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{{Short description|American politician (1896–1956)}}
{{more footnotes|date=March 2013}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2023}}
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{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Helen Douglas Mankin
| name = Helen Douglas Mankin
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| birth_name = Helen Douglas
| birth_name = Helen Douglas
| birth_date = {{birth date|1896|9|11}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1896|9|11}}
| birth_place = Atlanta, Georgia
| birth_place = [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1956|7|25|1896|9|11}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1956|7|25|1896|9|11}}
| death_place =
| death_place = Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse =
| spouse =
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| website =
}}
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'''Helen Douglas Mankin''' (September 11, 1896 – July 25, 1956) was an American politician. She was the second woman to represent [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] in the [[United States]] [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]].
'''Helen Douglas Mankin''' (September 11, 1896 – July 25, 1956) was a 20th-century American lawyer and politician. She was the second woman to represent [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] in the United States [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], serving part of one term from 1946 to 1947 after winning a special election to fill the seat of a predecessor who had resigned.


== Life ==
== Life ==
Mankin was born September 11, 1896, in [[Atlanta]], [[Fulton County, Georgia]]. She grew up there, attending public and private schools. She graduated with an [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] from [[Rockford College]], [[Rockford, Illinois|Rockford]], [[Illinois]], in 1917. She graduated with an [[LL.B.]] from [[Atlanta Law School]], Atlanta, Georgia, in 1920. During and after the [[First World War]], Mankin served as an ambulance driver in the American Women's Hospital Unit No. 1, a Red Cross unit attached to the French army in 1918 and 1919. She was there as a civilian and was not officially a military veteran.
Mankin was born September 11, 1896, in [[Atlanta]], [[Fulton County, Georgia]]. She grew up there, attending public and private schools. She graduated with an [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] from [[Rockford University|Rockford College]], [[Rockford, Illinois|Rockford]], Illinois, in 1917. She graduated with an [[LL.B.]] from [[Atlanta Law School]] in 1920.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |date=August 1925 |title=Miss Helen Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=crXvAAAAMAAJ&dq=Fanniebelle%20Curtis&pg=RA7-PA9 |journal=Carry on |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=9}}</ref>


=== World War I ===
After the war and earning her law degree, Mankin entered private practice as an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. She entered politics, and served as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] member of the [[Georgia House of Representatives]] from 1937 until 1946.<ref>[https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/helen-douglas-mankin-1894-1956 Georgia Encyclopedia-Helen Douglas Mankin]</ref>
During and after the [[First World War]], Mankin served as an ambulance driver and mechanic in the American Women's Hospital Unit No. 1, a Red Cross unit attached to the French army in 1918 and 1919. She was there as a civilian and was not officially a military veteran. She was decorated by the French government with a [[Medal of the Nation's Gratitude|Medaille de Reconnaissance]].<ref name=":0" />


In 1925, Douglas became the fifth national president of the [[Women's Overseas Service League]].<ref name=":0" />
In 1946, Mankin was elected as a Democrat to represent the [[Georgia's 5th congressional district|fifth congressional district]] of Georgia in the [[79th United States Congress]], filling the seat left vacant by the resignation of [[Robert Ramspeck]]. She took her seat February 12, 1946. She was an unsuccessful candidate in that year's [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] [[primary election]] when she sought renomination to run for reelection. She won the [[Direct election|popular vote]], gaining major support from Atlanta's [[African-American]] community, but lost in the [[County Unit System|county unit system]], a voting system similar to the presidential [[electoral college]] that Georgia then used for primary elections. The county-unit system gave disproportionate weight to the votes of rural counties, severely discounting the votes of large urban areas, such as Atlanta's Fulton County. Mankin then was an unsuccessful [[write-in]] candidate in the [[general election]] of 1946.


== Career ==
After the war and earning her law degree, Mankin entered private practice as an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia.<ref name=":0" />

=== State legislature ===
She entered politics, and served as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] member of the [[Georgia House of Representatives]] from 1937 until 1946.<ref>[https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/helen-douglas-mankin-1894-1956 Georgia Encyclopedia-Helen Douglas Mankin]</ref>

== Congress ==
In 1946, Mankin was elected as a Democrat to represent the [[Georgia's 5th congressional district|fifth congressional district]] of Georgia in the [[79th United States Congress]], filling the seat left vacant by the resignation of [[Robert Ramspeck]]. As the election was a special election rather than a regular election, the "white primary" rule used to exclude African-Americans from electoral participation did not apply. Thanks to strong support from African-American voters, Mankin won by an 807-vote margin over conservative Tom Camp, Congressman Ramspeck's former executive secretary endorsed by the white supremacist and former governor, [[Eugene Talmadge]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bullock III |first1=Charles S. |last2=Buchanan |first2=Scott E. |last3=Gaddie |first3=Ronald Keith |title=The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics |date=2015 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |pages=59–61}}</ref> She took her seat February 12, 1946.

