HomeMy Public PortalAboutBorah, MaryMARY McCONNELL BORAH
One Hundred Years Old October 17, 1970
Wedding picture of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Borah, April 21, 1895.
[Library of Congress Photographic Archives - Washington D. C.
ADDRESSES & TRIBUTES
IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
Sunday, October 19, 1969
Widow of ramous `Lion' Senator Marks Birthday in Oregon
Idaho s `L ittle Borah'.
L ooks Back on Her Fi rst 99 Years
By DABNEY TAYLOR
"I was cradled in politics," Mary
McConnell Borah remarked, "and that
cradle received me almost a century ago.
You see I was born in Moscow, Idaho, Oct.
17, 1870 and that makes me 99 years old."
"Little Borah," as Washington called her,
is the widow of one of the immortals of the
United States Senate. 'The Lion of Idaho'
filled the senate gallery with spell -bound lis-
teners to his oratorical roars.
As she looked from the windows of her re-
tirement apartment at the deep green grass
of the Portland (Ore.) lawn, Mrs. Borah re-
called that before her birth her father, W. J.
McConnell, was deeply engaged in helping to
bring Idaho from a territory into statehood.
AT LEFT: Senator and Mrs. William E.
Borah in a photo taken during the early
years of their marriage. They were living at
1101 Franklin Street before his election as
United States Senator for Idaho in 1907,
which office he occupied for almost forty
years. (Photo from the Ailshie collection at
Idaho Historical Society.)
"This," she said, "was accomplished when I
was almost 21 years old. But don't think,"
she quickly interjected, "I was allowed to
vote., At that time the 19th amendment,
which gave the vote to women, was only a
gleam in a suffragette's eye."
"Then," Mary Borah reflected, "the
women in a candjdate's family had quite a
different role to play and the wives did not go
out in the hustings with their husbands as
sort of a co- candidate. I cannot quite ap-
prove of this, but then, attitudes change."
"But, don't think for a moment the women
were not expected to function. For example,
iL
M INQT PF:!, ,.0VF
PAYETTE LAIC.
PROGRESSIVE
elfish chuckle punctuated the story, "we took
the Cannon Ball to a small town a few miles
from Boise called Caldwell ... well, anyway
we were serenaded by the town band and a
few weeks later we did go east and it made
up fully for my disappointment.
"When Billie was elected U.S: Senator in
1907," she continued, "shortly after we
reached the capital, we were summoned to
dine with President Theodore Roosevelt. As
we walked down the long White House hall
where an aide sat at a desk with the dinner
chart before him, he handed me an envelope
and announced I was to sit at the president's
left. I simply uttered a gasp and put my
hand over my mouth. This amused the aide.
"After we were seated there was an awful
moment of silence, on my part as I wracked
my brain for something to chat about. Sud-
denly, I was inspired to mention having vis-
ited with William Allen White, the noted
journalist, at Emporia, Kansas, on our way
east. Mr. Roosevelt, who was his great
friend, responded eagerly and said, "I have
just presented his book 'STRATEGEMS AND
SPOILS' to the French ambassador M. Jusse-
rand. I think it the greatest political story
ever written.
"He talked away, and left me to gaze at
his daughter Alice Longworth who was non-
chalantly eating hot asparagus without re-
moving her long white kid gloves and b-A the
melted butter run merrily down her fingers.
This, while I was making every effort to
keep my white tulle gown, trimmed with
pink rosebuds, which I thought went well
with my blond hair, from having one spot. I
knew I would have to wear it many more
times and I did." She continued, "Later the
famous Nick Longworth, Congressman from
we cooked for, and served, endless suppers,
picnics, luncheons, receptions. Candidates
when they arrived in town, with or without
their families, always were house guests at
the homes of fellow politicians.
"We were also expected," Mrs. Borah con-
tinued, "then as now, to remember every
one's name. Heaven help you if there was a
moment of faltering, you could lose the vote
of the entire family, including the hired
man." The witty and sprightly lady laughed,
she could, being gifted by the gods with al-
most complete recall.
