Martha Keys, RIP
We live in an era where Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, and other cretins, are being promoted to young women as some sort of role model. It’s good to remember that there were–and still are, we just don’t hear about them much in the corporate media–plenty of women that are worth looking up to.
I did a little volunteer work for Martha’s campaigns in 1976 and 1978, but attending college full-time didn’t leave much “free time” for such activities.
Thank you for your service and inspiration, Martha.
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Former Kansas Congresswoman Martha Keys passed away at her home in Locust Grove, Virginia, on Dec. 19 at the age of 94.
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In the mid-1960s, Keys worked as a Democratic campaigner, eventually running George McGovern's 1972 political campaign in the state of Kansas.
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In 1974, she decided to run for a seat being vacated by Rep. William Robert Roy, a two-term Democratic incumbent who left office to run for the Senate.
At the time, Roy was the only Democrat from the district to hold the seat for more than one term. Keys beat a crowded five-way primary to secure the nomination.
“You have to overcome the woman thing,” she told a reporter during the campaign. “I think being a woman is basically beneficial in this campaign. It helps you get the attention you need. It’s up to you to keep it.”
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She was the second woman to represent Kansas in the U.S. Congress, only preceded by Kathryn O'Loughlin who served one term in the 1930s.
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"She was a pretty groundbreaking woman for her time, and she was ahead of the game," her daughter Dana Keys told The Capital-Journal. "She was very involved with Title IX. She was very involved in social programs. She served on Ways and Means. She was super active with women's involvement in government."
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Keys remained in political circles, with President Jimmy Carter appointing her as a special adviser to the secretary of Education and Welfare from 1979 to 1980. After that, she served a two-year stint as assistant secretary of education in the department and continued working in education as a consultant into the 1990s.
In 1990, along with other former members of Congress, Keys created the Council for the National Interest, a nonprofit anti-war advocacy group focused on issues important to Palestinians.
'A groundbreaking woman': Former Kansas Congresswoman Martha Keys dies at 94