Bella Abzug
Bella Abzug speaking at a New York City Rally in 1976. The podium's stickers read "Equal Rights Amendment Now" and "Carter Remember the Women."
Copyright © Diana Mara Henry / dianamarahenry.com
Bella was "born yelling" in 1920. A daughter of Russian immigrants, she grew up poor in the Bronx. By the age of thirteen, she was already giving her first speeches and defying convention at her family's synagogue. At tuition free Hunter College, Bella was student body president, and on scholarship at Columbia she was one of only a minuscule number of women law students across the nation.
Bella Abzug explains her view of feminism as "a vision of what we love."
Courtesy of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University.
Abzug then worked as a lawyer for the next twenty five years, specializing in labor and tenants’ rights, and civil rights and liberties cases. During the McCarthy era she was one of the few attorneys willing to fight against the House Un-American Activities Committee. While she ran her own practice, she was also raising two daughters together with her husband Martin.
Bella Abzug discusses the gender gap at a National Women's Political Caucus Convention, 1984.
Courtesy of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University.
In the 1960’s, Abzug helped start the nationwide Women Strike For Peace (WSP), in response to U.S.and Soviet nuclear testing, and soon became an important voice against the Vietnam War.
Bella Abzug speaks to the huge crowd gathered for the March for Women's Lives in Washington D.C., 1986.
Courtesy of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University.
At the age of 50, Abzug ran for congress in Manhattan and won on a strong feminist and peace platform. She quickly became a nationally known legislator, one of only 12 women in the House. Her record of accomplishments in Congress continually demonstrated her unshakable convictions as an anti-war activist and as a fighter for social and economic justice.
After three terms in Congress, Abzug gave up her seat in 1976 to run for an all male Senate, but lost the democratic primary by less than one percent. In an increasingly conservative political climate, Abzug also lost later bids for city mayor and for Congress.
In 1977, she presided over the historic first National Women's Conference in Houston. She then headed President Carter's National Advisory Committee on Women until she was abruptly fired for criticizing the administration's economic policies in 1979.
In response, Abzug founded Women USA, a grassroots political action organization. At the same time, she was playing a major role at the UN International Women's Conferences, practicing law, publishing and lecturing. In 1986 she suffered the loss of her greatest supporter, her husband Martin.
In 1990, Bella moved on to co-found the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), an international activist and advocacy network. As WEDO president, Abzug became an influential leader at the United Nations and at UN world conferences, working to empower women around the globe.
Abzug gave her final public speech before the UN in March of 1998, and died soon after, at the age of 77. Her death is still being mourned in this country and around the world.
Live and Let Live Meat Market
"Sometimes I'm asked when I became a feminist, and I usually answer, 'The day I was born.' If I was born a rebel, I attribute it to my family heritage. My father, Emanuel Savitzky, fled to the United States from Czarist Russia when the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 broke out. He hated war. Once he told me how depressed he felt when America entered World War I. While President Wilson was proclaiming his 14-point peace settlement, my father painted his own one-point peace plank outside his butcher shop on Ninth Avenue in Manhattan. He renamed it 'The Live and Let Live Meat Market.'
"My father did not do very well in business: 'Live and Let Live' is not exactly a formula for commercial success. An extraordinarily sweet-tempered man, his real love was music. On Friday nights, after the big traditional Sabbath meal, he would sing Yiddish and Russian folk songs for us in his fine tenor. My sister, Helena, would play the piano. I scraped bravely away at the violin. (An interviewer once asked my mother what she thought of my political career. 'Oh. I knew Bella would be a success,' she said, 'because she always did her homework and practiced her violin.'"
Notes:
- Entire quote from Bella Abzug, "Bella on Bella," Moment, vol. 1.7 (1976) 26.
An Early Blow for Liberation
Even as a little girl, Bella was attuned to inequality in her religious heritage. "We were a religious family. My grandfather went to the synagogue twice a day, and whenever I wasn't in school, he took me along. I learned to recite the solemn Hebrew prayers like such a wizard that he always made it a point to show me off to his friends.... It was during these visits to the synagogue that I think I had my first thoughts as a feminist rebel. I didn't like the fact that women were consigned to the back rows of the balcony."
