Winnifred Sprague Mason Huck

Winnifred Mason Huck
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's at-large district
In office November 7, 1922 – March 3, 1923
Preceded by	William E. Mason
Succeeded by	Henry R. Rathbone
Personal details
Born	Winnifred Sprague Mason (1882-09-14)September 14, 1882 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Resting place	Oakwood Cemetery, Waukegan, Illinois, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Other political affiliations	National Woman's Party
Spouse(s)	Robert W. Huck
Relations	William E. Mason (father)
Occupation	Investigative journalist

Winnifred Sprague Huck (née Mason; September 14, 1882 – August 24, 1936) was an American journalist and politician from the state of Illinois who became the third woman to serve in the United States Congress, after Jeannette Rankin and Alice Mary Robertson, the first woman to represent Illinois in Congress, the first woman to win a special election for the United States Congress, and the first mother. She was elected to fill the at-large seat of her father, Representative William Ernest Mason, after his death.

Life and career

Huck was born Winnifred Sprague Mason in Chicago, Illinois, and attended public schools in Chicago and in Washington, D.C. She worked as her father's secretary.

Huck was elected as a Republican to the 67th United States Congress by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her father. She served a partial term from November 7, 1922 to March 3, 1923, a term which overlapped with the one-day term of the first woman in the U.S. Senate Rebecca Felton. Unlike most first-term Representatives, she introduced several bills.

She was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination to the 68th Congress in 1922, and an unsuccessful candidate for nomination for a special election (February 27, 1923) to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative James Mann. After her term she joined the National Woman's Party.

She later became an investigative journalist, and exposed abuses in the prison system.

Huck died in Chicago, and her ashes were interred in Oakwood Cemetery, in Waukegan, Illinois.

Gallery

• 

  Huck in 1921

See also

• History of the United States Republican Party
• Women in the United States House of Representatives

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by William E. Mason	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's at-large congressional district November 7, 1922 – March 3, 1923	Succeeded by Henry Riggs Rathbone

67th

Senate: ▌M. McCormick (R) · ▌W. McKinley (R)

House: ▌J. Cannon (R) ▌J. Mann (R) ▌W. Rodenberg (R) ▌M. Madden (R) ▌C. Fuller (R) ▌A. Sabath (D) ▌I. Copley (R) ▌J. McKenzie (R) ▌F. Britten (R) ▌W. Mason (R) ▌E. Denison (R) ▌E. King (R) ▌L. Wheeler (R) ▌T. Williams (R) ▌W. Graham (R) ▌C. Ireland (R) ▌J. Rainey (D) ▌E. Brooks (R) ▌C. Chindblom (R) ▌R. Yates Jr. (R) ▌F. Funk (R) ▌J. Gorman (R) ▌S. Kunz (D) ▌M. A. Michaelson (R) ▌A. Moore (R) ▌G. Shaw (R) ▌E. Sproul (R) ▌W. Mason Huck (R)