05-24 TABLE of CONTENTS:
Helen Brooke Taussig
DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
QUOTE by
Senator Jesse Helms.
Helen Brooke Taussig
Born 05-24-1898, Helen Brooke Taussig, American
physician, pediatrician, cardiologist, and professor emeritus of pediatrics,
Johns Hopkins University.
It was Dr. Taussig's basic discoveries that enabled
cyanotic infants (blue babies) to live an almost normal life. Her pioneer
work also provided impetus to the development of open heart surgery.
"Over the years
I've gotten recognition for what I did, but I didn't at the time. It hurt
for a while. It hurt when Dr. Blalock (the surgeon who performed the initial
'blue baby' operations according to her directions) was elected to the
National Academy of Arts and Sciences and I didn't even get promoted from
an assistant to associate professor."
Helen Brooke Taussig
later received the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor an American
President can bestow.
Dr. Taussig succeeded in getting Thalidomide Thalidomide
off the market in the United States. (Yes, it WAS used in the U.S., although
sparingly.)
Her mother was Edith Guild, one of the first students
at Radcliffe College.
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05-24 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and EVENTS
B. 05-24-1819, Victoria, queen of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland (1837-1901) and empress of India (1876-1901).
B. 05-24-1878, Lilliam Moller Gilbreth - U.S. woman industrial engineer
and efficiency expert with the advanced idea that one should fit the worker
to the job instead of the worker bending to the job.
She is probably best known to modern women as the
mother of 12 children. Her much fictionalized life was the plot of movie
Cheaper by the Dozen.
B. 05-24-1883, Elsa Maxwell, U.S. author and professional party
planner. EM was a completely self-made woman who quit school when she was
14. Through her wits, she became the noted organizer of parties for the
rich and famous in Europe. She is credited with inventing the scavenger
hunt.
B. 05-24-1887, Sister Mary Madeleva Wolff - U.S. poet and president
St. Mary's College, Notre Dame (1935). She was the first nun to qualify
for a Ph.D. at University of California (1935).
B. 05-24-1899, Suzanne Lenglen - French tennis star, won six
Wimbledon singles titles and eight doubles. From 1919 to 1926, this dominant
woman player of her time only lost one match as an amateur.
B. 05-24-1905, Claire McCardell - U.S. fashion designer of practical
apparel for women including stretch leotards and separates. She specialized
in practical materials that didn't need to be washed by hand and ironed.
B. 05-24-1912, Dorothy Irene Height, president (1957) of the National
Council of Negro Women, was active in civil rights for more than 50
years.
Event 05-24-1918, the right to vote and stand for political office
for all women of the Dominion of Canada was validated. Eight months
before, on 09-20-1917 women relatives of members of the armed forces were
enfranchised.
B. 05-24-1925, Mai Elisabeth Zetterling, popular Swedish-born British
stage and screen actor who became a successful film director. She was
primarily self-educated, having been born in poverty.
B. 05-24-1934, Jane Byrne, first woman to head a major U.S. city
as mayor. She won 82% of the vote when she challenged the Daly-Democratic
machine (1979-1983). She had been a Daly protegee.
B. 05-24-1946, Irena Kirszenstein-Szewinska, Polish-Russian sprinter
who won seven Olympic medals. She is considered the finest woman athlete
of her times.
B. 05-24-1955, Rosanne Cash, U.S. singer, songwriter, country-western
music entertainer, and immortal of the genre.
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QUOTES DU JOUR
HELMS, JESSE:
"Because she's a damn
lesbian. I am not going to put a lesbian in a position like that,"
said Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) who later said he did not recall saying
"damn" when he failed to block the confirmation of Roberta Achtenberg
as assistant secretary for the House and Urban Development Department in
charge of its fair housing program on 05-24-1993.
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