When her father died Bella was only 12. Although the custom of saying Kaddish is traditionally reserved for sons, she stood by herself in synagogue each day for a year to say the mourning prayer. "In retrospect, I describe that as one of the early blows for the liberation of Jewish women. But in fact, no one could have stopped me from performing the duty traditionally reserved for a son, from honoring the man who had taught me to love peace, who had educated me in Jewish values. So it was lucky that no one ever tried."
Notes:
- "We were a religious family..." quote from Bella Abzug, Bella!: Ms. Abzug Goes to Washington, Mel Ziegler, ed (New York : Saturday Review Press, 1972) 85.
- "When my father's weak heart..." quote from Bella Abzug, "Bella on Bella," Moment, vol. 1.7 (1976) 26-7.
Five Cents on the Subway
"When I was young, it wasn't easy to challenge the traditions of Harvard Law School. When I was ten, I had decided that I wanted to be a lawyer, and at the all-women Walton High School and at Hunter College I had been elected student body president, good training for the law. Everyone told me that if I wanted to be accepted as a lawyer, I should go to the best law school, but when I applied to Harvard, I received a letter stating that it did not admit women.
"In 1942 only 3 percent of the nation's lawyers were women. I was outraged (I've always had a decent sense of outrage), so I turned to my mother. In those days there was no women's movement, so you turned to your mother for help. 'Why do you want to go to Harvard, anyway?' she asked. 'It's far away and you can't afford the carfare. Go to Columbia University. They'll probably give you a scholarship, and it's only five cents to get there on the subway.'
Columbia did give me a scholarship, the subway did cost only five cents in those days, and that's how I became an advocate of low-cost public transportation."
Notes:
- Entire quote from Bella Abzug, Gender Gap: Bella Abzug's Guide to Political Power for American Women, with Mim Kelber (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1984) 158-9.
An Unconventional Courtship
Bella Abzug discusses her family to students at Kingsborough Community College, 1985.
Courtesy of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University.
"While I was at Columbia, my future husband, Martin Abzug, courted me in an unconventional manner. He typed my term papers while I studied in the library, and before we married we had long discussions about who would do what. It was agreed that I would work at my legal career even after we had children... Our informal understanding of respect for each other's work has endured throughout our marriage…"
Bella Savitsky met Martin Abzug in 1942 while on vacation in Florida. But it was back in New York that he won her heart, not only with his typing, but with his deep respect for her and the role she hoped to play in the world. Martin and Bella raised two children—Eve Gail, born in 1949, and Isobel Jo (Liz), born in 1952. While Bella practiced law, Martin wrote novels and worked as a stockbroker. Together they weathered a pervasive hostility against families with working mothers.
Over the years, Bella pointed repeatedly to Martin's support as her crucial foundation in a hostile world. And as she later liked to say, "I think he even voted for me."
Notes:
- "While I was at Columbia..." quote from Bella Abzug, Gender Gap: Bella Abzug's Guide to Political Power forAmerican Women, with Mim Kelber (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1984) 159.
Mississippi Bus Station
"I became involved in my first civil rights case [as chief counsel of appeals proceedings in 1950]. The man I defended—Willie McGee—was accused of raping a white woman, even though he and the woman had had a long-standing sexual relationship. That fact, of course, only made the crime all the more heinous to the Mississippi jury, and McGee was sentenced to death. Challenging the traditional practice of excluding blacks from the jury and arguing that Southern judges and juries reserved the death penalty for 'rape' as a cruel and inhuman punishment for blacks only, I managed to get the Supreme Court to stay the execution twice."
Yet the Supreme Court refused to rule on the case, and McGee's execution date approached once again. In the final few days, Abzug traveled to Jackson, Mississippi for a last minute clemency hearing. Local whites were incensed and had been threatening violence throughout the trials and appeals. When she arrived in town she found that no hotel would take her. Alone, and also pregnant, Abzug spent the night awake in the locked bathroom stall of a bus station to avoid the Ku Klux Klan.
The next day Abzug argued before the state Governor for six hours, but despite extensive publicity and protests organized by the Civil Rights Congress, McGee was executed in 1951.
Notes:
- "I became involved in my first civil rights case..." quote from Bella Abzug, Bella! : Ms. Abzug Goes to Washington, Mel Ziegler, ed (New York : Saturday Review Press, 1972) 86.