"When Idaho became a state father de-
cided to run for the United States Senate and
he and George L. Shoup were elected as
Idaho's first senators. During his campaign .
my mother introduced me to a young lawyer
from Boise, William E. Borah. He had come
to help father campaign and after we met he
seemed to think nothing of frequently mak-
ing the long trip from Southwest Idaho to the
chill north where Moscow was located, just
to help father.
"Later," she said demurely, "when father
returned from Washington to run for
governor, Billie Borah helped elect him as
Idaho's third governor.
"Because mother was very delicate, and
quite timid about meeting strangers, father
decided to take me to Boise to act as his
hostess and part time secretary., Mother and
my two sisters, Carrie and Olive, remained
in Moscow to keep the store, and this is not
a quip, we did own the general store in town.
"I was very much surprised and
pleased," Mrs. Borah quirked an eyebrow,
"to find Billie Borah was to be adminis-
trative assistant in the governor's office. You
see, he was a very serious student and dis-
liked social functions, but Boise was very
gay and he did take me to a few affairs and
we had lovely horseback rides in the foot-
hills.
"One of the great lessons I learned about
this time was never to say anything to re-
porters that I did not want to see in print. It
occured one day when some reporters came
into the office and asked for news. I told
them I could not stop to talk as I was very
busy writing a speech for the governor.
When this item appeared in the next morn-
ing's paper, father was not very pleased.
"Finally Billie urged me to make up my
mind to marry him so that I could go east
with him on our honeymoon where he was
called on some legal cases. So," she related,
"we were married on April 21, 1895 at the
MARY McCONNELL BORAH celebrated her
99th birthday on Friday at her retirement
apartment in Portland, Oregon. Daughter of
an Idaho governor and widow of one of this
century's best known U.S. senators, "The
Lion of Idaho," Mrs. Borah was for many
years a celebrated hostess in Washington.
Ohio, and Alice, became our good friends
and Alice and I went often to the Capitol to
hear speaking in both the House and Senate.
Alice was very political and would leave her
own dinner party to dash to the .Hill. to listen
to an important debate.
"I well recall the exceptional woman Lou
Hoover. She graduated from the Stanford en-
gineering school, making higher marks, in-
cidently than her husband President Herbert
Hoover, a classmate, then a lifemate, One of
her remarks was a classic of under-
statement, `I only want to be a background
for Bertie!' The intelligent women of my day
were tactful.
"A lady who was grossly underrated, and I
think, most unfairly criticized, was Florence
Kling Harding. She was a handsome woman
from a fine Ohio family and brought much to
her marriage with President Harding. She
was very gracious and democratic and made
contact with all classes of people in a most
kindly manner," Mrs. Borah said earnestly.
"Every one was simply crazy about Mrs.
Calvin Coolidge with her lovely, big brown
eyes. She was most dedicated in attending
endless functions and meetings and was sim-
ply showered with invitations," she remi-
nisced. "Grace made a famous remark, `One
church, one club, one husband and one politi-
cal party.' I have lived up to her precepts
and am still a dedicated Republican." Mary
Borah ran her tiny hands over a long chain
of ivory elephants which she wore. Her col-
lection of some 3,000 of these pachyderms
were sold at auction when she left 2101 Con-
necticut Avenue to live in Portland.
"Billie died on a bleak winter day in 1940,"
she fingered her worn wedding ring. "He
had been senator for Idaho for almost 40
years. I decided to remain in Washington,
my roots had grown deep, but a few years
ago I moved to Portland to be with my sister
Olive Leuderman who lives in this same
building with me. Her daughters, my nieces,
also live here.
"I suppose people would like to know how
I lived to such a majestic age and I can only
say that I have never felt the urge to par-
take of the grain, the grape or the weed, but
I eat everything set before me. Still, I may
ERCH
SEN. BORAH AND HIS ADMIRERS AT THE IDANHA HOTEL IN BOISE
. multitudes cheered his vindication on Oct. 2, 1907-- .- -_._.._..___._�_
d Earl MOVE r ISRARY
Borah Attainey
Of Popularity After Ac ffaLAK,.S'}
William E. Borah was enormously
popular with most Idahoans. His re-
peated success at the polls is ample
evidence of that. Public expression
of this popularity reached an early
high point, however, on Oct. 2, 1907.
