Jane Andrews Hinds

In this interview, Jane Andrews Hinds reflects on her parents’ political experience from the 1940s to the 1970s. As the daughter of Representative George Andrews of Alabama, Hinds describes growing up in a political family, splitting time between Washington and Alabama. She also focuses on the life and political career of her mother, Elizabeth Andrews, who spent decades in Washington as the wife of a Member of Congress who later won a special election to fill her husband’s seat after his death in 1971 during the 92nd Congress (1971–1973). Using historic newspapers and insights from her mother’s diary, Hinds discusses her mother’s motivations to run for Congress, including advice from her friend, Texas Congresswoman Lera Thomas, who had also filled her late husband’s House seat. Andrews became the first woman elected to Congress from Alabama, and found the House a welcoming place as she worked for the remainder of the 92nd Congress on her husband’s appropriation projects.

Throughout the interview, Hinds recalls trips she took with her family across the country and around the world, meeting political figures who knew her father, and the life-long friendships she made with her parents’ congressional staff. Her memories of her mother’s transition from serving in the Congressional Club, an organization for the wives of Representatives, to being a Member of Congress sheds light on the experience of congressional widows—a unique aspect of the story of women in Congress.