- On the McGee trial and Abzug in Mississippi see Papers of the Civil Rights Congress: microfilm collection part 1, reels 10-11, Willie McGee clippings and fact sheets, Jessica Mitford, A Fine Old Conflict (New York: Knopf, 1977), Sarah Hart Brown, Standing Against Dragons: Three Southern Lawyers in an Era of Fear (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1998), Liz and Eve Abzug, Speeches, "Celebrating Bella," Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, New York, 13 March 1999 and Blanche Weisen Cook, "Bella Abzug," Jewish Women In America, vol. 1, eds. Paula E. Hyman and Deborah Dash Moore (New York : Routledge, 1997) 7-8.
Women Across the Country
"It all started when the Soviet Union and the United States resumed nuclear testing. Almost overnight [in 1961], women across the country, I among them, began to protest. We founded Women Strike for Peace… Calling for a ban on the bomb, we warned of the danger of radioactive contamination in our children's milk resulting from nuclear test fallout....We held one demonstration after another at the UN and at the White House, and we lobbied in Congress. I served as both political action director and legislative director for WSP.
"In 1963 the limited nuclear test ban treaty gave us a limited victory. Testing of hydrogen bombs in the atmosphere was outlawed. But underground testing continued... and the arms race just continued to mount and mount."
WSP's peace work, "flowed naturally into the campaign to get U.S. troops out of Vietnam," and Abzug was active both nationally—lobbying and leading WSP delegations to Washington—and locally. In Manhattan, she organized peace action committees and built coalitions among "the peace movement, liberal Democrats and Republicans, women's groups, poor people, blacks and other minorities, and young people" to pressure candidates to adopt anti-Vietnam stances. Abzug continued her influential political work for peace throughout the sixties, until finally, in 1970, she decided to run for office herself.
Notes:
- "It all started..." quote, first two paragraphs, and "the peace movement, liberal..." quote, third paragraph, both from Bella Abzug, Bella! : Ms. Abzug Goes to Washington, Mel Ziegler, ed (New York : Saturday Review Press, 1972) 86-7.
- "flowed naturally" quote from Bella Abzug, Gender Gap: Bella Abzug's Guide to Political Power for American Women, with Mim Kelber (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1984) 160.
Passionate Politics
Tossing aside the conventional advice that newcomers ought to keep quiet, Congresswoman Abzug was an outspoken advocate and activist from the start. On just her first day in office, she introduced a resolution demanding a set date for withdrawal from Vietnam. With her passionate politics and famous hats, the charismatic Abzug immediately captured the nation's attention. But with that fame often came a furious backlash, and many in the press claimed she was too "irritating" and "brash," too unwomanly to be effective.
Abzug's reputation inside Congress was an entirely different story. "Without a doubt, the hardest working Member," she was always prepared on the issues. She built strong coalitions and developed "brilliant, effective—and winning" strategies, particularly through her mastery of the arcane Rules of the House. Abzug won even her staunchest enemies respect with her dedication and determination. By her third term, she had become one of the most powerful members of the House, and was voted third more influential Congressperson by her colleagues- behind only Speaker Carl Albert and Majority Whip Tip O'Neill.
Notes:
- "Without a doubt..." quote from Tip O’Neill, "Special Order Tributes to Bella Abzug," Congressional Record, 94th Congress, Second Session, Vol. 122, 30 Sept. 1976, no. 150, part III, 34267–72.
- "brilliant, effective—and winning" quote from Herman Badillo, "Special Order Tribute."
- US News and World Report vote for Abzug as third most influential Congresswoman cited in "Congresswoman Bella S. Abzug," Personal Bio from Administrative Files, Sept. 1976, Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
Congress's Hardest Working Member
Bella Abzug describes her own experiences with Nixon's corrupt practices during a speech at Cooper Union, 1972.
Courtesy of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University.
A leader of the women's movement, Abzug was a vigilant sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment and continually struggled to pass legislation on issues like childcare and abortion. She succeeded in pushing through a number of feminist amendments and bills including the Equal Credit Act, providing women with fair access to consumer credit, Title IX regulations, and the enforcing equal opportunity for women in federally funded educational institutions. Abzug was also one of the founders of the National Women's Political Caucus.
