Pfost, Gracie Bowers, 1906-1965

<p>A five-term Representative from Idaho, Gracie Pfost was a consistent critic of private gain at the expense of the public interest. The press dubbed Congresswoman Pfost “Hell’s Belle” for her unremitting crusade to develop the proposed Hells Canyon High Dam and hydroelectric facility as a federally managed program. The massive project, which would have been situated along the Snake River in her northern Idaho district, took advantage of one of the longest gorges in the country. “It is a natural dam site,” Pfost declared. “All we need is to plug up that river with some concrete.”</p>

<p>Gracie Bowers was born in an Ozark Mountain log cabin on March 12, 1906, in Harrison, Arkansas, daughter of William L. Bowers and Lily E. Wood Bowers. Her family, which included four siblings, moved to Idaho in 1911. She quit high school at age 16 and took a job as a milk analyst for the Carnation Milk Company in Nampa, Idaho. A year later, in 1923, Gracie Bowers married John W. (Jack) Pfost (pronounced “post”), her supervisor and a master mechanic who was twice her age. During their long marriage, Jack Pfost remained an enduring source of support for his wife’s political career which, she admitted, was “more or less a joint venture with him.” The couple had no children. In 1929 Gracie Pfost graduated from the Link’s Business School in Boise, Idaho. During this time, she became involved in politics on the local level, working as a temporary replacement for the Canyon County clerk, auditor, and recorder. She ended up working full-time in this position for a decade after her predecessor resigned. In 1941, after losing her first bid by 1,500 votes, Pfost was elected treasurer of Canyon County, an office she held for another decade. She also served as a delegate to five consecutive Democratic National Conventions, beginning in 1944. Throughout the late 1940s and into the 1950s, she and her husband owned and operated a real estate business.</p>

<p>In 1950 Gracie Pfost won the Democratic nomination in the race for the open congressional seat which represented all of northern Idaho, including the panhandle area up to the Canadian border. She lost the election by 783 votes to GOP contender John Travers Wood, a 72-year-old doctor and World War I veteran. In 1952, at the urging of her husband, Pfost again challenged Wood. She entered the Democratic primary and easily trumped three male challengers. With enthusiasm, Pfost ran an exhaustive general election campaign. There were no television stations on which to advertise, so she and her husband canvassed the 400-mile long district in their Pontiac car, logging more than 20,000 miles. Pfost received a boost from Eleanor Roosevelt, who used her syndicated column to attack Wood’s record in Congress, particularly his efforts to derail the United Nations. Her slogan contained a pun on her name: “Tie Your Vote to a Solid Post—Gracie Pfost for Congress.” In a state that went for Dwight D. Eisenhower on a two-to-one basis (her district favored Eisenhower by 25,000 votes), she narrowly edged out Wood by 591 votes of about 109,000 cast.</p>

<p>Gracie Bowers Pfost (March 12, 1906 – August 11, 1965) was the first woman to represent Idaho in the United States Congress, serving five terms as a Democrat in the House of Representatives. Pfost represented the state's 1st district from 1953 to 1963.</p>

<p>Born in an Ozark Mountain log cabin in Harrison, Arkansas, Pfost was five when her parents moved to a farm near Boise, Idaho, in 1911. One of five siblings, she quit Meridian High School at 16 in 1922 and worked as a milk analyst at a dairy in Nampa. The next year she married her supervisor, Jack Pfost, who was more than twice her age. She later graduated from Link's Business College in Boise in 1929.</p>

<p>Pfost entered politics in Canyon County; she held several positions in county government between 1929 and 1951, including deputy county clerk, auditor, recorder of deeds, and county treasurer. She also served as an Idaho delegate to all Democratic National Conventions between 1944 and 1960. The Pfosts ran a real estate business in the 1940s and into the 1950s.</p>