Fowler, Tillie K. (Tillie Kidd), 1942-2005

Tillie Kidd Fowler (December 23, 1942 – March 2, 2005) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served in the United States House of Representatives from Florida's 4th congressional district from 1993 to 2001.

Born in Milledgeville, Georgia, she graduated from Salem Academy in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1960 before earning her undergraduate degree from Emory University, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, in 1964. She earned a law degree from the Emory University School of Law three years later. No Atlanta-area law firm would hire a woman at the time, but U.S. Representative Robert G. Stephens Jr. of Georgia hired her as a legislative assistant for three years. She then worked as general counsel in the White House Office of Consumer Affairs until 1971. In 1968 she married L. Buck Fowler, moving with him to Jacksonville, Florida in 1971. After more than a decade as a mother and housewife, Tillie Fowler re-entered politics. She was elected to the Jacksonville city council and served from 1985 to 1992 as its first female and, later, as its first Republican president in 1989 to 1990. She also served as chair of the Duval County tourism development council from 1989 to 1990 and chair of the Florida Endowment for the Humanities from 1989 to 1991. In 1992, when Democrat Charles E. Bennett, a 22-term Representative, announced his retirement from the House, Fowler entered the race for the northeast Florida seat. With a well-financed campaign that focused on congressional reform and term limits, Fowler won with 56 percent of the vote. She ran unopposed in her succeeding three elections.

Fowler's voting record was relatively moderate by Southern Republican standards. She was moderately pro-choice on abortion and refused to take money from the National Rifle Association. Her main interest, however, was in defense issues — not surprising given the large number of naval bases in the Jacksonville area. As the only Republican woman on the House Armed Services Committee, she blasted the Clinton administration's cuts in defense spending and subsequent increases in spending for peacekeeping missions. She tried to head off the shutdown of the naval firing range at Vieques, but was unsuccessful. Her interest in defense issues, as well as her demeanor, earned her the nickname "Steel Magnolia." Fowler eventually rose to vice-chairwoman of the House Republican Conference (caucus), the number-five position among House Republicans; keeping her pledge to only serve four terms, she did not run for reelection in 2000.

In 2001 Fowler joined Holland & Knight, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm. In May 2004, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appointed Fowler as one of four members of an independent panel to investigate abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war. The panel recommended a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. military’s procedures for the handling of prisoners. On February 28, 2005, Fowler suffered a brain hemorrhage while in Jacksonville. She died two days later on March 2.