The Journal of Politics

Table of Contents - August 1980 - Volume 42, Issue 03  

Research Notes

The Matrimonial Connection: the Nomination of Congressmen's Widows for the House of Representatives

Irwin N. Gertzog

Among the curious features of American politics is the practice of selecting the wife of a congressman to succeed him upon his death. The pattern began in 1923, little more than six years after the first woman won a seat in the House of Representatives and only three years after the Nineteenth Amendment legalized female suffrage throughout the country.

Irwin N. Gertzog is Braun Professor of political science at Allegheny College.