McMillan, Clara Gooding, 1894-1976

Clara Gooding McMillan (August 17, 1894 – November 8, 1976) was an American politician and government official. She represented South Carolina in Congress as a U.S. Representative from November 1939 to January 1941.

Born Clara E. Gooding in Brunson, South Carolina, she attended the public schools, Confederate Home College in Charleston, South Carolina, and Flora Macdonald College in Red Springs, North Carolina. She married Thomas Sanders McMillan, a lawyer who served in the South Carolina house of representatives from 1917 to 1924. During his last two years, he served as speaker of the South Carolina house. In 1924 he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served eight terms and eventually became a high-ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.

When Thomas McMillan died on September 29, 1939, South Carolina Democratic Party leaders chose Clara McMillan to run in the special election to fill her husband’s seat. Against two weak opponents, she won election to the House with 79 percent of the vote on November 7, 1939. McMillan took her seat in Congress at the opening of the third session of the 76th Congress on January 3, 1940. In a session that lasted a full year, McMillan served on the Committee on Patents; the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds; and the Committee on the Election of the President, Vice President, and Representatives in Congress. She broadly supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s foreign policy. McMillan was not a candidate for re-election in 1940.

When McMillan left Congress in 1941, she continued her government service with the National Youth Administration, the Office of Government Reports in the Office of War Information, and, from 1946 to 1957, as information liaison officer in the Department of State. After leaving Washington, McMillan resided in Barnwell, South Carolina, until her death there.