 Iris F. Blitch Papers
Collection DescriptionBiographical NoteIris Faircloth Blitch was born in Normantown, Toombs County, Georgia, on April 25, 1912, to James Louis and Marietta (Ridgdell) Faircloth. The second youngest of eight children, and orphaned at age nine, Blitch was raised by several of her married sisters in Georgia and Maryland. While growing up, her sisters enrolled her in elocution classes which provided Blitch with early training in public speaking. She graduated from high school in Hagerstown, Maryland (1929), where she was living with her sister, Mrs. T.W. Johnson. Upon graduation from high school, Blitch enrolled in summer school at the University of Georgia, but before the term was out, she left to marry Brooks Erwin Blitch in Jacksonville, Florida, on October 11, 1929. Erwin Blitch, who was a pharmacist, owned ACME Pharmacy in Homerville, Georgia, and also owned several thousand acres of timber and farm land. The couple had two children: Betty Ethelyn, born August 11, 1930 and Brooks Erwin, Jr., born November 14, 1934. As a young wife and mother with two young children during the Great Depression, Blitch filled her spare hours in the pursuit of self-education, reading, and writing articles for newspapers, including a weekly feature in the local paper. In 1936 Blitch began participating in the Democratic Party. She was the first woman in the history of Georgia to serve two terms in the State Senate. In 1940, she was defeated by 27 votes in a campaign for the Georgia State Legislature, but was elected to the State Senate in 1946 (serving from 1947 to 1948). In 1948, she was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, and served there until 1950 when she was unsuccessful in a re-election bid. In 1952, she returned to the State Senate serving from 1953 to 1954. She was the Democratic National Committeewoman from Georgia from 1948 to 1956 and was also seated on the 11-person Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee. She served as assistant secretary of the State Democratic Executive Committee from 1946 to 1956, taking the post of acting secretary in 1950. In 1954, after conducting a grass-roots campaign, often accompanied by her son, Brooks, Blitch defeated incumbent Representative William M. Wheeler and became the first woman ever elected from Georgia to serve a full term in the United States Congress. A family friend was quoted as saying, "I told her in the beginning that the only reason she wouldn't win was because God made her a woman. I reckon she just didn't even let that stand in her way." From January 3, 1955 to January 3, 1963, Blitch represented the Eighth Congressional District of Georgia, which at the time was composed of the following counties: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Berrien, Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Clinch, Coffee, Cook, Echols, Glynn, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Lanier, Lowndes, Pierce, Telfair, Ware, and Wayne. During her tenure in Congress Blitch served on the Public Works Committee and its subcommittee of Public Roads, Rivers and Harbors, and Watersheds. Her interest in conservation prompted President John F. Kennedy to appoint her to the National Resources Advisory Council. As a woman participating in politics Blitch garnered much attention. While a member of the Georgia General Assembly she sponsored and fought to pass The Women's Jury Bill, giving women the right to serve on a jury. However, Blitch never regarded herself strictly as a champion of women's rights: "I've never been just a woman's candidate. I feel proud, of course, that women's organizations have backed my campaigns. I also have been provoked by women who complain about political conditions and then refuse to get out and face the voters and see what a politician goes through to get elected." Due to poor health, she was not a candidate for re-election in 1962. After retiring from the U.S. Congress, Blitch became a resident of St. Simons Island, Georgia, until she moved to San Diego, California, in 1988 where she died on August 19, 1993. She is buried in Pinelawn Cemetery, Homerville, Georgia. Scope and ContentThe Iris F. Blitch Papers document her four terms representing Georgia's Eighth District in the United States Congress from 1955 to 1963, and to a lesser extent, her campaigns and personal life. Well-documented throughout the entire collection, particularly in the Legislative Series and the Subject Series, are the issues that were important to Blitch and to the twenty counties that composed the Eighth District, such as agriculture, conservation, and the environment. Bills sponsored or supported by Blitch include: Okefenokee Conservation Bill (secured funding for water conservation and fire protection in and around the swamp); Small-Watershed Bill (allowed the building of small watershed projects with government grants and loans to conserve water for farmers, municipalities, industry, recreation and the conservation of fish and wildlife); Water Pollution Bill; forestry development; anti-subversive activities; improved drug laws; livestock sales; and benefits to beekeepers, among others. The papers provide insight into the political climate for women in the second half of the 1950s and the early 1960s as well as into social mores regarding their participation. As one of only fifteen women members (and the only southerner) in the House of Representatives in 1958, the challenges faced by Blitch and other females in Washington, as well as the public's perceptions, are well-documented throughout the papers, mainly in feature newspaper articles and interviews. Blitch's personal beliefs and opinions of women in government and politics, as well as their roles and responsibilities, are evident in speeches and interviews she gave throughout her career and can be found primarily in both the Subject and Personal Series. Also documented in the papers, particularly in the Subject Series, is Blitch's position on segregation and an integrated society. To a lesser extent, and primarily through correspondence found in the Personal Series, is information relating to her immediate and extended family as well as her fragile health, which ultimately forced her retirement in 1963. Organization and ArrangementThe papers are arranged into six series: I. Legislative Files; II. Subject Files; III. Name Files; IV. Post Office Files; V. Personal Papers; and VI. Campaign Files. Administrative InformationAccess RestrictionsCase mail and Name Series closed. Preferred CitationIris F. Blitch Papers, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia. Processing NotesClippings and thermofax papers have been copied onto bond paper for protection of content. Oversized material and photographs have been separated for preservation purposes. User RestrictionsLibrary acts as "fair use" reproduction agent. Copyright InformationBefore material from collections at the Richard B. Russell Library may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permissions. Persons wishing to quote from materials in the Russell Library collection should consult the Director. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original. Finding Aid PublicationFinding aid prepared on: 2008. Related Materials and SubjectsSubject TermsRelated Collections in this Repository
Richard B. Russell, Jr. Collection Margaret H. (Peg) Blitch Papers Related Collections in Other RepositoriesHelen Bullard Oral History Interview, 1977 July 25, Georgia State University Stella Brunt Osborn Papers, 1916-1992, University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library | ||||||||||||||||||||