Riley, Corinne Boyd, 1893-1979

<p>Corinne Boyd Riley (July 4, 1893 – April 12, 1979) was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina, wife of John Jacob Riley.</p>

<p>Born in Piedmont, South Carolina, Riley attended public school. She graduated from Converse College, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1915. She was a teacher. Served as field representative of the South Carolina State Text Book Commission from 1938 to 1942. Riley was associated with the Civilian Personnel Office at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina during World War II, from 1942 to 1944.</p>

<p>Riley was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-seventh Congress, by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative her husband, John Jacob Riley, a World War I veteran, and served from April 10, 1962 to January 3, 1963. Her opponent in the Democratic primary was state legislator Martha Thomas Fitzgerald; it was believed to be the first time in South Carolina history that two women had competed against each other in a congressional election. She was not a candidate for reelection to the Eighty-eighth Congress in 1962. She retired and died on April 12, 1979, in Sumter, South Carolina. Her remains were cremated; her ashes interred in Sumter Cemetery, South Carolina.</p>

<p>Riding on the tradition of a “widow’s mandate” in South Carolina, Corinne Boyd Riley, without making a single stump speech, appearing at an election rally, or even facing a bona fide opponent, won the special election to fill the last nine months of the term of her late husband, John Jacob Riley. She became the fourth widow to represent South Carolina and the second from a district in the south-central part of the state. She held the seat long enough to vote for several projects benefiting local interests in the district her husband had represented during his eight terms in the House.</p>

<p>Corinne Anderson Boyd was born in Piedmont, South Carolina, on July 4, 1893. The daughter of a Methodist preacher, Reverend George Boyd, she was named for her mother. She graduated from Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in 1915 and taught high school for the next 22 years. In 1917 she married John Riley, a World War I veteran, real estate broker, and insurance businessman. The couple raised a daughter, Helen, and a son, O. Beverley. From 1938 to 1942, Corinne Riley worked as a field representative for the South Carolina textbook commission. During World War II, she joined the civilian personnel office at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina. In November 1944, John Riley won election as a Democrat to the 79th Congress (1945–1947) as a south-central South Carolina Representative. He succeeded Willa Lybrand Fulmer, the widow of longtime Representative Hampton Pitts Fulmer. Riley served two terms before being defeated for the 81st Congress (1949–1951) in 1948; however, he was re-elected to the 82nd Congress (1951–1953) and then to the five succeeding terms. He voted in line with other conservative southern Democrats, opposing foreign aid expenditures and seeking a balanced budget. He eventually served on the Appropriations Committee, working on its defense and public works subcommittees.</p>

<p>When John Riley died on January 1, 1962, local and national leaders from both parties urged Corinne Riley to run in the special election to fill her husband’s seat. She initially resisted the invitation to represent the state’s largest district, but reversed herself and announced her candidacy in mid-January. “I want to finish the work John started,” she told reporters. “Women do have a place in politics, of course, but it’s not one of leadership. It is one of helping her husband.” Nominating a deceased Congressman’s widow had become tradition in South Carolina starting in the 1930s, with the precedent set by previous widows Elizabeth H. Gasque, Clara Gooding McMillan, and Willa Lybrand Fulmer. Both parties respected this gesture of sympathy as a political code. They further announced that if Riley won the nomination, neither party would run another candidate against her with the expectation that she would retire at the end of the term.</p>