Bolton, Frances P.

Frances Payne Bingham Bolton (1885-1977) was a Republican representative in the United States Congress from Ohio's twenty-second district in Cleveland. She was first elected by a special election in 1940 to fulfill the unexpired term of her late husband, Chester Castle Bolton (1882-1939). During her twenty-nine years in the House, Mrs. Bolton was considered an expert on foreign affairs and Africa. She concentrated her legislative efforts on nursing, health, education, and social welfare issues.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, to noted industrialist Charles William Bingham and Mary Perry Payne Bingham, Frances Payne Bingham Bolton was educated in private schools in Cleveland, New York, and Paris. As a young woman she became involved with the Visiting Nurse Association, beginning a lifelong interest in nursing and nursing education. While serving on a special committee representing three national nursing organizations during World War I, she was instrumental in influencing the establishment of an army school of nursing. During World War II, Mrs. Bolton introduced legislation, known as the Bolton Bill, creating the U. S. Cadet Nurse Corps. Several additional pieces of legislation influencing the status of both male and female nurses in the armed forces were introduced by Bolton. In 1955 she introduced a bill to establish a National Commission on Nursing Services, the purpose of which was to address the problems of adequate nursing education and nursing care. This legislation did not pass. Privately, she was responsible for endowing, in 1923, the nursing school at Western Reserve University. The Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing was one of the first university schools of nursing in the United States.

...