Editing Nellie Tayloe Ross

{{Short description|American politician (1876–1977)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2012}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Nellie Tayloe Ross
| image               = Nellie Tayloe Ross.jpg
| caption             = Ross, c. 1922
| office              = 28th [[Director of the United States Mint]]
| president           = [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]<br />[[Harry S. Truman]]<br />[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]
| term_start          = May 3, 1933
| term_end            = April 1953
| predecessor         = [[Robert J. Grant]]
| successor           = [[William H. Brett]]
| office1             = 14th [[List of governors of Wyoming|Governor of Wyoming]]
| term_start1         = January 5, 1925
| term_end1           = January 3, 1927
| predecessor1        = [[Frank Lucas (Wyoming politician)|Frank Lucas]]
| successor1          = [[Frank Emerson]]
| birth_name          = Nellie Davis Tayloe
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1876|11|29}}
| birth_place         = [[St. Joseph, Missouri]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1977|12|19|1876|11|29}}}}
| death_place         = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[William B. Ross]]|September 11, 1902|October 2, 1924|end=died}}
| children            = 3
| relatives           = [[Nellie Tayloe Sanders]] (great-granddaughter)
| office5             = First Lady of [[Wyoming]]
| term5               = January 1, 1923 – October 2, 1924
| predecessor5        = [[Ida Mason Christy]] ''(1919)''
| successor5          = [[Ina Belle Craven]]
}}
'''Nellie Davis Ross''' (née '''Tayloe'''; November 29, 1876 – December 19, 1977) was an American educator and politician who served as the [[List of governors of Wyoming|14th governor of Wyoming]] from 1925 to 1927, and as the 28th and first female director of the [[United States Mint]] from 1933 to 1953. She was the first [[List of female governors in the United States|woman to serve as governor]] of a [[U.S. state]], and remains the only woman to have served as governor of [[Wyoming]].<ref name="loc">{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec10.html|title=Today in History|publisher=The Library of Congress |access-date=July 27, 2012}}</ref> She was a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] and supported [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]].

Ross was born in [[St. Joseph, Missouri]],<ref name="NTRB">{{cite web | title = Nellie Tayloe Ross Biography | publisher = Made In Wyoming | date = June 2, 2014 | url = http://www.madeinwyoming.net/profiles/extras/NellieTayloeRossbiography.pdf }}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> to James Wynns Tayloe, a native of [[Tennessee]], and Elizabeth Blair Green, who owned a [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] on the [[Missouri River]]. Her family moved to [[Miltonvale, Kansas]] in 1884, and she graduated from Miltonvale High School in 1892. She attended a teacher-training college for two years and taught kindergarten for four years.

On September 11, 1902, Ross married [[William B. Ross]], whom she had met when visiting relatives in Tennessee in 1900. William B. Ross was [[List of governors of Wyoming|governor of Wyoming]] from 1923 to his death on October 2, 1924. Ross succeeded her husband's successor [[Frank Lucas (Wyoming politician)|Frank Lucas]] as governor when she won the [[Wyoming gubernatorial special election, 1924|special election]], becoming the first female American governor on January 5, 1925. She was a staunch supporter of [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] during the 1920s. She lost [[1926 Wyoming gubernatorial election|re-election in 1926]], but remained an active member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]].

In 1933, Ross became the first female [[Director of the United States Mint]]. Despite initial mistrust, she forged a strong bond with [[Mary Margaret O'Reilly]], the assistant director of the Mint and one of the United States' highest-ranking female civil servants of her time. Ross served five terms as Director, retiring in 1953. During her later years, she wrote for various women's magazines and traveled. Ross died in Washington, D. C., at the age of 101.

