Oldfield, Pearl Peden, 1876-1962

Pearl Peden Oldfield (December 2, 1876 – April 12, 1962) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman elected to Congress from Arkansas.

Born Fannie Pearl Peden in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, she attended Arkansas College in Batesville. In 1901 she married William Allan Oldfield, a Spanish-American War veteran, lawyer, and district attorney for Izard County, Arkansas. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1908 and went on to win election to 10 additional consecutive terms in Congress, serving as Democratic Whip for eight years, from 1920 to 1928, and as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Committee from 1924 to 1928. Shortly after election day, on November 19, 1928, William Oldfield passed away after surgery for gallstones.

Less than a week after William Oldfield's death, local Arkansas Democratic Party leaders—seeking a temporary replacement until a candidate could be groomed to replace the powerful Congressman—asked his wife to run for his seat. Originally, leaders wanted Pearl Oldfield just to fill in the remaining four months on her husband’s term in the 70th Congress, set to expire in March 1929. They later asked her to campaign for the full term in the 71st Congress to which her husband had just been elected. Pearl Oldfield agreed. On January 9, 1929, Oldfield won both the election to fill out the remaining months of her husband's term in the 70th Congress and to the 71st Congress. Upon being sworn into office on January 11, 1929, Pearl Oldfield became the first woman from Arkansas to serve in the House.

“Miss Pearl,” as constituents affectionately called her, primarily tended to the needs of her district that covered large portions of northern and central Arkansas. She also sponsored legislation to authorize the Arkansas Highway Commission to construct toll-free bridges across the Black River and White River in her district. She described herself as a district caretaker, fastidious about answering constituent mail and regularly attending floor debates. Ultimately, however, Oldfield spurned the limelight and preferred anonymity—claiming that she felt unable to govern without her husband’s counsel. Just months into her term, she announced she would not run for re-election in 1930.

Oldfield retired from the House in March 1931, and though she often visited Batesville, she remained in the nation’s capital caring for her mother, who died in 1933. Although she had no children of her own, she looked forward to devoting herself to a niece and nephew in retirement, as well as to charitable causes “for children.” Pearl Oldfield passed away in Washington, DC, on April 12, 1962.