Younger, Mildred, 1920-

Mildred Younger, a Republican Party activist for three decades who helped guide the career of her husband, former state attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Evelle J. Younger, died Wednesday at her home in Pasadena after a long illness. She was 86. Younger, a Los Angeles native Younger was a graduate of Los Angeles High School and a debate champion at USC, where she earned a degree in art history in 1942. In 1954, she ran for a state Senate seat from Los Angeles County and won the Republican primary despite her opponent’s attempt to derail her candidacy by running a former mental patient named Hazel Younger against her. She lost the general election to Democrat Richard Richards by a slim margin. Evelle Younger became one of California’s most resilient law enforcement politicians. He was elected to the Superior Court in 1958, became Los Angeles County district attorney in 1964 and state attorney general in 1970. His only losing campaign was his 1978 bid to replace popular Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.After losing her state Senate race, Mildred Younger had a brief career in radio and television. Her broadcast career was short-lived, however. After suffering whiplash in a minor car accident in 1958, she found she could not raise her voice above a hoarse whisper. Her husband died in 1989 at the age of 70. Besides her son, she leaves two grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.

YOUNGER next hit , Mildred (b. 1920), Republican party activist

Inside and Outside Government and Politics, 1929-1980, 1983, xviii, 353 pp.

Scope and Content Note

Growing up in California; marriage to Evelle previous hit Younger next hit and discussion of his subsequent political career; delegate to 1952 Republican convention, seconding Earl Warren's nomination for president; dirty tricks and the losing campaign for state senate, 1954; radio and television broadcasting career cut short by seventeen-year speech loss; continuing assistance to state and national Republican campaigns, and renewal of activity when speech returns after surgery; Evelle previous hit Younger's next hit campaign for governor; women in politics; appointment by President Gerald Ford to National Commission on Libraries and Information Science.
Additional Note

Interviewed 1976-1978 by Malca Chall.