On that day, the votes of only 12
men gave Borah a significant and
popular victory. "BORAH — Right
with the Jury; RIGHT with the
PEOPLE" read a sign carried by
the crowd that filled the street out-
side the Idanha Hotel. It had gath-
ered in response to the news that
Borah had just been acquitted after
being indicted by a grand jury for
complicity in a timberland fraud.
The Statesman's banner headline
on the morning of Oct. 3, 1907,
read: "We Find the Defendant, W.
E. Borah, Not Guilty As Charged in
the Indictment." Another front page
story chronicled the "Monster,
Spontaneous Demonstrations which
took place after the news was
spread.
"It was exactly six o'clock when
the word was passed from the fed-
eral building," said the paper. "A
second later the fire alarm sounded
and the bell beat its tattoo while the
firemen aboard their equipment
dashed down the street. This was
the signal for the gathering. The
news spread like wildfire over the
city...
Although billed by the strongly
partisan Statesman as a spontane-
ous demonstration, it is difficult to
understand how the Columbia Band
managed to be on the scene ready
to play as Borah and his successful
defense attorney James H. Hawley
stepped out onto the Idanha bal-
cony.., -By its own account, Borah
and Aawley had been "rushed from
the federal building to the hotel,"
but perhaps getting a brass band to-
gether was a lot simpler in 1907
than it would be today.
James H. Hawley spoke to the
crowd first. He told the assembled
well- wishers, "I do not believe any
right - minded person .familiar with
the facts can come to any conclu-
sion than that the prosecution of the
senator was an attempt to pervert
the cause of justice and to gratify
the personal hatred and ill will en-
tertained by those who had it in
charge."
So carried away with the motion
prosecution here had nothng better
than "chops and tomato sauce" in
place of evidence.
"Ladies and gentlemen. I intro-
duce to you Idaho's foremost citi-
zen, a man who honors the state as
much as the state has honored him,
the man whose worth and popular-
ity is attested by this great assem-
blage — Sen. W.E. Borah." When
Hawley concluded, the crowd "all
but exhausted itself" with shouting,
and it was some time before Borah
could even hear his own voice.
His every word was reported in
The Statesman, and it was a warm
and graceful speech, full of affec-
tion and appreciation for the
"friends and neighbors" who had
gathered at the ` Idanha. Few pres-
ent could have guessed that the
handsome young attorney would
represented them in the Senate for
another 33 years.
(Mr. Hart is director of the Idaho
Historical Society.)
of the occasion did Hawley become
that he drew forth the loud laughter
Idaho
of the crowd when he inadvertently
addressed them at one point as
Yesterdays
"gentlemen of the jury." Compar-
By Arthur Hart /
ing the prosecutor to "Buzfuz,"
Charles Dickens' fictitious lawyer
S
who attempted to convict Mr. Pick -
wick of breach of promise, Hawley
said that as in that famous trial, the
Although billed by the strongly
partisan Statesman as a spontane-
ous demonstration, it is difficult to
understand how the Columbia Band
managed to be on the scene ready
to play as Borah and his successful
defense attorney James H. Hawley
stepped out onto the Idanha bal-
cony.., -By its own account, Borah
and Aawley had been "rushed from
the federal building to the hotel,"
but perhaps getting a brass band to-
gether was a lot simpler in 1907
than it would be today.
James H. Hawley spoke to the
crowd first. He told the assembled
well- wishers, "I do not believe any
right - minded person .familiar with
the facts can come to any conclu-
sion than that the prosecution of the
senator was an attempt to pervert
the cause of justice and to gratify
the personal hatred and ill will en-
tertained by those who had it in
charge."
So carried away with the motion
prosecution here had nothng better
than "chops and tomato sauce" in
place of evidence.
"Ladies and gentlemen. I intro-
duce to you Idaho's foremost citi-
zen, a man who honors the state as
much as the state has honored him,
the man whose worth and popular-
ity is attested by this great assem-
blage — Sen. W.E. Borah." When
Hawley concluded, the crowd "all
but exhausted itself" with shouting,
and it was some time before Borah
could even hear his own voice.