When she was not fighting for an end to the Vietnam War or for women's rights, Abzug was making other important contributions. A committed environmentalist, she co-authored the Water Pollution Act of 1972, and was a staunch supporter of affordable public transportation. She called for freedom for Soviet Jewry, supported aid to Israel, and led the fight to condemn the UN General Assembly's 1975 resolution equating "Zionism with Racism." In 1974, Abzug introduced the first Federal bill to support gay and lesbian civil rights. She co-authored the groundbreaking Freedom of Information Act as well as other landmark legislation to guard against Federal agencies' abuse of power. She was also the first to call for the impeachment of President Nixon. And in her six years as Congresswoman, she brought a total of almost 6 billion dollars in funding to New York state.
Notes:
- For more information on Abzug's work in Congress, see "Major Legislative Accomplishments 1971-1976," Abzug Scrapbook, Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
The Spirit of Houston
Bella Abzug explains woman power for a documentary, 1975.
On November 18, 1977, 20,000 women, men and children gathered in Houston to witness an unprecedented event: the first federally-funded National Women's Conference.
Over the course of three days, a diverse group of 2,000 delegates ratified a National Plan of Action dealing with everything from the Equal Rights Amendment to Civil Rights to disarmament. This set of recommendations was then presented to the White House and to Congress.
Two years earlier, Abzug had paved the way for the conference by authoring a bill which provided its funding. With a 5 million dollar budget (less than a nickel for each female in the country), regional meetings were then held in each state to choose delegates and to vote on potential planks for inclusion in the National Plan.
Because the bill which created the "Spirit of Houston" event mandated "special emphasis on the representation of low-income women, members of diverse racial, ethnic, and religious groups, and women of all ages," a large portion of funding was spent on grants enabling women to attend. The result was one of the few truly representative national gatherings in U.S. history.
Notes:
- For more on the conference see United States National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, The Spirit of Houston: The First National Women's Conference: An Official Report to the President, the Congress and the People of the United Stated (Washington: National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, 1978) 9-12.
- On the conference's diversity, see Gloria Steinem, Speech, "Celebrating Bella," Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, New York, 13 March 1999 and Lindsy Van Gelder, "Four Days That Changed the World," Ms., March, 1978.
WEDO
Bella Abzug discusses why she formed WEDO (Women's Environment and Development Organization.
Courtesy of Women's Environment and Development Organization.
Bella Abzug discusses international feminism at a meeting of the National Organization of Women.
Courtesy of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University.
"Concerned about a rising incidence of environmental calamities around the world," Abzug came together with an international group of activists to form WEDO in 1990. That year she was shocked to find that documents for the upcoming United Nations "Earth Summit" made no connection between protecting the planet and empowering women. In response, WEDO created the first World Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet where, in 1991, 1,500 women from 83 developed and developing countries met to create their own agenda. WEDO then organized a strong caucus of women advocates at the Earth Summit itself, successfully ensuring that the official documents included key segments of the women’s agenda.
Demanding that the UN no longer function without "a strong voice for women," WEDO then began organizing the Women’s Caucus and preparing documents for every UN meeting. And while WEDO continued to push for commitments on paper, it also vigilantly monitored governments on their actions. As Abzug often said, "We’ve had a lot of words on equality. Now we want the music, which is action." From the Beijing World Conference on Women to co-sponsoring the First World Conference on Breast Cancer, WEDO, with Bella’s leadership, became a powerful international network, working on both global and grassroots levels to empower women.
Notes:
- "Concerned about a rising incidence..." quote from Bella Abzug, Undated, Untitled Article for the Latin American Alliance, <http://www.latinsynergy.org/unifem2.htm>.
- "a strong voice for women..." quote and general information from Bella Abzug, "Proposed Text to be Printed in Colloquy Highlights—Women’s Empowerment: the United Nation’s Role, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia Education Fund," in Abzug file at WEDO, 6 May 1995.
- "We’ve had a lot of words on equality. Now want the music, which is action," quoted in "A Battalion of Bellas," New Yorker 4 September 1995 <www.wedo.org>.
For more info see WEDO News and Views vol. 11, no 2 "Special Memorial Issue," June 1998, 2-13.