=== Campaign for re-election ===
Mankin was an unsuccessful candidate in that year's [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] [[Partisan primary|primary election]] when she sought renomination. Although she won the popular vote in a landslide due to strong support from the Black vote, Georgia's [[county unit system]]—in effect for certain Congressional primaries as well as state-wide elections—denied her the nomination, as she won Fulton County's six county unit votes yet narrowly lost DeKalb County and its six county unit votes, as well as Rockdale County's two county unit votes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bullock III |first1=Charles S. |last2=Buchanan |first2=Scott E. |last3=Gaddie |first3=Ronald Keith |title=The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics |date=2015 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |pages=115–116}}</ref> She was then an unsuccessful [[write-in]] candidate in the general election.

== Later career and death ==
Mankin's term of office concluded January 3, 1947. She continued to live in Atlanta, and she died there on July 25, 1956.
Mankin's term of office concluded January 3, 1947. She continued to live in Atlanta, and she died there on July 25, 1956.


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*Spritzer, Lorraine Nelson. ''The Belle of Ashby Street: Helen Douglas Mankin and Georgia Politics''. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1982.
*Spritzer, Lorraine Nelson. ''The Belle of Ashby Street: Helen Douglas Mankin and Georgia Politics''. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1982.
* [http://history.house.gov/People/Detail/17451 MANKIN, Helen Douglas], Office of the Historian: Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk
* [http://history.house.gov/People/Detail/17451 MANKIN, Helen Douglas], Office of the Historian: Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk
* [https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/helen-douglas-mankin-1894-1956 Helen Douglas Mankin (1894-1956)], ''New Georgia Encyclopedia
* [https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/helen-douglas-mankin-1894-1956 Helen Douglas Mankin (1894–1956)], ''New Georgia Encyclopedia


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[[Category:American Red Cross personnel]]
[[Category:American Red Cross personnel]]
[[Category:Rockford University alumni]]
[[Category:Rockford University alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Female members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Female members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Members of the Georgia House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Women in Georgia (U.S. state) politics]]
[[Category:Women in Georgia (U.S. state) politics]]
[[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) Democrats]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:20th-century American legislators]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:20th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century Georgia (U.S. state) politicians]]

Latest revision as of 09:12, 17 October 2024

Helen Douglas Mankin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 5th district
In office
January 1, 1946 – January 2, 1947
Preceded byRobert Ramspeck
Succeeded byJames C. Davis
Personal details
Born
Helen Douglas

(1896-09-11)September 11, 1896
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJuly 25, 1956(1956-07-25) (aged 59)
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationRockford College

Helen Douglas Mankin (September 11, 1896 – July 25, 1956) was a 20th-century American lawyer and politician. She was the second woman to represent Georgia in the United States House of Representatives, serving part of one term from 1946 to 1947 after winning a special election to fill the seat of a predecessor who had resigned.

Life

[edit]

Mankin was born September 11, 1896, in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. She grew up there, attending public and private schools. She graduated with an A.B. from Rockford College, Rockford, Illinois, in 1917. She graduated with an LL.B. from Atlanta Law School in 1920.[1]

World War I

[edit]

During and after the First World War, Mankin served as an ambulance driver and mechanic in the American Women's Hospital Unit No. 1, a Red Cross unit attached to the French army in 1918 and 1919. She was there as a civilian and was not officially a military veteran. She was decorated by the French government with a Medaille de Reconnaissance.[1]

In 1925, Douglas became the fifth national president of the Women's Overseas Service League.[1]

Career

[edit]

After the war and earning her law degree, Mankin entered private practice as an attorney in Atlanta, Georgia.[1]

State legislature

[edit]

She entered politics, and served as a Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1937 until 1946.[2]

Congress

[edit]

In 1946, Mankin was elected as a Democrat to represent the fifth congressional district of Georgia in the 79th United States Congress, filling the seat left vacant by the resignation of Robert Ramspeck. As the election was a special election rather than a regular election, the "white primary" rule used to exclude African-Americans from electoral participation did not apply. Thanks to strong support from African-American voters, Mankin won by an 807-vote margin over conservative Tom Camp, Congressman Ramspeck's former executive secretary endorsed by the white supremacist and former governor, Eugene Talmadge.[3] She took her seat February 12, 1946.

Campaign for re-election

[edit]

Mankin was an unsuccessful candidate in that year's Democratic Party primary election when she sought renomination. Although she won the popular vote in a landslide due to strong support from the Black vote, Georgia's county unit system—in effect for certain Congressional primaries as well as state-wide elections—denied her the nomination, as she won Fulton County's six county unit votes yet narrowly lost DeKalb County and its six county unit votes, as well as Rockdale County's two county unit votes.[4] She was then an unsuccessful write-in candidate in the general election.

Later career and death

[edit]

Mankin's term of office concluded January 3, 1947. She continued to live in Atlanta, and she died there on July 25, 1956.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "Miss Helen Douglas". Carry on. 4 (3): 9. August 1925.
  2. ^ Georgia Encyclopedia-Helen Douglas Mankin
  3. ^ Bullock III, Charles S.; Buchanan, Scott E.; Gaddie, Ronald Keith (2015). The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics. University of Georgia Press. pp. 59–61.
  4. ^ Bullock III, Charles S.; Buchanan, Scott E.; Gaddie, Ronald Keith (2015). The Three Governors Controversy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics. University of Georgia Press. pp. 115–116.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 5th congressional district

February 12, 1946 – January 3, 1947
Succeeded by