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August 02, 2022

Leona Wells, the first-ever female congressional staffer

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Grand Old Partisan honors the first-ever female congressional staffer. Leona Wells deserves better recognition than history has so far accorded her. Yes, she was a Republican.

She was born in St. Clair County, Illinois on August 2nd 1877 and grew up in Iowa, where her father edited a small town newspaper and did various printing projects. Typesetting was her first job. She moved on to be suburban reporter for a newspaper in Des Moines.

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Wells made Cheyenne, Wyoming her home in 1889. The young Republican activist soon cast her first vote in the 'Equality State' and often volunteered as an election precinct clerk. Stenographer for a merchandising company, she doubled as secretary of the Wyoming GOP after her boss, Francis Warren, became party chairman.

In 1900, Warren was elected a U.S. senator and hired Wells at the Committee on Claims, which he chaired. She began working there on January 14, 1901. Her first task was preparing an index of more than fifty thousand pensions and other indemnities dating from the Civil War. Congress awarded her a $500 bonus for this stellar achievement, which would be published and revised annually.

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Wells married Jack McLaughlin, livestock trader for a Chicago company, in November 1901. During recesses, she attended classes at the University of Chicago and later took a law course in Washington, DC.

In 1905, Senator Warren, now Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, made Wells its chief staffer. At the time, the Senate employed some four dozen women, mostly as stenographers and messengers, but she was the only one in a more professional position. Wrote a newspaper, "she became the first woman employee of the Senate to be placed in charge of the affairs of a big committee" and that "every bit of legislation in any way affecting the army... has passed through her hands." She was an "acknowledged expert in matters related to military law and legislation."

By 1911, Wells was Assistant Chief Clerk of the Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Senator Warren. Though entitled to be on the Senate floor, she chose not to, consenting herself with listening and conveying suggestions to her boss from just outside the chamber when bills she had crafted were being debated.

A profile — "Uncle Sam's Highest Paid Woman" — described her as "probably the most envied woman in government service today." With a $4500 annual salary, she made $1000 more than the next-highest paid woman, the Confidential Secretary to the Director of the Mint. For comparison, Senators at the time were paid $7500 per year. The newspaper noted "her good looks, her good temper, her abounding good sense, her genuine joy in her work." Understandably, Wells said she "adores" her job.

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Wells worked a year for another Republican, Patrick Sullivan, appointed to the Senate on the death of Francis Warren in 1929. Her last day of employment was November 30, 1930. She retired to Los Angeles during the 1930s and died there on June 12, 1942 of coronary thrombosis. Her grave is at the Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown, Iowa, residence of her brother's wife. The Wyoming State Tribune eulogized her as "among the most brilliant women Wyoming has produced."

The Hill newspaper published my article about her.

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Here is a Video Version of this article on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IvM_FHs9mto

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Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.

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Each day, Michael Zak's grandoldpartisan YouTube channel and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than sixteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states.

He also wrote the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.

Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.

Buy the book at Amazon

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See www.youtube.com/q?v=IzxKCiXc5Qc for a brief video of a Texas Republican praising Back to Basics for the Republican Party.

"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"

"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Partyis more important to our party now than ever before."

and

"one of the best books I ever read"

Posted at 07:11 AM |

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each day, a video celebrating Republican heroes and heroics
My father, of blessed memory, wrote a book now available on Kindle: Soldier Boy: a Memoir of Life and Death and Survival during WWII

Back to Basics for the Republican Party

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  • "Every precinct committeeman, every candidate and every teacher with a Republican affiliation should read this book and pass it on to another."
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  • “Why is it that we Republicans are so easily outmaneuvered by Democrats?
    Why do Republicans so readily fight among themselves?
    Why is it so difficult for Republicans to advance their policy agenda?
    Here's why."
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  • “The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite.”
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Speech Raves

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  • "Your book is outstanding, and it's nice to have the information come alive during your presentation. You are at once informative and motivating. We've got to get back to basics -- as you say."
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  • “Thank you so much for speaking at the state convention. We received wonderful feedback from everyone in attendance. Everyone was impressed with the depth and breadth of your knowledge, as well as your clear speaking style and sense of humor. You made an outstanding presentation, and we are deeply grateful to you for your efforts.”
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  • Click here for more audience feedback.
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Each day, my Grand Old Partisan blog celebrates more than sixteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics.

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    Michael Zak is a popular speaker to conservative organizations around the nation -- thirty states so far. His message is that Republicans would benefit tremendously from appreciating the heritage of our Grand Old Party.

Book Reviews

  • "Your book is a national treasure.
    I'm always recommending it to people."
  • "Thank you, Michael!!! Every person who calls himself a Republican, and every person who just wants to know the truth. should know your book!!!"
  • "If you're a Republican and love history, this book by my friend Michael Zak is a must read. And if you happen to be looking for a Lincoln/Reagan Day dinner speaker, I highly recommend him."
  • great information on our rich heritage
    "Get a copy of Michael Zak's book, Back to Basics for the Republican Party"
  • "I recommend Back to Basics for the Republican Party to everyone who wants to be educated on the true history of the GOP and America!!!!
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    Anyone who liked the Lincoln movie will love this book. This book is perhaps the best kept secret in all political and history books in America. It is something every politico should read. It puts things into historical perspective like few other books I've read. It challenges conventional through thorough documented history. This is a must read for any student of American history and political science. One regret is that I read the book more than a decade after it was published. It truly is something you feel you missed out on. It is also a book that leaves you wanting to learn more about certain individuals such as Thaddeus Stevens. It's an incredible body of work."
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  • "I am a believer in pro-free market and pro-constitutional rights who recently purchased your book Back to Basics for the Republican Party and have not been able to put it down. It is simply amazing you composed a book in 2003 that hits home on the most serious of topics we face today. I completely agree that we must educate and focus on the original plan as laid out by the founders of our party if we are ever to move forward in a positive direction."
  • Praise from Alaska
    "I purchased your book at our Juneau, Alaska Republican Women's Luncheon last month principally because the title intrigued me. I just finished it, reading the last chapter three times. I wanted to burn the wisdom presented into my brain. Thank you again for all your hard work to research and write your book. Thank you for all you are doing to educate Americans on the incredible truth of the founding of our great country.""Thank you for doing all the research to write this book. As a History/American Studies major, I THOUGHT I knew the difference between Republicans and Democrats, the roles of Lincoln and Stevens and Sumner and Reagan, and the history of our country from the revolutionary war through the civil war. Boy, was I soooo wrong."
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  • It's a fantatic buy!
    “Back to Basics for the Republican Party is very informative and gives you an insight into the history of the party from the early days to the modern day presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. What the author has done is provide a balanced view, giving the reader a fascinating 150-year journey of the Republicans. This book is a REAL political page turner which will open minds to a wealth of knowledge and history which most are not even aware of.
  • “Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan.”
  • “This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!”
  • “Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before.”
  • "one of the best books I ever read"
  • “Your book, Back to Basics for the Republican Party, is most timely during this 2010 pre-election period. It is a message that needs to be emphasized to all grassroots activists. From the precinct, county, district and national levels your respected views need to be heard and read on how to take back our country.”
  • from the first page: “Democrats control most of the media, but they also write most of the history books, thereby controlling what even Republican activists think they know about our Party's glorious heritage.”
  • Click here for more book reviews.