During her 16-year tenure, Congresswoman Mary Rose
Oakar was dedicated to improving the economic welfare
of women. She led the charge in Congress for women’s
rights, though she often came into conflict with national
women’s groups for her staunch anti-abortion position.
Representative Oakar became an influential figure in
the Democratic Party, climbing the leadership ladder by
mastering House internal procedures and administration.
Mary Rose Oakar, the youngest of five children, was
born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 5, 1940, to parents
of Lebanese and Syrian ancestry. Her father was a laborer,
and her mother a homemaker. “We were very oriented
toward our neighborhood,” Oakar recalled. “I came from a
very diverse community, which I love. . . . I went to school
and grew up with people of all backgrounds and races. I
think that dealing with my peers was a great experience
in preparation for being in public life.”1
Working her way
through school as a telephone operator, Oakar graduated
from Ursuline College in 1962 with a BA, and earned an
MA four years later from John Carroll University, both in
Ohio. She also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Arts in London, Westham Adult College in England,
and Columbia University in New York City. From 1963 to 1975, Oakar taught at a Cleveland high school and at
Cuyahoga Community College. She served on Cleveland’s
city council from 1973 to 1976. As a member of the
city council, Oakar became a popular local leader who
earned the reputation of being an aggressive advocate for
women, children, and the elderly. She won support for her
personalized campaign strategy which included distributing
pens decorated with roses—a tactic to remind voters of her
name.2
Oakar’s time on the city council provided valuable
political experience. “And I think my city council training
was very helpful when I came to Congress because I knew
how to read a budget,” she said. “When I came to Congress,
we made it, our staff and I made it our business to know
what the budget had in it. We would give a briefing to some
of our reporters about what we thought the budget said. I
thought it was very, very helpful.”3
Hoping to capitalize on her strong local ties and political
experience, Oakar entered the 1976 Democratic primary for
the heavily Democratic congressional district encompassing
much of Cleveland west of the Cuyahoga River, vacated by
James Vincent Stanton, who made an unsuccessful bid for
the U.S. Senate. During the campaign she emphasized her
status as the only woman in the race, declaring the need or more women in Congress to offset what she perceived
as the arrogance exuded by many Congressmen. As the
only woman, Oakar stood out in the crowded field but also
was the target of condescending campaign ads. One of her
opponents, for instance, questioned her ability to take on
the rigors of Congress. “He did an ad saying, ‘You know,
if you want a weakling,’ that sort of thing,” she explained,
“‘You want somebody soft on the issues.’ I mean he didn’t
even have to say woman, but that’s what he was talking
about it.”4
She also highlighted her Cleveland roots when
making campaign stops and found creative ways to reach
voters. “So we would go in this Model T Ford all over
the district, which was pretty large,” she remarked. “And
people would come out because they wanted to see the
car, and then I’d get to meet them. So that was sort of a
way to get to know a lot of the people and get around 12
suburbs and half the city of Cleveland.”5
She defeated 11
other candidates with 24 percent of the vote. Oakar then
dominated the general election, capturing 81 percent of
the vote against two Independent candidates. In her seven
successful re-election bids through 1990 in the heavily
Democratic district, she never faced a serious challenge,
often receiving no opposition from Republican candidates.6
In the 95th Congress (1977–1979), Oakar served on the
Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs Committee. “When
I was elected to Congress,” Oakar noted, “I got on the
Banking and Urban Affairs Committee because I wanted
to do something about community development. . . . That
was my first piece of legislation for HUD programs to
improve public housing.”7
As a member of the committee
she also introduced successful legislation to commemorate
the work of suffragist Susan B. Anthony by creating a $1
coin featuring her likeness.8
Oakar eventually chaired the
Banking Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization. She
subsequently was appointed to several more committees,
including the House Select Committee on Aging in the
96th Congress (1979–1981), the Post Office and Civil
Service Committee in the 97th Congress (1981–1983), and
the House Administration Committee in the 98th Congress
(1983–1985). She served on these committees through the
102nd Congress (1991–1993).
Oakar developed a reputation as a liberal who worked on
behalf of women’s rights issues, especially economic parity.
“Economic security is the truly liberating issue for women,”
she said. “If you’re economically liberated, you’re free to
pursue other avenues in your life.”9
As chair of the Post Office and Civil Service Subcommittee on Compensation
and Employee Benefits, she sponsored two bills during the
mid-1980s: the Pay Equity Act and the Federal Pay Equity
Act. Both revived a longtime effort among women in
Congress to achieve salary equity with men for employment
of comparable worth. Charging that “employers have
used gender as a determining factor when setting pay
rates,” Oakar stressed the need for a comprehensive study
investigating pay discrepancies between men and women
both in the private sector and in the federal government.