His every word was reported in
The Statesman, and it was a warm
and graceful speech, full of affec-
tion and appreciation for the
"friends and neighbors" who had
gathered at the ` Idanha. Few pres-
ent could have guessed that the
handsome young attorney would
represented them in the Senate for
another 33 years.
(Mr. Hart is director of the Idaho
Historical Society.)
]Vlar►•iage has a Complete Surprise'
Borah Placed World's Eyes on Idaho
By JOHN CORLETT
The Idaho Statesman
It was a long 36 years for Mary
Borah to live after the death of her
illustrious husband. It represented
a span over which most adults live
their most productive lives. It was
a period longer than the 33 years
that Borah served in the U.S. Sen-
ate.
Mary Borah looked back even
beyond those senatorial years to
the days she first met the man who
was to become the "Lion of Ida-
ho." She and William E. Borah
were married April 21, 1895, at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. C. Jacobs in
Boise. They honeymooned in Cald-
well. She was alive on the date of
the 80th anniversary of that mar-
riage.
The Statesman wrote, according
to Claudius 0. Johnson in his biog-
raphy of Borah, "The marriage
was a complete surprise to the
many friends of the contracting
parties."
Borah, who came to Idaho from
Iowa in 1890, married a woman of
pioneer Idaho lineage — a daughter
of William J. McConnell, who set-
tled in Idaho in 1863.
Mary, otherwise known as
Mamie, was born Oct. 17, 1870, in
Arcata, Calif. McConnell served as
a member of the Idaho constitu-
tional convention. The first state
legislature elected him to the U.S.
Senate for the short term, Decem-
ber, 1890, to March 1891, and then
he was elected governor in 1892
and re- elected in 1894.
Mary Borah was to see her hus-
band become both a national and
international figure.
A Republican, Borah was often
at odds with leaders of his party,
both nationally and in Idaho. But
Idaho voters approved of his inde-
pendence and he won handily at
the polls.
He was among the first to pro-
pose U.S. recognition of the Soviet
Union and fought for that recogni-
tinn until it wac divan in 1Q49 An
was opposed to the League of Na-
tions, and in the days prior to his
death, he was known as a strict
isolationist. He was essentially a
neutralist in his views of the na-
tion's foreign policy. And he was
one of the best known of the chair-
men of the Senate's Foreign Rela-
tions Committee.
He sought the Republican nomi-
nation for president in 1936 at the
height of President :Franklin D.
Roosevelt's popularity. Yet he sup-
ported a number of the New Deal
programs. He managed to win
some delegates in a number of
presidential primaries, but the
GOP Old Guard was for Kansas
Gov. Alfred M. Landon, and ul-
timately Borah's support dissolved
at the Republican convention:
He ran for what was to be his
last term in the Senate in 1936. His
Democratic opponent was Gov. C.
Ben Ross. Borah outpolled Presi-
dent Roosevelt in Idaho. He was
office in the Gem State that year.
War clouds were on the horizon
when Borah was stricken in Jan.
14, 1940. He died Jan. 19, and his fu-
neral, largest ever to be held in
Idaho, was in Boise, Jan. 25. His
body lay in state in the Statehouse
rotunda and many thousands of
Idahoans paid respects.
Borah's grave is in Morris Hill
Cemetery.
A reporter for the Boise Capital
News in writing about the services
Jan. 25, 1940, wrote that: "Borah in
name, it has been said, was syno-
nymous with the name of Idaho.
Today the synonymity was dis.
solved. Borah and Idaho became
one in literal fact. Borah became
part of the soil of Idaho; past of
her hills, her valleys an d-1 her
mountains."
Monday, Mary Borah will return
to Idaho where her father and her
husband are - buried - and, - }wn --them
in also becoming a literal Dart of
THE YOUNG SENATOR FROM IDAHO AND HIS BRIDE
Mory --A [v: n:_ °' r.___ -i_ "_-
A 11�.
THE IDAHO STATESMAN, Boise, Thursday, May 5, 1977
Former '
Aide of Sen. Borah
To Observe 100th Birthday
By STEVE AHRENS
The Idaho Statesman
Cora Rubin Lane, whose life has spanned Ameri-
can political history from President Rutherford B.
Hayes to President Jimmy Carter, will celebrate
her 100th birthday today in Boise.
