23 Facts About Helen Gahagan

Helen Gahagan's was married to fellow actor Melvyn Douglas, and they had two children, Peter and Mary.

Helen Gahagan's was the eldest daughter of Lillian Rose and Walter H Gahagan, an engineer who owned a construction business in Brooklyn and a shipyard in Arverne, Queens; her mother had been a schoolteacher.

Helen Gahagan was raised at 231 Lincoln Place in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn, an upper-middle-class neighborhood.

Helen Gahagan's attended the prestigious Berkeley Carroll School, where she "attracted the favorable attention of Brooklyn critics through her performance in school plays".

Helen Gahagan gained admittance to Barnard College of Columbia University, class of 1924.

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Helen Gahagan found great success and became a well-known star on Broadway in the 1920s, appearing in popular plays such as Young Woodley and Trelawney of the Wells.

In 1927, at the age of 26, Helen Gahagan set out to forge a new career as an opera singer, and after two years of voice lessons, she found herself touring across Europe and receiving critical praise, unusual for an American at the time.

Helen Gahagan Douglas went to Los Angeles in 1935, starring in the Hollywood movie She, playing Hash-a-Motep, queen of a lost city.

Helen Gahagan's largely disliked the atmosphere of Hollywood; following the birth of her daughter, Mary Helen, in 1938, Gahagan Douglas took to learning about the plight of migrant workers and grew increasingly politically aware.

Helen Gahagan Douglas was a member of the national advisory committee of the Works Progress Administration and of the State committee of the National Youth Administration in 1939 and 1940.

Helen Gahagan's then served as Democratic national committeewoman for California and vice chairwoman of the Democratic state central committee and chairman of the women's division from 1940 to 1944.

Helen Gahagan's was a member of the board of governors of the California Housing and Planning Association in 1942 and 1943, and was appointed by Roosevelt as a member of the Voluntary Participation Committee, Office of Civilian Defense.

Helen Gahagan's was later appointed by President Harry S Truman as an alternate United States delegate to the United Nations Assembly.

Helen Gahagan Douglas was elected to the United States House of Representatives from California's 14th congressional district as a Democrat in 1944, and she served in the Seventy-ninth, Eightieth, and Eighty-first Congresses .

In 1950, Helen Gahagan Douglas ran for the United States Senate, although incumbent Democrat Sheridan Downey was seeking a third term.

Helen Gahagan Douglas told Malone that Downey had neglected veterans and small growers and had to be unseated.

When Gahagan Douglas defeated Boddy for the nomination, Downey endorsed the Republican U S Representative Richard M Nixon.

Helen Gahagan implied that she was a Communist "fellow traveler" by comparing her votes to those of Representative Vito Marcantonio, and deployed anti-Semitic surrogates to call on voters to reject her because her husband, Melvyn, was Jewish.

Helen Gahagan's returned to acting in 1952, and later campaigned for John F Kennedy, who ran successfully against Nixon in the 1960 presidential race.

Helen Gahagan Douglas was mentioned in the 1965 song "George Murphy" by satirist Tom Lehrer.

Helen Gahagan's campaigned for George McGovern in his unsuccessful bid to prevent Nixon's 1972 re-election, and she called for Nixon's removal from office during the Watergate scandal.

Helen Gahagan's died the following year from breast and lung cancer, with her husband Melvyn by her side.

Helen Gahagan's stands among the best of our 20th-century leaders, rivaling even Eleanor Roosevelt in stature, compassion and simple greatness.