[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 118 (Wednesday, September 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S10141]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO ELIZABETH SNYDER

 Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor Elizabeth 
Snyder, a longtime civic leader who helped pave the way for women to 
assume positions of leadership in California. She died in Los Angeles 
on August 26, 1998.
  Elizabeth first came to national attention in 1954, when she was 
elected Chair of the California Democratic Party, becoming the first 
woman in the United States to be elected chair of a major political 
party in any state. In a career that spanned more than half a century, 
Elizabeth worked prominently in the California presidential campaigns 
of Harry Truman, Adlai Stevenson, and Lyndon Johnson and served as the 
California Co-Chair of President Jimmy Carter's 1976 Presidential 
campaign.
  Born on April 8, 1914, in Minnesota of immigrant parents, Elizabeth 
and her family moved to San Diego in the early 1920s. Following the 
collapse of her father's business at the outset of the Great 
Depression, Elizabeth, her mother and two brothers relocated to East 
Los Angeles where life was, in her words, ``lean, precarious and 
hard.'' Elizabeth graduated with honors from Garfield High School in 
1931. She studied at Los Angeles City College and graduated as a 
political science major from the University of California at Los 
Angeles in 1933. She went on to become one of the first two doctoral 
candidates in UCLA's political science department.
  After World War II, Elizabeth became involved in the first of many 
Congressional campaigns on behalf of her lifelong friend and mentor, 
Congressman Chet Holifield. In 1959, she co-founded one of California's 
first political campaign management firms, Snyder-Smith. Although she 
remained committed to what she believed were the true ideals and 
principles of the Democratic Party, Elizabeth never hesitated in non-
partisan races to support Republicans whom she believed to be best 
qualified to serve in office.
  None of her political activities was more important to Elizabeth than 
her lifelong effort to bring about greater participation by women in 
the political arena. During the 1970s, Elizabeth devoted herself to the 
mentoring of Los Angeles women in politics, holding weekly luncheon 
meetings of The Thursday Group at her Bunker Hill apartment.
  Her dedication to improving our society extended beyond the realm of 
politics. She was especially proud of her work on the prevention of 
fetal alcohol syndrome which culminated in ordinances requiring the 
restaurants and bars to post warnings to women regarding the dangers of 
alcohol consumption during pregnancy. In addition to all her varied 
civic activities, Elizabeth will be remembered fondly by the literally 
thousands of men and women to whom she provided comfort and assistance 
in overcoming the adversities of alcoholism and substance abuse.
  In 1994, she received the prestigious CORO Public Affairs Award in 
recognition of her lifelong commitment to the reform of the American 
system of government in which she so deeply believed. As Elizabeth 
herself once wrote, In the last analysis, the most significant single 
political activity is not winning elections and defeating opponents, it 
is improving, expanding and correcting government structure, so that 
democracy works.
  On behalf of my colleagues in the Senate, I extend my heartfelt 
condolences to her husband, Nathan, and her daughter, United States 
District Judge, Christina A. Snyder.

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