Influential Democrat touted women’s rights
WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder, a pioneer for women’s and family rights in Congress, has died. She was 82.
Ms. Schroeder’s former press secretary, Andrea Camp, said Ms. Schroeder suffered a stroke recently and died Monday night at a hospital in Celebration, Florida, the city where she had been residing in recent years.
Ms. Schroeder took on the powerful elite with her rapier wit and antics for 24 years, forcing stodgy government institutions to acknowledge women had a role in government.
Her unorthodox methods cost her important committee posts, but Ms. Schroeder said she wasn’t willing to join what she called “the good old boys’ club” just to score political points.
President Joe Biden paid tribute in a statement Tuesday, saying: “On issue after issue, Pat stood up for basic fairness, sensible policy, and women’s equal humanity. The result was a legislative record that changed millions of women’s lives — and men’s lives — for the better.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, said, “Her courage and persistence leave behind an indelible legacy of progress and have inspired countless women in public service to follow in her footsteps.”
Ms. Schroeder was elected to Congress in Colorado in 1972 and became one of its most influential Democrats as she won easy reelection 11 times from her safe district in Denver. Despite her seniority, she was never appointed to head a committee.
Ms. Schroeder helped forge several Democratic majorities before deciding in 1997 it was time to leave. Her parting shot in 1998 was a book titled “24 Years of Housework ... and the Place is Still a Mess. My Life in Politics,” which chronicled her frustration with male domination and the slow pace of change in federal institutions.
Republicans were livid after Ms. Schroeder and others filed an ethics complaint over House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s televised college lecture series, charging that free cable time he received amounted to an illegal gift under House rules. Gingrich became the first speaker reprimanded by Congress.
In 1987, Ms. Schroeder tested the waters for the presidency, mounting a fundraising drive after fellow Coloradan Gary Hart pulled out of the race. She announced three months later that she would not run and said her “tears signify compassion, not weakness.” Her heart was not in it, she said, and she thought fundraising was demeaning.
It was Ms. Schroeder who branded President Ronald Reagan the Teflon president for his ability to avoid blame for major policy decisions, and the name stuck.
A pilot, Ms. Schroeder earned her way through Harvard Law School with her own flying service. She became a professor at Princeton University after leaving Congress.