Eslick, Willa McCord Blake, 1878-1961

<p>Willa McCord Blake Eslick (September 8, 1878 – February 18, 1961) was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee, wife of Edward Everett Eslick and the first woman to represent Tennessee in the United States Congress.</p>

<p>Born in Fayetteville, Tennessee, Eslick was the daughter of George Washington and Eliza McCord Blake. She attended private schools, including Dick White College and Milton College in Fayetteville, Tennessee, as well as Winthrop Model School and Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. She also attended the Metropolitan College of Music and Synthetic School of Music in New York City. She served as a member of the Tennessee state Democratic committee, and was the first woman elected to Congress from Tennessee. She married Edward Everett Eslick on June 6, 1906.</p>

<p>Eslick was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death in office of her husband, Representative Edward Eslick. Eslick served as a Representative from August 14, 1932 until March 3, 1933. She was not eligible for reelection to the Seventy-third Congress, not having qualified for nomination as required by state law.</p>

<p>In June 1932, Willa McCord Blake Eslick watched as her husband, Representative Edward Eslick, collapsed on the House Floor while speaking in support of the Patman Veterans’ Bonus Bill. A moment that otherwise would have been a high point of the four-term Congressman’s career instead turned tragic. Willa Eslick soon became the latest widow to succeed her husband. In completing the final fraction of Congressman Eslick’s term in the 72nd Congress (1931–1933), she supported legislation to alleviate the economic woes of Depression-stricken farmers and to combat concerns of internal subversion.</p>

<p>Willa McCord Blake was the eighth child born to G. W. and Eliza Blake in Fayetteville, Tennessee, on September 8, 1878. She attended private schools for her primary education and later went to Dick White College and Milton College in Fayetteville. She also attended Winthrop Model School and Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. The only time in her early adult life that Willa Blake left Tennessee was to study at the Metropolitan College of Music and Synthetic School of Music in New York City. After college, she became active in Democratic politics, served on the Tennessee Democratic Committee, and became a civic activist. Willa Blake married Edward Everett Eslick, a lawyer from Pulaski, Tennessee, on June 6, 1906. Edward Eslick eventually served as a government appeal agent for Giles County, Tennessee, during World War I. In 1924 he was elected as a Democrat to the 69th Congress (1925–1927) and won re-election to the three succeeding Congresses. Eslick represented a Tennessee district that encompassed a sprawling expanse of 11 agricultural counties in the western part of the state. Rooted in the Civil War and Reconstruction Era, Tennessee developed a rigid partisan nature in which the western and central portions of the state evolved into Democratic strongholds, whereas eastern Tennessee traditionally backed the GOP. In 1930 Speaker Nicholas Longworth of Ohio appointed four Members, including Eslick and New York Representative Hamilton Fish, to a special House committee on communist activities, which garnered national attention. Meanwhile, Willa Eslick accompanied her husband to Washington, DC, where she followed his career with interest.</p>

<p>As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee in the 72nd Congress, Edward Eslick supported cash payments for American veterans who had served in World War I. On June 14, 1932, the Tennessee Representative began an impassioned speech on the House Floor urging passage of the Patman Veterans’ Bonus Bill. With his wife and a ragtag collection of World War I veterans watching from the House Gallery, Eslick slumped over in midsentence from a massive heart attack. “We hear nothing but dollars here. I want to go from the sordid side—,” he said before collapsing. Willa Eslick attempted to revive her 60-year-old husband as he lay on the floor, but he died soon thereafter.</p>