Passing the Torch
Bella Abzug talks about women being on the frontlines of activism.
Courtesy of Women's Environment and Development Organization.
Tributes to Abzug included an unprecedented memorial meeting in the UN General Assembly chamber. There Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, pledged to ensure that the doors Bella had opened would, "remain open from this day forth. Bella's legacy shall endure."
At Abzug's funeral, Geraldine Ferraro phrased it another way— "She didn't knock politely on the door. She didn't even push it open or batter it down. She took it off the hinges forever."
Remembrances from both friends and enemies filled the press. Hillary Clinton told of women around the world introducing themselves as, "the Bella Abzug of Russia, or... the Bella Abzug of Uganda," while her husband commented that, "Our society is more just and compassionate," because Abzug, "lived and worked among us.
In Kenya, Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement, memorialized Bella as "a pioneer" who, "dared to walk into the unknown..." In the U.S., Gloria Steinem remembered her as not just, "the woman who fought the revolution. She was the woman we want to be after the revolution." And many recalled one often repeated quote: "In a perfectly just republic," wrote John Kenneth Galbraith in 1984, "Bella Abzug would be president."
Notes:
- Kofi Annan, President Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Wangari Maathai all quoted in WEDO News and Views vol. 11, no 2 "Special Memorial Issue," June 1998, 2-13.
- Steinem and Ferraro quotes from Verena Dobnik, "Bella Abzug Remembered," Associated Press 3 April 1998 <http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/abzug0331.html>.
- John Kenneth Galbraith quoted on book jacket of Bella Abzug, Gender Gap: Bella Abzug's Guide to Political Power for American Women, with Mim Kelber (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1984).
Timeline
Born in the Bronx, New York on July 24 to Esther (Tanklefsky) and Emanuel Savitsky
Father dies; defies convention at their Orthodox synagogue by saying Kaddish for him
Graduates with degree in Political Science from Hunter College
Marries Martin Abzug; they have two children: Eve and Liz
Graduates from Columbia Law School where she was an editor of Columbia Law Review
Begins twenty-five years of practicing law, specializing in labor law, tenants rights, civil rights and civil liberties cases
Fights for an appeal for Willie McGee, an African-American man from Mississippi sentenced to death on false charges of raping a white woman
Helps found the nationwide organization Women Strike For Peace
Wins election to Congress representing Manhattan's 19th Congressional District; serves for three terms as a highly effective and nationally known representative
Co-founds the National Women’s Political Caucus
Publishes Bella!: Ms. Abzug Goes to Washington, a diary of her first year in office
Returns to Congress after difficult re-election campaign
Plays important role at the first United Nations’ Decade of Women conference as well as at both succeeding conferences
Gives up Congressional seat to run for all-male Senate; loses democratic primary race by one percent
Presides over first National Women's Conference; loses close race for New York City mayor
Appointed co-chair of President Carter's National Advisory Committee on Women
Fired by President Carter from co-chair position for criticizing administration; co-founds Women USA
Resumes private law practice
Husband Martin dies; defeated in bid for Congress in Westchester County, NY
Co-founds the international Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and serves as president
Plays leading role at milestone United Nation's Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing
WEDO co-sponsors the First World Conference on Breast Cancer
Dies of complications following heart surgery in New York City on March 31st at age 77
Bibliography
Abzug, Bella. "Abortion: The Right to Choose." Dimensions. March 1972. 6.
——. Abzug at a conference for the National Organization of Women. Audiotape. Bella Abzug papers, Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia U, New York.
——. Abzug at a National Women's Political Caucus Convention. Rec. 17 July 1984. Audiotape. Bella Abzug papers, Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia U, New York.
——. Abzug giving a speech in San Francisco during the Regan years. Audiotape. Bella Abzug papers, Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia U, New York.
——. Abzug speaking at Columbia University about Women in Politics. Audiotape. Bella Abzug papers, Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia U, New York.
——. Abzug speaking at Cooper Union just before a presidential election. Rec. 1972. Audiotape. Bella Abzug papers, Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia U, New York.
——. Abzug speaking at the March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. Rec. 9 March 1986. Audiotape. Bella Abzug papers, Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia U, New York.
——. Abzug speaking to students at Kingsborough Community College. Rec. 1985. Audiotape. Bella Abzug papers, Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia U, New York.
