Kennelly, Barbara B. (Barbara Bailey), 1936-

<p>Barbara Bailey Kennelly (born July 10, 1936) is an American politician. She is the former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut.</p>

<p>Kennelly was born Barbara Ann Bailey in Hartford, Connecticut on July 10, 1936. Her father was long-time Democratic Party leader John M. Bailey.</p>

<p>Kennelly studied at St. Joseph Cathedral School and graduated from Mount St. Joseph Academy in West Hartford in 1954. She earned a B.A. from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. (now Trinity Washington University) in 1958 and a certificate from the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration in 1959. In 1971, she earned a master's degree from Trinity College in Connecticut.</p>

<p>Kennelly was married to the late James J. Kennelly, an attorney who served as Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1975 to 1979. She has three daughters, one son, and twelve grandchildren.</p>

<p>Raised in a prominent Connecticut political family, Barbara Bailey Kennelly became one of the highest-ranking women in the history of the Democratic Party and the U.S. House. Unlike many feminists who sought to challenge the political system from the outside, Congresswoman Kennelly capitalized on her name, “lifelong familiarity with public service,” and political connections to gain positions of power in the House leadership: a coveted seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee and vice chair of the Democratic Caucus.</p>

<p>Barbara Ann Bailey was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on July 10, 1936, daughter of John Bailey, a Connecticut political boss and state Democratic leader and, later, chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the 1960s. He was widely credited with having engineered John F. Kennedy’s presidential nomination and victory in 1960. Her mother, Barbara Leary Bailey, was an advocate for women’s rights and had worked as a teacher prior to marrying in 1933. Barbara Ann Bailey attended St. Joseph Cathedral School and graduated from Mount St. Joseph Academy in West Hartford in 1954. She earned a BA from Trinity College in Washington, DC, in 1958, a certificate in business administration from Harvard Business School in 1959, and an MA in government from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1971. Barbara Bailey married John Kennelly, speaker of the Connecticut house. They had four children: Eleanor, Barbara, Louise, and John.</p>

<p>Barbara Kennelly spent her early career outside of politics, however, working as the director of two social service organizations. Kennelly was nearly 40 when she was appointed in 1975 to fill a vacancy on the Hartford court of common council. She was elected to the post the next year and served for a total of four years. In 1978, when Connecticut secretary of state Gloria Schaffer left office, Kennelly launched her own successful campaign to win election to the post against the wishes of Democratic leaders, cobbling together a coalition that observers said was reminiscent of her father’s deal-making skills. The secretary of state’s office had been a traditional steppingstone for women politicians in Connecticut: in the 1940s Chase Woodhouse and, in the 1970s, Ella Tambussi Grasso both launched congressional careers from the post that had earned them wide name recognition with voters.</p>