The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 322, Ed. 1 Sunday, March 27, 2011 Page: 4 of 24
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The Baytown Sun
Viewpoints
Sunday
March 27, 2011
Paying tribute to trailblazing Texas women
For more than two decades,
Americans have celebrated the
month of March as Women’s
History Month to give special
tribute to the historical achieve-
ments and contributions of
women to society.
At a time of such uncertainty
in our country and turmoil
unfolding around the world, we.
now more than ever, should look
to our heroes and heroines from
the past and present, and find
strength and inspiration from
their life stories. And the stories
of our women have inspired
countless people throughout the
years. The rich - fabric of our
state and our country' has been
woven by generations of coura-
geous women who continually
made history as they broke
down barriers, redefined w hat is
possible, and left future genera-
tions with a greater country than
the one they had known.
As I reflect on the current
challenges facing Americans in
the 21 st Century, a couple of
trailblazing American women
with Texas
roots immedi-
ately come to
my mind:
Oveta Culp
Hobby and
Anne Arm-
strong.
Oveta Culp
Hobby did not
write (or talk)
much about herself and discour-
aged others from writing any
biographies or articles about her.
I had the honor of knowing her
because she gave me the first
break in my career.
After graduating from UT law
school in 1967, as one of the 13
women in a 390 person class. I
discovered that the major law
firms in Texas were not hiring
female lawyers, so one day, on a
whim. I dropped by the local
NBC TV affiliate in Houston. I
met w ith the news director who
eventually ended up offering me
a job after he was encouraged to
do so by the Chairman of the
Board, Oveta Culp Hobby, who
Pi
f 1
KAY BAILEY
HUTCHISON
was intrigued by the idea of hav-
ing a female lawyer on the air.
. A native of Killeen, Texas,
Oveta broke barriers throughout
her life. As CEO of a major
media organization, she turned a
daily newspaper into a multime-
dia corporation* with television
and radio interests. She was also
a leader in promoting and oper-
ating the women’s effort in
World War II. a precursor to
women being integrated into the
armed services. She later
became the first Secretary of the
Department of Health.
Education and Welfare.
Oveta accomplished so much
in. a single lifetime, clearly tak-
ing many bold steps along the
way.
In 1971, as a reporter for
KPRC-TV, 1 had the chance to
interview Anne Armstrong, a
Texan who had just won the co-
chairmanship of the Republican
National Committee. Before I
knew it, I was moving to
Washington. DC, to be her press
secretary and learned more in
six months working for her than
I ever could have imagined
Anne set a wonderful example
of all the things a woman could
do if she set her mind to it
After graduating from Vassar,
Anne married Tobin Armstrong
and moved to a cattle ranch in S
Texas. She got her start ill poli-
tics campaigning dooMo-door
for Eisenhower. Following her
time as co-chair of the RNC. she
was appointed White House
Counsel to President Nixon and
President Gerald Ford named
her the first woman to represent
America as Ambassador to
Great Britain.
Anne and Oveta, both great
Texas women, blazed a trail that
generations of great Texas
women had begun decades ago,
as far back as the Texas
Revolution.
Thomas Rusk. Secretary of
War during the Texas
Revolution and later one of
Texas’ first U.S. Senators, wrote
about the early Texas women,
"the men of Texas deserved
much credit, but more was due
the women. Armed men facing a
foe could not but be brave; but
the women, with their little chil-
dren around them, without
means of defense or power to
resist, faced danger and death
with unflinching courage.”
One of our state's first histori-
ans, Mary Austin Holley, notes
the enterprising women settlers
in Texas. She wrote, “these hardy
women hunted with their hus-
bands and rode long distances on
horseback to attend social events
with their ball gowns stuffed in
their saddlebags."
Although some basic free-
doms such as voting and owning
property were not afforded to
earlier generations of American
women, the fierce independence
and entrepreneurial spirit
demonstrated by even the earli-
est female settlers is a legacy
that has been carried on by each
generation of heroines that have
followed.
Kay Bailey Hutchison is the
senior U.S. Senator front Texas.
you think the U.S. is prepared for a nuclear
nt mishap? _
To Vote go to www.baytownsun.com
and click your answer!
Answers in next Sunday’s edition!
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Is school funding a state
problem or a local
school district issue?
State 53%
Local 44%
Not sure 2%
Janet Napolitano,’!"fhe border is bett® now than it ever has been."
March 27 is the 86th day of the
year in the Gregorian calendar.
There are 279 days remaining
until the end of the year.
In 1794. the United States
Government establishes a per-
manent navy and authorizes the
building of six frigates.
In 1794, the Denmark and
Sw'eden form a neutrality com-
pact.
In 1814, War of 1812: In cen-
tral Alabama, U.S. forces under
General Andrew Jackson defeat
the Creek at the Battle of
I lorscshoe Bend.
In 1836, Texas Revolution:
Goliad massacre Antonio
Lopez de Santa Anna orders
the Mexican army to kill about
400 Texas POWs at Goliad.
Texas.
TODAY IN HISTORY
In 1846. Mexican-American
War: Siege of Fort Texas.
In 1886, Famous Apache war-
rior, Geronimo. surrenders to the
U.S. Army, ending the main
phase of the Apache Wars.