——. Bella! : Ms. Abzug Goes to Washington. Mel Ziegler, ed. New York : Saturday Review Press, 1972.
——. "Bella on Bella." Moment. Vol. 1.7 (1976):26-9.
——. "Breast Cancer and Genetic Testing," Jewish Women Coalition on Breast Cancer, 25 September 1997, Emanuel Synagogue, West Hartford, Connecticut.
——. "Contract with Women of the USA." Womansword, May 1996: <www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/poli/bel.htm> (Full text of contract at www.centerwomenpolicy.org/programs/contract/)
——. "Did You See A Revolution Go By? Part 3: An Interview with Bella Abzug." Nickel Review, no issue number or date: 15-7, clipping in Bella Abzug Papers Columbia University.
——. "The Equal Rights Amendment Statement of Congresswoman Abzug." 6 Oct. 1971. Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
——. "Final Words." World Conference on Breast Cancer. Kingston, Ontario, Canada. 13 July 1997 <http://www.pacifica.org/programs/breast>
——. Gender Gap: Bella Abzug's Guide to Political Power for American Women. With Mim Kelber. Boston : Houghton Mifflin 1984.
——. "How to Carry Out Effective Nonpartisan Pressure and Influence Political Decisions." Ts. Women Strike for Peace Papers, Peace Collection, Swarthmore College.
——. "Hurricane Bella Heads for Washington." Interview with Memo, nd. Women Strike for Peace Papers, Peace Collection, Swarthmore College.
——. "I'll Take Manhattan." Rolling Stone 6 October 1977: 54-7.
——. "In Our Time." Ts. Women Strike for Peace Papers, Peace Collection, Swarthmore College.
——. "Interview with Earth Negotiations Bulletin." 7 September 1995. <http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/4wcw/bella.html>
——, "Keynote Address at American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession, Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, Chicago, Illinois, 6 August 1995.
——. "Memo III: Meet the President." Ts. Women Strike for Peace Papers, Peace Collection, Swarthmore College.
——. "Martin, What Should I Do Now?" Ms.; July-Aug. 1990: 94-6.
——. Opening Ceremony Remarks at the World Conference on Breast Cancer, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, July 13, 1997.
——. Opening Plenary Remarks at the World Conference on Breast Cancer, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, July 13, 1997.
——. "Plenary Speech." Fourth World Conference On Women. Beijing, China . 12 Sept. 1995 <http://gos.sbc.edu/a/abzug.html>
——. "Proposed Text to be Printed in Colloquy Highlights -- Women's Empowerment: the United Nation's Role, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia Education Fund," in Abzug file at WEDO. 6 May 1995.
——. Remarks at Forty-Second Session of UN Commission on Status of Women. 16 March 1998 <www.wedo.org>
——. Remarks at International Public Hearing at World Conference on Breast Cancer. Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 17 July 1997.
——. "Remarks Introducing Resolution for Investigation of FBI." House of Representatives, 7 April 1971. FBI folder, Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
——. Remarks at National Women's Political Caucus, Nashville, Tennessee, 5 August 1995.
——. Remarks at The Nation Forum on the 60's, 1 May 1997.
——. Remarks at Public Hearing on Women Health and the Environment. San Francisco, California, 11 August 1995.
——. Remarks at World Summit on Social Development Copenhagen, March 8, 1995.
——. "A Report on the 41st Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women." Womansword 2.4: <http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/wword/ww11.htm>.
——. "A Summary of Progress Since the 1994 UN Conference on Women." Rio+5 Forum. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 13 March 1997: <www.ecouncil.ac.cr/realmedia2/abzug2.htm>.
——. Transcript of Oral History Recording for "Women of Achievement" Series, William E. Wiener Oral History Library of the American Jewish Committee, housed at the New York Public Library, New York. 20 May 1983.
——. Undated, Untitled Article for the Latin American Alliance <http://www.latinsynergy.org/unifem2.htm>.
——. "Woman Energy." True to Ourselves: A Celebration of Women Making a Difference. Ed. Nancy M. Neuman. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998. 45-57.
——. "Women in Elective Office." Feminism in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present. New York : Vintage Books, 1994. 393-398.
