Catherine Filene Shouse

Catherine Filene Shouse ( born June 9, 1896 in Boston, † December 14, 1994 in Washington) was an American writer, suffragist and patron of the arts.

Biography

Catherine Filene was the daughter of Albert Lincoln Filene and his wife Therese Because, within the family it was called Kay. Between 1911 and 1913 she attended the Bradford Academy and a year Vassar College. Later she studied philosophy and literature at Wheaton College and Radcliffe College. In 1921, Catherine Filene married the economist Alvin E. Dodd, from the marriage emerged a daughter. 1929, the couple divorced and she married two years later, the former congressman from Kansas, Jouett Shouse († 1968). Catherine Filene Shouse was the first female member of the Democratic National Committee ( 1925) and was from 1929 to 1932 editor of the Woman's National Democratic Committee 's bulletin. In 1929, Shouse founded the Institute of Women's Professional Relations, to enable better or higher education for girls and women. Under Presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan Catherine Shouse worked in the official Commission for the rights of women.

Awards

• Great Federal Cross of Merit
• Presidential Medal of Freedom
• Officier dans l' Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
• Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE )