Louise Slaughter
Dorothy Louise Slaughter (née McIntosh, August 14, 1929 – March 16, 2018) was an American politician elected to 16 terms as a United States Representative from New York, serving from 1987 until her death in 2018. She served as the Dean of the New York Congressional Delegation for the last few terms as Congresswoman before her death.
Louise Slaughter
David Dreier
30th district (1987–1993)
28th district (1993–2013)
25th district (2013–2018)
Thomas A. Hanna
March 16, 2018 (aged 88)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
3
Slaughter was born in Lynch, Kentucky. She studied microbiology and public health at the University of Kentucky, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees. After moving to New York and becoming involved in politics as a member of the Democratic Party, she was elected to a seat in the New York State Assembly in 1982 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986. Slaughter represented Rochester and most of surrounding Monroe County; she represented the 30th District from 1987 to 1993, the 28th District from 1993 to 2013, and the 25th district from 2013 until her death, often serving as the only microbiologist in Congress.
Slaughter served as Chair of the House Rules Committee from 2007 until 2011, and as ranking minority member of the Committee from 2005 to 2007, and from 2011 until her death.[1] Slaughter was the lead House sponsor of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which became law in 2008. Along with Senator Joe Biden she co-sponsored the Violence Against Women Act. At the time of her death, Slaughter was the oldest sitting member of Congress and the last sitting member born in the 1920s.[2]
Early life, education, and early career[edit]
Slaughter was born Dorothy Louise McIntosh on August 14, 1929, in Lynch, Kentucky, a coal mining town built by a subsidiary of U.S. Steel. She was the daughter of Daisy Grace (née Byers; 1903–1987)[3] and Oscar Lewis McIntosh (1901–1987),[4] a blacksmith for a coal mine.[5] She had two brothers, Philip and David, as well as two sisters, Marjorie and Virginia. Her sister Virginia died of pneumonia while she was a child; Slaughter later cited this as her reason for earning degrees in microbiology and public health.[6] The family moved to Monticello, Kentucky, in Wayne County, and Slaughter graduated from Somerset High School, in adjoining Pulaski County.
Slaughter graduated from high school and enrolled at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, where she studied microbiology. Inspired by the loss of her sister to pneumonia when they were children,[7] she earned a bachelor's degree in bacteriology and went on to earn a master's degree in public health, also from the University of Kentucky.[8] Her master's thesis focused on the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, completed in 1954. After graduate school, Slaughter went to work for Procter & Gamble in New York doing market research.[9]
Early political career[edit]
Already involved in community groups like the scouts and the League of Women Voters, Slaughter became increasingly concerned with local political and community issues. She was involved in a local environmental group, the Perinton Greenlands Association, which promoted recycling and opposed development of Hart's Woods. Slaughter decided to run for the Monroe County Legislature, winning on her third try. In 1975, while in the county legislature, she accepted an offer from then-New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo to serve as his regional coordinator in the Rochester area. When Cuomo was elected lieutenant governor in 1979, Slaughter stayed on as his Rochester regional coordinator.[10]
In 1982, local Democratic supporters approached Slaughter with a desire to see her run to represent the 130th District in the New York State Assembly against the Republican incumbent, Thomas A. Hanna. Slaughter challenged Hanna, and she won with 52 percent of the vote.[11] In 1984, she ran for reelection against the Republican and Conservative parties' candidate Donald S. Milton.[12] She was re-elected with 55 percent of the vote.[12] Slaughter sat in the 185th and 186th New York State Legislatures.[10]