== Early life and education ==
Born Nellie Davis Tayloe in [[St. Joseph, Missouri]],<ref name="NTRB" /> Ross was the sixth child, and first daughter, of James Wynns Tayloe, a native of [[Stewart County, Tennessee]], and his wife, Elizabeth Blair Green, who owned a plantation on the [[Missouri River]].{{sfn|Scheer|2005|p=2}} She spent much of her childhood in the [[Florence, Alabama|Florence]] and [[Decatur, Alabama|Decatur]] in northern [[Alabama]]'s [[Tennessee Valley]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=1928-04-27 |title=Former Alabamian Is Mentioned For Vice Presidency |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99234024/former-alabamian-is-mentioned-for-vice-p/ |work=The Birmingham News |location=Birmingham, Alabama |access-date=2022-04-06}}</ref> In 1884, when Ross was seven years of age, her family moved to [[Miltonvale, Kansas|Miltonvale]] in [[Cloud County, Kansas|Cloud County]] in northern [[Kansas]]. This relocation happened after her father's old family home back in St. Joseph burned, and the [[sheriff]] was about to [[foreclosure|foreclose]] on the property.{{sfn|Scheer|2005|p=2}}

After Ross graduated from Miltonville High School in 1892, her family moved to [[Omaha, Nebraska]]. During this time, she taught private piano lessons and attended a two-year training program for kindergarten teachers that was sponsored by the Omaha city school system.{{sfn|Scheer|2005|pp=23, 224–25}} She then taught [[kindergarten]] for four years.{{sfn|Scheer|2005|p=36}} Two of her brothers sent her on a trip to Europe in 1896.<ref name="NTRB" />

While on a visit to her relatives in [[Dover, Tennessee]], in 1900, Ross met [[William B. Ross|William Bradford Ross]], whom she married on September 11, 1902. They had three children (twins James Ambrose and George Taylor, and Alfred Duff).<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42001177/casper_startribune/ |title=Gov. W. B. Ross Answers Call |date=2 October 1924 |work=Casper Star-Tribune |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110010901/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42001177/casper_startribune/ |archive-date=10 January 2020 |url-status=live |page=4 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Benheim|first1=Max|title=Women of the West; a series of biographical sketches of living eminent women in the eleven western states of the United States of America|date=1928|pages=214–15|isbn=}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> William Ross practiced law and planned to live in the [[American West]]. He moved to [[Cheyenne, Wyoming|Cheyenne]] and established a law practice, bringing his wife to join him. Ross became a leader in Wyoming's [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] served as [[Laramie County, Wyoming|Laramie County]]'s prosecuting attorney from 1906 to 1907. In 1910 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Wyoming's at-large congressional seat, and in 1918 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor.

== Governorship of Wyoming ==
In 1922, William Ross was elected governor of Wyoming by appealing to progressive voters in both parties. However, after little more than a year and a half in office, he died on October 2, 1924, from surgical complications following an [[appendectomy]]. The Democratic Party then nominated his widow, Nellie, to run for governor in a [[Wyoming gubernatorial special election, 1924|special election]] the following month.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wyoming Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_wyoming/col2-content/main-content-list/title_ross_nellie.html|work=Former Governors' Bios|publisher=National Governor's Association|access-date=January 20, 2014|archive-date=February 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180214073432/https://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_wyoming/col2-content/main-content-list/title_ross_nellie.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Nellie Ross refused to campaign.  She won the November 4, 1924, election with 43,323 votes (55.12%) against her opponent's 35,275 votes (44.88%). On January 5, 1925, she became the first female governor in the history of the United States.<ref name=loc /> As governor she continued her husband's policies, which called for tax cuts, government assistance for poor farmers, banking reform, and laws protecting children, women workers, and [[miner]]s. She urged Wyoming to ratify a pending federal amendment prohibiting [[child labor]]. Like her husband, she advocated the strengthening of prohibition laws.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/ambition-nellie-tayloe-ross|title=The Ambition of Nellie Tayloe Ross|last=Rea|first=Tom|date=2014-11-08|website=WyoHistory.org|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027232037/https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/ambition-nellie-tayloe-ross|archive-date=2018-10-27|url-status=live|access-date=2018-10-27}}</ref>

