Meyner, Helen Stevenson, 1929-1997

<p>Politically connected by both birth and marriage, Helen Stevenson Meyner entered elective politics for the first time to serve New Jersey for two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congresswoman Meyner developed a reputation as a thoughtful internationalist and advocate of human rights issues. She also became a well-respected charter member of the Congresswomen’s Caucus during her short tenure in the House.</p>

<p>Helen Day Stevenson was born on March 5, 1929, to William E. and Eleanor B. Stevenson. She had one sister, Priscilla. The Stevensons worked for the American Red Cross, establishing units in Europe and Africa during World War I. William Stevenson later served as the president of Oberlin College in Ohio and as U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines. After graduating from Rosemary Hall High School in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1946, Helen Stevenson earned her bachelor’s degree from Colorado College in 1950. Immediately following graduation, she served as a field worker for the Red Cross in Korea from 1950 to 1952 and then as a tour guide at the United Nations. From 1953 to 1956, she was hired by a major airline to travel around the globe on a promotional tour under the name Mary Gordon. In 1956 Stevenson volunteered for the presidential campaign for her mother’s distant cousin, Adlai Ewing Stevenson III. During the campaign, she met New Jersey Governor Robert Meyner, and they married in 1957. In 1970 Meyner lost a baby in childbirth, and the couple had no other children. After Robert Meyner left office in 1962, Helen Meyner began writing a twice-weekly column for the Newark Star-Ledger, which she continued until 1969. She also hosted a New York–New Jersey television interview program from 1965 to 1968. Beginning in 1971, Meyner was appointed to the New Jersey rehabilitation commission.</p>

<p>Admittedly more comfortable in the role of politician’s wife, Meyner began her improbable political career in July 1972. The Democratic nominee for a northeastern New Jersey congressional district, Irish immigrant Joseph O’Dougherty withdrew from the race because he had failed to meet the U.S. Constitution’s seven-year citizenship criterion. The state Democratic committee convinced Meyner, who was at the time working on a biography of writer Katherine Mansfield, to enter the race as the new Democratic nominee in the heavily Republican district. Despite her experience in politics, she admitted that, “in the beginning, the adjustment to stand on my own and projecting myself in public was very difficult.” Initially overshadowed by accusations that she supported an expensive dam project because it benefited her own investments, Meyner lost to Republican Joseph James Maraziti by a margin of 56 to 43 percent in the general election.</p>

<p>Helen Day Stevenson Meyner, also known as Helen S. Meyner (March 5, 1929 – November 2, 1997), was a Democratic U.S. Representative from New Jersey from 1975 to 1979. As the wife of New Jersey Governor Robert B. Meyner, she was First Lady of New Jersey from 1957 to 1962.</p>

<p>She was born as Helen Stevenson on March 5, 1929 in Queens, New York. Her father was an Olympic gold medal winner and ambassador William Stevenson. She was a distant cousin of Democratic candidate for President Adlai Stevenson.</p>

<p>She graduated from Colorado College. Later she married New Jersey Governor Robert B. Meyner on January 19, 1957 in Oberlin, Ohio.</p>