role at the National Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas, in November 1977, Abzug was named cochairman of the National Advisory Committee on Women by President Jimmy Carter. She was dismissed in January 1979 for openly criticizing the Carter administration.

Abzug returned to private law practice in 1980 but continued her political and public activities. She presided over Women USA, a grassroots political action organization, was a contributor to Ms. magazine, and worked as a daily news commentator for the Cable News Network. Gender Gap: Bella Abzug’s Guide to Political Power for American Women (cowritten with Mim Kelber) appeared in 1984. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1994.

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