Martin, Lynn, 1939-

<p>Lynn Morley Martin (born Judith Lynn Morley; December 26, 1939) is an American businesswoman and former United States politician who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois from 1981 to 1991, representing the 16th congressional district, and as U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1991 to 1993.</p>

<p>Martin was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Helen Catherine (Hall) and Lawrence William Morley, an accountant. She attended Taft High School in Chicago from 1952 to 1956. She was later named to Taft's Hall of Fame. In 1960 she graduated from the University of Illinois, where she was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority. After becoming a teacher in the Rockford Public School District, she continued in that job after being elected to public office, serving as a member of the Winnebago County board from 1972 to 1976 before being elected to the Illinois House of Representatives (1977–79), Illinois Senate (1979–80), and U.S. House of Representatives (1981–91). In the U.S. House, she was vice chair of the House Republican Conference.</p>

<p>A loyalist to the Reagan Administration, she assisted then-Vice President George H.W. Bush with his preparation for the 1984 Vice Presidential debate against Geraldine Ferraro. Bush touted her as a possible running mate in his 1988 presidential campaign, though he eventually selected Indiana Senator Dan Quayle.</p>

<p>Lynn Martin’s expertise on economic issues, her quick wit, moderation, and independence helped her to become the first woman in the United States House of Representatives to attain leadership positions high within the Republican Party. As she had in the Illinois house of representatives, Congresswoman Martin earned a reputation as a liberal on women’s issues but also as a stalwart fiscal conservative eager to rein in a government that, in her view, had spent beyond its means since the 1960s. “All bureaucracy doesn’t have to exist forever,” Martin said shortly after arriving in Congress.</p>

<p>Judith Lynn Morley was born on December 26, 1939, in Evanston, Illinois, youngest of two daughters of William Morley, an accountant, and Helen Hall Morley, a department store clerk. She grew up on the north side of Chicago in a heavily Irish-Catholic and Democratic neighborhood and attended public schools. Her earliest political experience was in running for eighth-grade class president against her boyfriend. “I lost by one vote. My vote. You see, I voted for my opponent because I thought it was polite,” she recalled years later. “Well, he voted for himself, and I learned my lesson: if you believe in yourself, vote for yourself.” She made Phi Beta Kappa and earned a BA in English at the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1960. A week after she graduated, she married John Martin, an engineering student. They raised two daughters: Julia and Caroline. Lynn Martin taught at several high schools in DuPage County and Rockford, Illinois.</p>

<p>Martin entered public service after becoming “interested in my community” and worried that the local government was “out of touch” and “buried.” In 1972 Martin was elected to the Winnebago County (Illinois) board and four years later won a seat in the state house of representatives. Her political mentors were Betty Ann Keegan, a Democrat in the Illinois state senate who first encouraged her to run for office, and Republican Congressman Robert Henry Michel of Illinois, the future U.S. House Minority Leader. She served on the appropriations committee and earned the nickname “the Axe” for her efforts to reduce spending. Martin won election to the Illinois senate in 1978. That same year, she and John Martin were divorced. Lynn Martin eventually remarried in 1987 to Harry Leinenweber, a U.S. District Court judge.</p>