Oveta Culp Hobby

Oveta Culp Hobby (January 19, 1905 – August 16, 1995) was the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, first director of the Women's Army Corps, and a chairperson of the board of the Houston Post.

Oveta Culp Hobby
1st United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
In office
April 11, 1953 – July 13, 1955
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byHerself (Federal Security Agency Administrator)
Succeeded byMarion B. Folsom
Administrator of the Federal Security Agency
In office
January 20, 1953 – April 11, 1953
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byOscar Ewing
Succeeded byHerself (Health, Education and Welfare Secretary)
Personal details
Born
Oveta Culp

(1905-01-19)January 19, 1905
Killeen, Texas, U.S.
DiedAugust 16, 1995(1995-08-16) (aged 90)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (Before 1953)
Republican (1953–1995)
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 1931; died 1964)
Children2, including William Jr.
EducationUniversity of Mary Hardin
South Texas College of Law
University of Texas at Austin
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1941–1945
Rank Colonel
CommandsWomen's Army Auxiliary Corps (later the Women's Army Corps)
Battles/warsWorld War II
Awards Army Distinguished Service Medal
Hobby (right) during World War II

Early life

Culp was born on January 19, 1905, in Killeen, Texas, to Texas lawyer and legislator Isaac William Culp and Emma Elizabeth Hoover. She briefly attended Mary Hardin Baylor College for Women, and attended law classes at South Texas College of Law and Commerce. She did not graduate from either school. She went on to study law at the University of Texas Law School,[1] but she did not formally enroll and therefore never received a degree.[2] Starting at age 21, for several years she served as parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives and was an unsuccessful candidate for the legislature in 1930[3] before beginning a journalism career in 1931, at age 26.

War service
Oveta Culp Hobby is sworn in as the first WAAC by Maj. Gen. Myron C. Cramer. General George C.Marshall, second from left, and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson were witnesses of the ceremony.

During World War II, Hobby headed the Women's Interest Section in the War Department's Bureau of Public Relations[4] for a short time and then became the director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) (later the Women's Army Corps [WAC]), which was created to fill gaps in the Army left by a shortage of men. She was commissioned a colonel in the U.S. Army on 5 July 1943.[4] The members of the WAC were the first women other than nurses to wear U.S. Army uniforms and to receive military benefits through the GI Bill. Hobby devoted herself to integrating the WAC within the military, despite considering women's military involvement a temporary necessity, and worked to protect and strengthen the WAC and its image. As director, she raised admission standards and created a Code of Conduct specific to the WAC to create a tightly regulated, high quality organization that portrayed women's corps in a good light. These standards, along with actions to guard the morals and image of members, developed from Hobby's prior experience with publicity and knowledge of the importance of media representation.[5] Hobby achieved the rank of colonel and received the Distinguished Service Medal for efforts during the war. She was the first woman in the Army to receive this award.

Oveta Culp Hobby, first director of the Women's Army Corps

Political career

President Dwight D. Eisenhower named her head of the Federal Security Agency, a non-cabinet post, and she was invited to sit in on cabinet meetings. Soon, on April 11, 1953, she became the first secretary, and first female secretary, of the new Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which later became the Department of Health and Human Services.[6] This was her second time organizing a new government agency. Among other decisions and actions at HEW, she made the decision to approve Jonas Salk's polio vaccine.

Culp attempted to restructure Social Security payroll taxes (FICA and SECA), and was met with strong opposition. She resigned her post in 1955. At the time of her resignation she was embroiled in controversies related to the polio vaccine Cutter Incident. Back in Houston, Hobby resumed her position with the Houston Post as president and editor and cared for her ailing husband. She went on to serve on many boards and advisory positions with various civic and business institutions around the country. Seventeen colleges and universities, including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, awarded her honorary doctoral degrees. She was the first woman who was considered for a United States presidential candidacy by an incumbent United States President; Eisenhower encouraged her to run for president in 1960, but she did not run.[7]

Colonel Hobby's portrait in military uniform at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Personal life and family

In 1931, she married former Governor of Texas William P. Hobby, editor and future owner of the Houston Post, and took a position on the editorial staff at the Post.[5] They had two children together. In ensuing years she became the newspaper's executive vice president, then its president, ultimately becoming its publisher and co-owner with her husband. In 1938, upon becoming vice president of the newspaper, she gave greater prominence to women's news.[1]

Hobby and her husband were both Southern Democrats, but soon became dissatisfied with the party throughout the 1930s. They believed Franklin D. Roosevelt's social programs overextended their original intent. After World War II, Hobby tried to sway Democratic voters to swing Republican for presidential nominees by establishing many statewide organizations.[5]

She died of a stroke in 1995, in Houston, and was buried at Glenwood Cemetery.

Her son William P. Hobby, Jr., served as Lieutenant Governor of Texas from 1973 to 1991. Her daughter Jessica was married to Henry E. Catto, Jr., the former United States Ambassador to Great Britain and was an activist for environmental causes and for the Democratic Party. Hobby's grandson Paul Hobby narrowly lost the election for comptroller of Texas to Carole Strayhorn in the 1998 general election.

Legacy
  • The library at Central Texas College is named after her.
  • A residence dormitory at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, is named after her.
  • The Oveta Culp Hobby Soldier & Family Readiness Center at Fort Hood, Texas is named for her.
  • An elementary school in Killeen, Texas (Killeen ISD) is named after her.
  • The U.S. Post Office issued an 84-cent stamp in her honor in 2011.
  • A building on the grounds of the Peaceable Kingdom (Children's Retreat Center) in Killeen Texas is named after her.
  • A Department of Health, Education and Welfare Service award was named in her honor to recognize superior devotion to duty.[8]
  • In 1996, Hobby was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[9]

Sources
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See also
  • List of female United States Cabinet Secretaries
  • Hutchison, Kay Bailey. "Women's History Month: "Oveta Culp Hobby"". Humanities Texas. Humanities Texas.

References
  1. "Oveta Culp Hobby | Humanities Texas". www.humanitiestexas.org. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  2. Winegarten, Debra L. (2014). Oveta Culp Hobby: Colonel, Cabinet Member, Philanthropist. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 12. ISBN 9780292758100. OCLC 872569551.
  3. HOBBY, WILLIAM P. (2010-06-15). "HOBBY, OVETA CULP". tshaonline.org. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  4. Morden, Bettie J. (1990). "The Women's Army Corps, 1945-1978 - U.S. Army Center of Military History". history.army.mil. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  5. Meyer, Leisa D. (1996). Creating GI Jane: Sexuality and Power in the Women's Army Corps During World War II. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231101455.
  6. Pennington, Reina; Higham, Robin (2003). Amazons to Fighter Pilots: A Biographical Dictionary of Military Women. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 201. ISBN 9780313291975.
  7. Smith, Jean Edward (2012). Eisenhower in War and Peace. New York: Random House. ISBN 9781400066933.
  8. "Tucsonian Honored For Indian Work. Tucson Daily Citizen (Tucson, Arizona) April 13, 1962, p 18". Tucson Daily Citizen. 1962-04-13. p. 18. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  9. "Hobby, Oveta Culp". National Women’s Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Erich von Manstein		 Cover of Time
17 January 1944		 Succeeded by
Jimmy Durante
Political offices
Preceded by
Oscar Ewing		 Administrator of the Federal Security Agency
1953		 Succeeded by
Herself
as United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
Preceded by
Herself
as Administrator of the Federal Security Agency		 United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
1953–1955		 Succeeded by
Marion Folsom

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.

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