Ross ran for [[Wyoming gubernatorial election, 1926|re-election in 1926]], and relied on campaign surrogates including [[Cecilia Hennel Hendricks]], the Democratic nominee for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, but was narrowly defeated by [[Frank Emerson]]. She attributed her loss in part to her refusal to campaign for herself and support for prohibition. She remained active in the Democratic Party and campaigned for [[Al Smith]] in the 1928 presidential election, even though the two disagreed on prohibition. At the [[1928 Democratic National Convention]], she received 33 votes from eleven states for vice president on the first ballot. She also gave a speech seconding Smith's nomination. After the convention, she served as vice chairman of the [[Democratic National Committee]] and as director of the DNC Women's Division.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uwyo.edu/lawlib/libraryinfo/displaycase/nellietayloeross.html |title=Nellie Tayloe Ross: The First Woman Governor – Law Library – University of Wyoming |website=www.uwyo.edu |access-date=January 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106051722/http://www.uwyo.edu/lawlib/libraryinfo/displaycase/nellietayloeross.html |archive-date=January 6, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_wyoming/col2-content/main-content-list/title_ross_nellie.default.html |title=Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross |website=www.nga.org |access-date=January 5, 2018 |archive-date=January 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105123056/https://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_wyoming/col2-content/main-content-list/title_ross_nellie.default.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Director of U.S. Mint ==
[[File:Nellie Tayloe Ross medal.png|thumb|Ross, as seen on her Mint medal designed by Chief Engraver [[John R. Sinnock]]]]

=== Appointment by FDR ===
U.S. President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt]] appointed Ross as director of the U.S. Mint on May 3, 1933, making her the first woman to hold that position.{{sfn|Burdette|2014|p=30}} Ross and the Mint's Assistant Director [[Mary Margaret O'Reilly]], "the Sweetheart of the Treasury" who had worked at the Mint since 1904, had mutual suspicions to overcome.{{sfn|Scheer|2005|p=182}}<ref name="sweet">{{cite news |title=Sweetheart Of The Treasury |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F11F93D5F1B7A93C5A9178AD95F4C8385F9  |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 7, 1938 }}{{subscription required}}</ref> Ross, who had endured poor relations with [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] and others on FDR's campaign, did not trust the career staff. O'Reilly saw another political appointee with no experience at the Mint Bureau replacing [[Robert J. Grant]], who had been [[Denver Mint]] superintendent before his directorship.{{sfn|Scheer|2005|p=182}} After a brief period, the two women came to appreciate each other's merits.{{sfn|Scheer|2005|p=183}}

=== Tenure ===
Ross and O'Reilly soon came to the usual division of labor between director and assistant: the director would handle public affairs and make policy decisions as needed, while the assistant dealt with the day-to-day business of the bureau. Ross undertook a heavy travel schedule, visiting Mint facilities, making speeches backing Roosevelt, and campaigning for Democratic candidates in Wyoming. This left O'Reilly running the Washington office as acting director. The two women carried on a businesslike but warm correspondence during these times, with O'Reilly writing to Ross (who had embarked on a tour of the mints) "I am so anxious to have your mind at ease about the office here [in Washington] that I have resorted to rather frequent telegrams.  They are so much more direct and up to date than letters&nbsp;... my love to you and every good wish for the success of your visits to our beloved mint institutions."{{sfn|Scheer|2005|pp=183–84}} Teva J. Scheer, biographer of Ross, suggests that O'Reilly would have found Ross's reports from the field valuable; they showed how the Mint recovered from the initial years of the Depression, when relatively few coins were produced, to the mid-1930s, when strong demand for coinage led the bureau to run the mints with two or even three shifts.{{sfn|Scheer|2005|pp=176, 184}}