The congressional debates about equal pay received
national attention. Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly
labeled Oakar’s efforts advocating pay raises for professions
typically occupied by women, such as teaching and nursing,
as an attack against blue-collar men. Oakar countered
Schlafly by claiming salary increases for women would
help men because it would lead to stronger families.10 In a
1985 House hearing on economic parity, Oakar received
additional criticism, this time from Clarence M. Pendleton
Jr., chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, who
branded Oakar’s proposed legislation as “Looney Tunes” and
“socialism without a plan.” Oakar insisted that Congress
needed to intervene to correct gender pay inequity and
dismissed Pendleton’s commission, arguing that “it has
ceased to be a champion of civil rights.”11
Oakar dissented from the Democratic majority on two
high-profile issues. As one of the few Arab Americans
serving in Congress during the 1980s, she suggested that
the Ronald Reagan administration’s foreign policy tilted
too much toward the interests of Israel. On another front,
her opposition to abortion caused friction with powerful
women’s groups like the National Organization for Women,
undermining her potential to emerge as a leading public
figure in feminist circles. Although frustrated with her
inability to connect with leading women’s organizations,
Oakar encouraged all women, including her colleagues on
Capitol Hill, to work for equality with men. “There are
only 24 women in Congress,” she declared. “It seems to me,
beyond all other issues, we’re obligated to correct inequities
toward our own gender. No one else is going to do it.”12
Oakar built a reputation as an expert on House rules
and procedures, and it was in this capacity that she worked
her way into the Democratic leadership. On the House
Administration Committee, which she joined in 1984,
Oakar eventually rose to chair its Subcommittee on Police
and Personnel. She worked in the Democratic Whip organization and traveled around the country on behalf of
fellow Democratic candidates. Oakar was elected Secretary
of the House Democratic Caucus in the 99th Congress
(1985–1987), one of a handful of women in either party
to hold a leadership position. The previous Secretary of
the Caucus and the Democratic vice presidential nominee
in 1984, Geraldine Anne Ferraro of New York, contacted
Oakar shortly after the Ohio Representative assumed
her new position. According to Oakar, Ferraro coupled
congratulations with a warning that the male-dominated
Democratic leadership would exclude her from significant
meetings. Oakar informed Speaker of the House Thomas P.
(Tip) O’Neill Jr. of Massachusetts that she expected to be
treated as an equal. “So I went to Tip,” Oakar noted. “And
Tip said, ‘Eleanor,’ who was his secretary, ‘Get President
Reagan on the phone.’ I heard him. He said, ‘If Mary Rose
Oakar isn’t invited’—because the White House invites
you—‘I’m not going. She’s the Secretary of the caucus.’ So I
got to go.”13 Quite often the only woman in attendance, she
compared herself to Ferraro, commenting, “Each of us had
to break down a barrier.”14 After the position was renamed
“vice chair” during the 100th Congress (1987–1989), Oakar
made a spirited attempt to gain the fourth most powerful
seat in the House: Chair of the Democratic Caucus.
Though her campaign employed such innovative tactics as
buttons, posters, and even a full-page advertisement in the
congressional newspaper Roll Call entitled, “Mary Rose: She
Earned It,” Oakar lost to then-Budget Chairman William
Herbert Gray III of Pennsylvania.15
In the spring of 1992, Congresswoman Oakar received
her first significant primary challenge in her newly reapportioned district in western Cleveland. Oakar had
been linked to a scandal that revolved around dozens of
Representatives (focusing on about 20) who had written
more than 11,000 overdrafts in a three-year period from the
House “bank”—an informal money service provided by the
House Sergeant at Arms. Oakar wrote 213 overdrafts during
that period for an undisclosed amount of money, and she
resigned from her prominent position as co-chairwoman
of the Democratic Platform Committee for that summer’s
Democratic National Convention.16 After this embarrassing
incident, Oakar burnished her credentials as a caretaker for
the district and an advocate for health care and the elderly.
Oakar defeated Tim Hagan in the June 2 primary with 39
to 30 percent of the vote (five other contenders split the
remainder). Oakar described the result as “a tribute to the people I represent” and as “an outpouring of affection” from
voters on her behalf.17 In the general election, however,
she faced a difficult task making inroads with voters in the
two-fifths of the district that had been incorporated after
apportionment. In addition, the fall 1992 elections were
difficult for many congressional incumbents because of
redistricting and the down-turning economy. In November,
Republican challenger Martin R. Hoke defeated Oakar by
30,000 votes, 57 to 43 percent.18
After Congress, Oakar was indicted on charges of
receiving illegal campaign contributions. She pled guilty in
March 1995 and received two years’ probation, community
service, and fines.19 Oakar’s work on behalf of the elderly
continued, however, as President William J. (Bill) Clinton
appointed her in 1995 to the 25-member advisory board
for the White House Conference on Aging. She went on
to work as a business executive and consultant. Oakar
was elected to the Ohio state house of representatives,
where she served from 2001 to 2003.20 In June 2003,
Oakar was named President of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
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