Ruth Thompson

Ruth Thompson, Pocket Congressional Directory, 84th Congress

Ruth Thompson (September 15, 1887 - April 5, 1970) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Thompson was born in Whitehall, Michigan and attended the public schools. She graduated from Muskegon Business College of nearby Muskegon in 1905, and became a lawyer with a private practice. She was registrar of probate court of Muskegon County and judge of probate from 1925 to 1937. She gained national recognition as an advocate for children's rights during that period. She was elected the county's first female state representative in 1938 and served as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives (Muskegon County 1st district) from 1939 to 1941. Thompson then served on the Social Security Board of Washington, D.C., 1941-1942; staff for United States Labor Department, 1942; United States Adjutant General’s Office, 1942-1946; and then member and chair of the Michigan state Prison Commission for Women. During and after World War II she worked as a civilian employee of the U.S. Army in Washington D.C. and in Europe. In 1950, Thompson was elected as a Republican from Michigan's 9th congressional district to the 82nd Congress and subsequently re-elected to the two succeeding Congresses serving from January 3, 1951 to January 3, 1957 in the U.S. House. She was the first woman to represent Michigan in Congress and the first woman to serve on the House Judiciary Committee. She was an unsuccessful candidate for re-nomination to the 85th Congress in 1956, being defeated by fellow Republican Robert P. Griffin and returned to her home in Whitehall. Ruth Thompson died in Plainwell Sanitorium in Allegan County and is interred in Oakhurst Cemetery of Whitehall.

References

• Ruth Thompson at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Political Graveyard
• Michigan Historical Markers