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From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues

Granahan, Kathryn Elizabeth O’Hay (1894-1979)

Democrat Kathryn Granahan of Pennsylvania served in the U.S. House of Representatives from November 6, 1956 to January 3, 1963. Following the death of her husband, Congressman William Granahan, Kathryn Granahan succeeded him as Democratic leader of Philadelphia’s 52nd Ward and became the party’s nominee to complete his term. She won two elections on the same day, one to fill the vacancy and the other to a full term. While in Congress, Granahan worked to eliminate obscenity in literature and in movies, arguing that it contributed to juvenile delinquency and had ill effects on everyone. She was chief sponsor of bills that required mandatory jail sentences for operating a pornographic mail order business and that strengthened the Post Office’s power to impound mail addressed to people suspected of mailing pornographic materials. She also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to issue clear guidelines defining pornography.

When Pennsylvania lost a House seat following the 1960 census, Democratic Party leaders decided to sacrifice Granahan’s seat, and she retired. Appointed treasurer of the United States by President John F. Kennedy, she served from 1963 to 1966.

Born in Easton, Pennsylvania, Kathryn Granahan attended Mount St. Joseph Collegiate Institute. She was supervisor of public assistance in the Pennsylvania state auditor general’s office from 1940 to 1943.

See also: Congress, Women in

References: Engelbarts, Women in the United States Congress, 1917-1972 (1974); Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, Women in Congress, 1917-1990 (1991).

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"Granahan, Kathryn Elizabeth O’Hay (1894-1979)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, edited by Suzanne O’Dea, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0396.
APA 7th
Granahan, Kathryn Elizabeth O’Hay (1894-1979). From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, In S. O’Dea (Ed.), Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0396.
CMOS 17th
"Granahan, Kathryn Elizabeth O’Hay (1894-1979)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, Edited by Suzanne O’Dea. Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0396.