=== O'Reilly's retirement ===
In 1935, O'Reilly reached the mandatory federal retirement age of 70. Ross requested that President Roosevelt exempt O'Reilly from mandatory retirement because her knowledge of bureau affairs was so extensive and was badly needed. A special order of President Roosevelt gave O'Reilly an extra year in the Mint Service. During the extension, Ross hired Frank Leland Howard of the [[University of Virginia]], who had a background in accounting, as O'Reilly's prospective replacement. Howard replaced O'Reilly when she retired on October 29, 1938, after two more extensions.{{sfn|Burdette|2014|pp=32–33}}

=== Legacy ===
Ross' tenure saw the Mint in 1944 investigate how several [[1933 double eagle]]s, never officially released, had come onto the market.{{sfn|Burdette|2014|p=33}} She is known for establishing the [[Franklin half dollar]] and starting the making of [[proof coin]]s for public sale.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kansaspublicradio.org/blog/kpr-staff/female-firsts-april-24-2015|title=Female Firsts – April 24, 2015|date=April 24, 2015}}</ref> Ross served five full terms until her retirement in 1953 and was succeeded by [[William H. Brett]], whom President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] nominated in 1954.<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituaries: William H. Brett, 95, Former Mint Director|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/13/obituaries/william-h-brett-95-former-mint-director.html|access-date=October 14, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=April 13, 1989}}</ref>

== Later years and death ==
After her retirement, Ross contributed articles to various women's magazines and traveled extensively. She made her last trip to Wyoming in 1972 at the age of 96. Five years later, she died in Washington, D.C., at the age of 101; at the time of her death, she was the oldest ex-governor in the United States. She is interred in the family plot in Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne.<ref name="wyo">{{cite web|url=https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/finding-nellie/article_a9bd7246-6e7a-531a-b57a-cc53c1601b2c.html|title=Finding Nellie|work=Wyoming Tribune Eagle|first=Jodi|last=Rogstad|date=May 18, 2005|access-date=December 27, 2021 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of female governors in the United States]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite journal
|last = Burdette
|first = Roger
|journal = Journal of Numismatic Research
|publisher = Seneca Mill Press LLC
|title = The Women Who Ran the Mint
|date = Winter 2014
|pages = 4–56
}}
* {{cite book
|title = Governor Lady: The Life and Times of Nellie Tayloe Ross
|last = Scheer
|first=Teva J.
|publisher=University of Missouri Press
|date=2005
|isbn=978-0-8262-1626-7
|url=https://archive.org/details/governorladylife00sche_0
|url-access = registration
}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv317842 Nellie Tayloe Ross Papers] at the [[American Heritage Center]]
* {{Find a Grave|905}}
* [http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675036430_casting-of-government-gold-into-bars_United-States-Mint_gold-bars_employees Historic film footage of Nellie Tayloe Ross, Director of US Mint, and staff overseeing first gold shipment from Philadelphia US Mint to Fort Knox, January 1937.]

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Governor of Wyoming]]|years=[[1924 Wyoming gubernatorial special election|1924]], [[1926 Wyoming gubernatorial election|1926]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Leslie A. Miller]]}}
|-
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Frank Lucas (Wyoming politician)|Frank Lucas]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of Wyoming]]|years=1925–1927}}
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{{s-gov}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Director of the United States Mint]]|years=1933–1953}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William H. Brett]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Governors of Wyoming}}
{{USMintDirectors}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Nellie Tayloe}}
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:1977 deaths]]
[[Category:American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:Democratic Party governors of Wyoming]]
[[Category:Directors of the United States Mint]]
[[Category:Female candidates for Vice President of the United States]]
[[Category:First ladies and gentlemen of Wyoming]]
[[Category:People from Cloud County, Kansas]]
[[Category:Politicians from St. Joseph, Missouri]]
[[Category:Women in Wyoming politics]]
[[Category:Women state governors of the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century American women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:American women centenarians]]
[[Category:Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel]]
[[Category:Truman administration personnel]]
[[Category:Eisenhower administration personnel]]
[[Category:American temperance activists]]
[[Category:First women governors]]