Bolton, Frances Payne Bingham, 1885-1977

<p>At one time celebrated as the richest woman in America, Frances Payne Bolton of Ohio shed the comfortable life of a trust fund beneficiary to enter the political arena. Her roots in Republican politics and her cosmopolitan upbringing and range of interests—from public health to Buddhism to economic development in sub-Saharan Africa—shaped her long career in Congress. From her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Bolton influenced American foreign policy from World War II to the Vietnam War. Her sense of responsibility and earnest devotion to the issues she cared for made her a notable pragmatist. “She knows that a conservative is not someone who merely says no in a loud, angry voice,” the columnist Marquis Childs wrote in a 1946 column that noted Bolton’s effectiveness as a legislator. “A Conservative must know how to conserve, which does not mean standing in the way of all change.”</p>

<p>Frances Payne Bingham was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 29, 1885, to Charles W. Bingham and Mary Perry Payne Bingham. Her family’s ties to the Standard Oil fortune permitted them to travel widely and to provide schooling for Frances at elite finishing schools and with private tutors. Her family also had a long history of public service. Mary Bingham’s father, Henry B. Payne, served as an U.S. Representative and Senator from Ohio in the late 1800s. On September 14, 1907, Frances Bingham married attorney Chester Castle Bolton. Frances Bolton later became involved with a visiting nurses’ program in Cleveland’s tenements.</p>

<p>During World War I, the couple and their three sons— Charles, Kenyon, and Oliver—moved to Washington, where Chester Bolton served on the War Industries Board and Frances Payne Bolton worked with various nursing groups. During the war, she also inherited a trust fund established by her uncle, Oliver Hazard Payne, a founder of Standard Oil. The bequest made Bolton one of the world’s wealthiest women and allowed her to establish the Payne Fund, which eventually distributed grants into areas of particular interest to her. In 1919 Bolton and her newborn daughter fell victim to a worldwide influenza epidemic. The baby died, and Bolton barely survived, adopting a strict regimen of yoga exercises to aid her recovery. She also acquired an interest in eastern religions, shaping her spiritual life around Buddhism. Bolton’s curiosity and love of learning were lifelong. An obituary writer later observed that she put her attention and money into “such diverse activities as control of venereal disease, extra-sensory perception, medical education for blacks, basic English, the illegitimate children of American soldiers overseas and African art. At 65, she could and did dance the polka with her Slavic constituents.”</p>

<p>Frances Payne Bingham Bolton (March 29, 1885 – March 9, 1977) was a Republican politician from Ohio. She served in the United States House of Representatives. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Ohio. In the late 1930s Bolton took an isolationist position on foreign policy, opposing the Selective Service Act (the draft) in 1940, and opposing Lend-Lease in 1941. During the war she called for desegregation of the military nursing units, which were all-white and all-female. In 1947 she sponsored a long-range bill for nursing education, but it did not pass. When the draft was resumed after the war, Bolton strongly advocated the conscription of women. Pointing to their prominent role during the war, she said it was vitally important that women continue to play these essential roles. She saw no threat to marriage, and argued that women in military service would develop their character and skills, thus enhancing their role in the family. As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Bolton strongly supported the United Nations, especially UNICEF, and strongly supported the independence of African colonies.</p>

<p>She was born on March 29, 1885, in Cleveland, Ohio as Frances Payne Bingham. She was the daughter of Charles William Bingham (1846–1929) and Mary Perry (née Payne) Bingham (1854–1898). Her siblings included Oliver Perry Bingham, William H. Bingham, Elizabeth Beardsley (née Bingham) Blossom, and Henry Payne Bingham.</p>

<p>Among her maternal family members was uncle Nathan P. Payne (the former mayor of Cleveland), Oliver Hazard Payne (who worked for Standard Oil), and aunt Flora Payne (the wife of U.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney). Her maternal grandfather was wealthy U.S. Senator, Henry B. Payne.</p>

<p>Frances was educated at private schools in Cleveland, New York City, and in Paris.</p>