——. "Womanpower! A New American Doctrine." Redbook February 1976: 34-5.
Abzug, Liz and Eve Abzug. Speeches. "Celebrating Bella," Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, New York, 13 March 1999.
Abzug, Liz. "Speech to National Women's Political Caucus." San Francisco, California, 2 July 1999.
Antler, Joyce. The Journey Home: Jewish Women and the American Century. New York: The Free Press, 1997.
Albert, Carl. Letter to Bella Abzug. 5 October 1972. Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
"A Battalion of Bellas." New Yorker 4 September 1995 <www.wedo.org>.
Beck, Carl. Contempt of Congress: a Study of the Prosecutions Initiated by the Committee on Un-American Activities, 1945-1957. New Orleans : Hauser Press, 1959.
"Bella Abzug." U\XL, Biographies. U\XL, 1996. <www.galegroup.com/library/resrcs/womenhst/abzugb.htm>.
"Bella Abzug." Personal Bio from Administrative Files. Nd. Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
Bella Express September 1977, campaign newsletter in Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
"Bella on the Issues." 1977 Mayorial Campaign Material. Nd. Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
"Bella Wins." Memo, nd. Women Strike for PeacePapers, Peace Collection, Swarthmore College.
"Biography: Bella S. Abzug, Member of Congress, New York,19th C.D." Personal Bio from Administrative Files. Nd. Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
Bracker, Milton. "4 More Witnesses Defy House Group onLinks to Reds." New York Times 17 Aug 1955: 1+.
Broner, E.M. The Telling. New York: HarperCollins,1993.
Brown, Sarah Hart. Standing Against Dragons: ThreeSouthern Lawyers in an Era of Fear. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1998.
Burstein, Patricia. "The Full-Throttle, High Decibel Life of Bella Abzug." People 1975: 8-10.
Cockburn, Alexander and James Ridgeway. "Abzug For Mayor." Village Voice 6 Sept. 1977.
"Congresswoman Bella S. Abzug." Personal Bio from Administrative Files. Sept. 1976. Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
"Congresswoman Bella Abzug's Record: Support of Israel and the Rights of Soviet Jewry." Position Paper. 2 August 1976. Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
Cook, Blanche Weisen. "Bella Abzug." Jewish Women In America. Vol. 1. Eds. Paula E. Hyman and Deborah Dash Moore. New York : Routledge, 1997. 6-10.
Dobnik, Verena. "Bella Abzug Remembered." Associated Press. 3 April 1998 <http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/abzug0331.html>.
Farber, Doris. Bella Abzug. New York : Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1976.
Goodman, Ellen. "They Don't Make 'em Like Bella Anymore." Boston Globe. <http://members.aol.com/kayko531/bella.htm>.
Goodman, Walter. The Committee: the Extraordinary Career of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1968.
If Women Had a Foreign Policy: 6 Strategists Answer a Very New Question." Ms. March 1985: 45-9
Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri. Changing Differences: Women and the Shaping of American Foreign Policy, 1917-1994. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 1995.
Kelber, Mim. "The Case for Bella: Let the Voters Decide." Village Voice 6 April 1972. No page number, clipping in Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
Klein, Joe. "Every Little Breeze Seems to Whisper Bella." 20 October 1970. 6. No newspaper name, clipping in Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
Lederer, Edith. "Bell's Legacy: Bella Abzug Left Global Vision of Women's Equality" Associated Press <www.wedo.org>
Levine, Suzanne and Harriet Lyons, eds. The Decade of Women: A Ms. History of the Seventies In Words and Pictures. New York: Putnam, 1980.
MacPherson, Myra. "Bella Abzug, Champion of Women." Washington Post 2 April 1998: B1.
"Major Legislative Accomplishments 1971-1976." Abzug Scrapbook. Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
Mitford, Jessica. A Fine Old Conflict. New York: Knopf, 1977.
National Organization for Women. "Chronology Of The Equal Rights Amendment 1923-1996." <www.now.org/issues/economic/cea/history.html#1975>.
Nies, Judith. "The Abzug Campaign." Ms. Feb. 1973: 76-9+.
"Now Women Talk Back." Life 9 June 1972: 46-50.
Olert, Chris. "Former Congresswoman Bella Abzug Dead at 77." Associated Press 31 March 1998 <www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/top/033198/topstory_28176_noframes.html>.
