27 Facts About Ella Grasso

Ella Rosa Giovianna Oliva Grasso was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 83rd Governor of Connecticut from January 8,1975, to December 31,1980, after rejecting past offers of candidacies for Senate and Governor.

Ella Grasso was the first woman elected to this office and the first woman to be elected governor of a US state without having been the spouse or widow of a former governor.

Ella Grasso resigned as governor due to her battle with ovarian cancer.

Ella Grasso was first elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1952 and later became the first female Floor Leader in 1955.

Ella Grasso was then elected as Secretary of the State of Connecticut in 1958 and served until 1971.

Ella Grasso went on to serve two terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1970 to 1974.

Ella Grasso Rosa Giovianna Oliva Tambussi was born in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, to Italian immigrant parents Maria Oliva and James Giacomo Tambussi, a mill worker.

Ella Grasso Tambussi learned to speak fluent Italian from her parents.

Ella Grasso married Thomas Grasso, a school principal, in 1942; they had two children, Susanne and James.

Bailey would become a key figure in Ella Grasso's career, recognizing her as someone who could appeal to voters, particularly women and Italian voters in the state.

In 1952, Ella Grasso was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives and served until 1957.

Ella Grasso became first woman to be elected Floor Leader of the House in 1955.

Ella Grasso was an architect of the state's 1960 Constitution.

Ella Grasso was the first woman to chair the Democratic State Platform Committee and served from 1956 to 1968.

Ella Grasso served as a member of the Platform Drafting Committee for the 1960 Democratic National Convention.

Ella Grasso was the co-chairman for the Resolutions Committee for the Democratic National Conventions of 1964 and 1968.

Ella Grasso faced Republican Richard Kilborn in the general election and narrowly defeated him by 4,063 votes.

In December 1971 she and other House members signed a telegram to President Nixon protesting Operation Linebacker II and asking to halt all bombing in Vietnam; Ella Grasso was the only representative from Connecticut to sign the telegram.

Ella Grasso was reelected to the House in 1972 against John F Walsh with 140,290 votes to his 92,783 votes.

Ella Grasso participated in a difficult primary against Attorney General Robert Killian who received the support of multiple party leaders, but after narrowly winning the seventy delegates of Hartford by two thousand votes she effectively secured the nomination with her pledged delegates.

Ella Grasso's opponent was Republican Representative Robert Steele who she defeated by 200,000 votes.

Ella Grasso became the first woman to be elected governor who was not the wife or widow of a previous governor.

Ella Grasso later served as co-chair of the national convention.

In December 1978 Killian announced his gubernatorial campaign, but after defeating his primary challenge, Grasso was re-elected in 1978 with little difficulty against Representative Ronald A Sarasin.

Ella Grasso "Closed the State" by proclamation, forbade all use of public roads by businesses and citizens, and closed all businesses, effectively closing all citizens in their homes.

Ella Grasso was survived by her husband and their two children.

Ella Grasso was a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 1994; the Ella Tambussi Grasso Center for Women in Politics is located there.