O'Day, Caroline, 1875-1943

<p>Caroline Love Goodwin O'Day (June 22, 1869 – January 4, 1943) was an American politician. She was the third woman, and first woman Democrat, elected to Congress from New York.</p>

<p>Caroline Goodwin (or Carrie as she was known to her family) was born June 22, 1869. She was the daughter and first child of Sidney Prior Goodwin, a descendant of Ozias Goodwin who emigrated to Massachusetts from England in 1639; and Mary Elia Warren. Her father was a planter residing in Savannah, Georgia, who served in the Oglethorpe Light Infantry of the Confederate States Army. He surrendered and was paroled in April 1865. (Goodwin James J., <i>The Goodwins of Hartford, Connecticut</i>, Brown & Gross 1891, page 668).</p>

<p>Caroline graduated from Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens, Georgia. She studied art in Paris, Munich, and Holland. On April 20, 1901, she married Daniel O'Day, who served as secretary and treasurer of Standard Oil Company.</p>

<p>A longtime suffragist with strong ties to New York politics and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Caroline O’Day was an unwavering supporter of New Deal legislation and a fervent pacifist during her four terms in the House. Once, when asked what she would do if the United States became embroiled in a war, she declared, “I would just kiss my children good-bye and start off for Leavenworth.” Those convictions changed, however, when O’Day realized the aims of Nazi Germany.</p>

<p>Caroline Love Goodwin was born on June 22, 1875, on a plantation in Perry, Georgia, daughter of Sidney Prior Goodwin and Elia Warren. Caroline Goodwin graduated from the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens, Georgia, and for eight years studied art in Paris (with James McNeill Whistler), Munich, and Holland, and briefly at the Cooper Union. In 1902 she married Daniel T. O’Day, son of a Standard Oil Company executive, whom she met in Europe. They settled in Rye, New York, and had three children: Elia, Daniel, and Charles.</p>

<p>Caroline O’Day first became interested in politics after witnessing a suffrage parade with her husband, who turned to his wife and asked why she wasn’t marching with the procession. She later joined the Westchester (New York) League of Women Voters, where she became an officer and first met Eleanor Roosevelt. After the death of her husband in 1916, Caroline O’Day dedicated herself to improving the lives of working-class poor in the inner city. She served on the board of directors and volunteered at Lillian Wald’s Henry Street Settlement on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. A pacifist who opposed U.S. entry into World War I, O’Day became vice chair of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. In 1917 she joined Jeannette Rankin of Montana in support of the enfranchisement of New York women. Her first political appointment came in 1921 when New York Governor Alfred E. Smith named her to the state board of social welfare, supervising care for dependent juveniles. In 1923 O’Day became associate chair of the New York state Democratic Committee and directed its women’s division—holding both positions until her death. She traversed New York, logging more than 8,000 miles with Eleanor Roosevelt and other women leaders to organize voters. As a reward, the party appointed her chair of the New York delegation to the 1924 Democratic National Convention. Together, O’Day and Roosevelt led delegations of women to Albany to press the legislature to adopt Governor Smith’s programs. She worked for Smith’s presidential campaign in 1928 and for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s successful 1932 campaign. After Roosevelt’s inauguration, O’Day was named New York’s director of the National Recovery Administration.</p>