Priest, Ivy Baker, 1905-1975

Ivy Baker Priest was born on September 7, 1905 in Kimberley, Utah. She became active in politics in the early 1930s, and joined the Young Republicans. Although she repeatedly won leadership positions in the Republican Party, she was defeated in a 1934 race for the Utah state legislature. Shortly after the legislative race, she was elected to a two-year term as co-chairman of the Young Republican organization for the eleven western states, from 1934 to 1936. From 1937 to 1939, Priest served as the president of the women's Utah Legislative Council and helped to formulate a minimum-wage law for workingwomen. She also served as the Republican committeewoman from Davis County and as a member of the Utah Central Committee. In 1944, she was chosen as the Republican national committeewoman from Utah, a post she held until 1953. In 1946, she became vice chairman of the Western Conference of Republican party leaders of the eleven Western states.

In 1948, Priest attended the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia as a delegate of the National Committee on Women from Utah. In 1952 she was one of the leaders of a Republican faction known as the "Young Turks," party members who were working for the selection of Dwight D. Eisenhower as the Republican presidential nominee. After Eisenhower received the nomination, Priest was appointed as the assistant chairman in charge of the women's division of the Republican National Committee.

President Eisenhower appointed Priest as Treasurer of the United States, the second woman to hold this position. She used her position to foster Eisenhower administration programs, political candidates, and other civic causes, including some for which she had been a long-time worker and supporter: the American Red Cross, the Utah and National Safety Councils, and the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults. She retired from federal service in 1961 and moved to California. In 1966 she won her first elected office, Treasurer of California. She was the first woman to serve in this position, and she served two four-year terms in Governor Ronald Reagan's administration. In 1968 she became the first woman to nominate a candidate for U.S. president for a major political party when she placed Governor Reagan's name before the Republican National Convention. In 1974 she declined to run for a third term as state treasurer due to poor health. She died on June 23, 1975 in Santa Monica, California.