Slaughter, Louise M. (Louise McIntosh), 1929-2018

<p>First elected in 1986, Louise McIntosh Slaughter served for 31 years as a U.S. Representative from western New York. In 2007 she became the first woman to chair the House Rules Committee. Slaughter, a microbiologist by training, was an expert on health and women’s issues. “I have always said that the best training in the world for government is to be a woman, to be a mother,” Slaughter once noted. “We learn that our budget has to stretch to the next paycheck . . . that every member of our family has to have food and clothing and an education.”</p>

<p>Louise M. Slaughter was born Dorothy Louise McIntosh on August 14, 1929, in Harlan County, Kentucky, to Oscar and Daisy Grace Byers. Her father was a blacksmith for a coal mine, and she was a distant relative of the American folklore figure Daniel Boone. Slaughter earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Kentucky in 1951, during a time when few women pursued careers in scientific fields. She stayed at the University of Kentucky, and two years later she earned a MS in public health. She married Robert Slaughter in 1957. The couple eventually moved to Rochester, New York, and raised three daughters. After 57 years of marriage, Robert passed away in 2014.</p>

<p>Slaughter’s political activism began in 1971 when she campaigned to save Hart’s Woods in Rochester, one of few remaining beech-maple forests that existed in North America when glaciers still covered the continent; Hart’s Woods became a National Natural Landmark in 1972. The experience moved Slaughter toward a career in public service. She backed George Stanley McGovern’s presidential campaign in 1972, serving as co-chair of the Monroe County Citizens for McGovern. She also joined the New York State Democratic Committee and, in 1976, was elected to the first of two terms in the Monroe County legislature. She later worked for Mario Cuomo, then the New York secretary of state. In 1982 Slaughter defeated a Republican incumbent to win a seat in the New York assembly, where she served for four years.</p>

<p>Dorothy Louise Slaughter née McIntosh (August 14, 1929 – March 16, 2018) was an American politician elected to 16 terms as a United States Representative from New York, serving from 1987 until her death in 2018. She served as the Dean of the New York Congressional Delegation for the last few terms as Congresswoman before her death.</p>

<p>Slaughter was born in Lynch, Kentucky. She studied microbiology and public health at the University of Kentucky, earning both Bachelor's and Master's degrees. After moving to New York and becoming involved in politics as a member of the Democratic Party, she was elected to a seat in the New York State Assembly in 1982 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986. Slaughter represented Rochester and most of surrounding Monroe County; she represented the 30th District from 1987 to 1993, the 28th District from 1993 to 2013, and the 25th district from 2013 until her death, often serving as the only microbiologist in Congress.</p>

<p>Slaughter served as Chair of the House Rules Committee from 2007 until 2011, and as ranking minority member of the Committee from 2005 to 2007, and from 2011 until her death. Slaughter was the lead House sponsor of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which became law in 2008. Along with Senator Joe Biden she co-sponsored the Violence Against Women Act. At the time of her death, Slaughter was the oldest sitting member of Congress and the last sitting member born in the 1920s.</p>