Papers of the Civil Rights Congress: microfilm collection part 1, reels 10-11, Willie McGee clippings and fact sheets.
Pomerantz, Charlotte, ed. A Quarter-Century of Un-Americana, 1938-1963. New York: Marzani & Munsell, 1963.
Popham, John N. "Mississippi Arrests 41 at Capitol as Willie McGee Plea is Studied," New York Times 6 May 1951: 1+.
Popham, John N. "McGee Dies in Mississippi Chair; Final Plea to Justice Vinson Vain." New York Times 8 May 1951: 1+.
Raymond, Harry. Save Willie McGee. New York : New Century Publishers, 1951.
"She Wages a Zany Fight for a Seat in Congress." The National Observer. 19 October 1970. No page number, clipping in Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
Special Memorial Issue: Bella Abzug. Spec. issue of WEDO News and Views vol. 11, no 2 June 1998.
"Special Order Tributes to Bella Abzug." Congressional Record. 94th Congress, Second Session, Vol. 122, 30 Sept. 1976, no. 150, part III. 34267 -- 72.
Steinem, Gloria. "Bella Abzug." Ms. Jan.-Feb. 1996: 63-4.
Steinem, Gloria. Speech. "Celebrating Bella," Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, New York, 13 March 1999.
Swerdlow, Amy. "Ladies' Day at the Capitol: Women Strike for Peace Versus HUAC." Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History. Eds. Vicki L. Ruiz and Ellen Carol DuBois. New York: Routledge, 1994. 479-96.
Swerdlow, Amy. "'State of the Congress' Message by our Woman in Washington or Bella Gives 'Em Hell." Memo, nd. Women Strike for Peace Papers, Peace Collection, Swarthmore College.
Swerdlow, Amy. Women Strike for Peace : Traditional Motherhood and Radical Politics in the 1960s. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Taylor, Ethel Barol. We Made a Difference: My Personal Journey with Women Strike for Peace. Philadelphia, PA: Camino Books, 1998.
The Last Decade. Produced by Prudence Hill for the Women's Environment and Development Organization.
"There Are Only 12 of Us in Congress." Interview. Asbury Park Sunday Press 5 March 1972. No page number, clipping in Bella Abzug Papers, Columbia University.
Trussell, C.P. "27 Entertainers Face Red Inquiry." New York Times 11 Aug 1955: 1+.
"Twenty Years Later Activists Relive Spirit of Houston." WEDO News and Views vol. 11, no 2 January 1998. 5-6.
United States National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. American Women on the Move! Washington: National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, 1977.
United States National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. The Spirit of Houston: The First National Women's Conference: An Official Report to the President, the Congress and the People of the United States. Washington: National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, 1978.
United States National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. "... to form a more perfect union ...": Justice for American Women : Report of the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. Washington : Dept. of State, 1976.
Van Gelder, Lindsy. "Four Days That Changed the World," Ms. March 1978. 52-56+.
Weinberg, Nancy and Pauline Jennings. "Bella S. Abzug: Democratic Representative from New York." Citizens Look at Congress. Washington, D.C. : Grossman Publishers, 1972.
"Women, Globalization and Beijing." Democracy NOW! Pacifica Radio. 2 March 1998 <>
Woman alive!, Introduction. WNET/13 New York, 1975.
For Other Articles consulted on McGee Case, see: Daily Worker: 21 July 1950; 27 July 1950; 6 May 1951. New York Times: 20 July 1950: 27; 23 July 1950: 60; 25 July 1950: 23; 26 July 1950: 50; 27 July 1950: 48; 16 Jan; 1951: 33; 18 Jan; 1951: 10; 9 Mar; 1951: 22; 14 Mar; 1951: 68; 16 Mar; 1951: 23 21 Mar; 1951: 19; 27 Mar; 1951: 20; 30 Mar; 1951: 15; 10 Apr; 1951: 25; 14 Apr; 1951: 14; 26 Apr; 1951: 20; 13 May, 1951: IV:2.
she is a great speeker to the world and everybody still loves her.
Abzug gave her final public speech before the UN in March of 1998, and died soon after, at the age of 77. Her death is still being mourned in this country and around the world ....just not by 'Americans'.