In 1964. the Good Friday
Earthquake, the most powerful
earthquake in U.S. history at a
magnitude of 9.2 strikes South
Central Alaska, killing 125
people and inflicting massive
damage to the city of
’Anchorage.
In 1975. construction of the
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
begins.
In 1977, Tenerife airport disas-
ter: Two Boeing 747 airliners
collide on a foggy runway on
Tenerife in the Canary Islands,
killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and
335 on Pan Am). 61 survived on
the Pan Am flight.
In 1998, the Food and Drug
Administration approves Viagra
for use as a treatment for male
impotence, the first pill to be
approved for this condition in
the United States.
In 2000, a Phillips Petroleum
plant explosion in Pasadena,
Texas kills 1 and injures 71.
There’s hope for better schools — if Congress helps
Unless Congress blows it, the
United States has the best chance
ever to finally make its public
education system world class.
There’s widespread awareness
— not just among education
reformers, but employers and
ordinary people that
American schools are second-
rate by international standards
and that it’s .dangerous to the
nation’s economic health and
national security.
President Ronald Reagan’s
administration first warned in
1983 that we were “A Nation at
Risk - that, unless reformed,
U.S. education would undermine
America’s competitive position
in the world.
The message is finally getting
through, and there are encourag-
ing signs of positive action. The
danger is that
Congress will
stifle the
progress just as
it’s achieving
liftoff,
Specifically,
an unholy
alliance — like-
ly, an unde-
clared one —
could develop
between Tea Party Republicans
bent on slashing education fund-
ing and dismantling the U.S.
Department of Education, and
Democrats influenced by teach-
ers unions who want to dilute
federal accountability standards.
Republicans’ budgets for this
fiscal year propose damaging
cuts in school improvement
funding and college student aid
MORTON
KONDRACKE
and eliminating the
AmeriCorps program, which
supplies poverty schools with
volunteer tutors.
What’s more, it’s not clear that
Congress will pass a rewrite of
President George W. Bush's
reformist No Child Left Behind
law this year, designed to
improve its testing, accountabili-
ty and school-turnaround poli-
cies.
All this would undercut signif-
icant forward movement on
reform both awareness of the
need and actual progress toward
improvement. Surveys of
employers show they can’t find
workers with the skills they
need. An Education Next poll
last year showed that only 18
percent of Americans would
give U.S. public schools an A or
B grade.
Test results show they have it
right. Only 30 percent of high
school graduates are proficient in
math and reading. The latest
Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development
International Assessment report
ranked the United States 14th out
of 34 developed countries in
reading skills and 17th in science.
The America’s Promise
Alliance, founded by Gen. Colin
Powell, attracted massive pub-
licity with its alert two years ago
that a third of all high school stu-
dents — and 50 percent of
minority students — don’t grad-
uate on time, with 7,000 a day
argument for
investment in education and
reform, yet House Republicans
dropping out.
It’s a powerful
are bent on cutting school
improvement grants from $546
million to $200 million.
They’d also eliminate federal
literacy programs and cut Pell
Grants for college students by 24
percent — at a time when half of
new jobs require post-secondary
training and the U.S. has fallen
from first to ninth in the world in
college completion.
There’s no question that the
government is deep in debt, but
part of the way to get out —- as
Obama rightly says — is to “out-
edueate” the rest of the world, as
America once did..
A popular movement is under
way to do so again. Congress
would not be doing the country a
service by stifling it.
Morton Kondracke is execu-
tive editor of Roll Call.
Barack Obama
President
202-456-ITtl
Fax; 202-456-3461
presidert(a>
whitehousagev
JoeBkfen.
Vioe President
202 456-2324
Fax: 202-456-2461
vicepresident@
whtehousegn/
Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Senator
202-224-6922
713-653-3456
Fax: 202-224-0776
fax 713-209-3469
lutchison.senate.
gcvfemalhtm
JohnCornyn.
Senator
202-224 2934
713-572-3337
Fax 202-228-2856
Fax 713-572-3777
conynsenate.
garfeortacb
ndexhtml
Flick Perry. Gcxemor
Ron Paul, Dist 14 Rep.
800-843-5789
202-2252831
800-252-9600
979-2850231
Fax 32-463-1849
wwwhousagcvTal
Ted Poe. Del 2 Rep.
Gene Green, Del 29
866-4256666
Rep.
866-447012
202-2251688
wwwhousegarpoe
713-3300761
28F42005Q2
wwwhousagcwgreen
HOW IX) REACH US
Janie Gray, Publisher
janie.gray@baytownsun.com
Angie Pagel, Advertising Director
angie.pagel@baytownsun.com
Carla Torres
Managing Editor
carla.torres@baytownsun.com
Sandy Denson, Business Mgr.
sandy.denson@baytownsun.com
Joshua Hart, Circulation Manager
joshua.hart@baytownsun.com
NEWSROOM
sunnews@bc^ownsun.com
WRITE TO US
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FRED HARTMAN
Publisher Emeritus
1930-1974
EDITORIAL
BOARD
JANIE GRAY
Edftor/Pu Wisher
Angie Pagel
Advertising Director
Carla Torres
Managing Editor
Adam Yanelll
News Editor
Jim Finley
Former Managing Editor
M.A. Bengtson
Community member
Jay Eshbach
Community member
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Gray, Janie. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 322, Ed. 1 Sunday, March 27, 2011, newspaper, March 27, 2011; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1029063/m1/4/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.