Lane served nearly 40 years as stenographer and
secretary for Sen. William E. Borah, both in Boise
and in Washington.
"I did the chores so he had time to be the sena-
tor," the alert, white- haired woman said.
Looking back over her years in Washington, Lane
recalled she was one of the first women to serve as
t what most congressmen now call their "administra-
tive aides."
"I graduated from Boise High School, studied
shorthand and got a job ip Mr. Borah's law office. I
worked there about four years before he was
elected to the Senate in 1906," she said. "Then he
took me to Washington as his stenographer."
When Borah's male secretary resigned, he turned
to her with what she describes as "great reluc-
tance."
"He asked me one day if I would like the job. I
said, 'Well, I would. I think I can handle it.'
"Sen. Borah said, 'Well, we'll try it, but if you
don't make good, I'll have to get a man.' I worked
for him years and years after that, but he never
said anything, so I never found out whether I made
good or not," she laughed.
. She served the Lion of Idaho until his death in
January 1940. In fact, she was at Borah's bedside
when he died.
"He was stricken one morning," she recalled.
"Mrs. Borah telephoned me and said, 'Cora, come
up — something has happened.' He only lived about
four days after that. Myself and a nurse were at his
bedside when Mr. Borah passed away.
"Mrs. Borah was in the next room, and I didn't
know how in the world to tell her. I just went up to
her and took her hand. She looked in my eyes and
knew, and she fainted," Lane said.
Even after Sen. Borah's death, his widow depend -
ed on her for help in such things as cashing checks.
She still treasures a handwritten note from Mrs.
Borah among a box of pictures representing the
memories of her career and her association with
one of Idaho's greatest political figures.
Lane spent a few years in California before re-
turning to Boise soyne 20 years ago. She lives in a
small, neat apartment on tree -lined West Jefferson,
near St. Luke's Hospital.
Lane was a Democrat until joining the young
Borah in his Boise law office, then quickly changed
her politics and has remained a Republican. She
said she still follows politics and votes in each elec-
tion, but says she doubts she would be interested in
a Washington career now because the atmosphere is
different.
"No, I don't think I would like to be in Washing-
ton now," she said. "There are a good deal more
scandals going on now."
Lane, who said she always "was a curious sort of
person — I wanted to see things," traveled to Rus-
sia before the United States recognized the Commu-
nist government, visited the court of the queen of
Hawaii when the islands were still under the mon-
archy and walked on the bottom of the Big Ditch —
the Panama Canal — before water was turned in to
link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Her world travels behind her, Lane's hobbies now
include bridge.
"I enjoy bridge very much," she smiled. "Some
of my friends have me in regularly for a little
bridge.
One of those friends is Mrs. Fran Goodland, 2122
North Twenty- Sixth, who said Lane more than holds
her own at the card table. For the past 15 years
they have celebrated each other's birthdays and will
again today in a quieH�RT 7nclud ng Dr_ Elsie
Buck and Esther Davis.
Lane said she has no longevity secrets}.;_
"I came from healthy parents. My father was
French -Swiss and I just inherited it, I- :guess. My
mother was 93 when she -died; it there's no telling
how long my father would have lived, but he was
latered by an autos i �
1 a few years
'
"I don't take any medicine of any kind. I just was
naturally healthy all my 1Xe," she said.
PAYETTE LAKES
PROGRESSIVE CLUn
CORA LANE IN HER EARLIER YEARS
... life spans President Hayes to Carter
BOISE, IDAHO, FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1976
By MARY JENKINS
The Idaho Statesman
Mrs. Mary McConnell Borah,
who died Wednesday at the age of
105 in a Beaverton, Ore., nursing
home, was a witty, gracious wom-
an who helped her husband, U.S.
Sen. William E. Borah, achieve na-
tional stature as the "lion of Ida-
ho."
Mrs. Borah moved to Oregon
nearly 10 years ago after remain-
ing in Washington, D.C., following
her husband's death in 1940. The
couple had no children.
She will be interred beside her
husband Monday at Morris Hill
Cemetery, after services at 1:30
p.m. in St. Michael's Cathedral.
The services will be conducted by
Canon Marvin Blake. Friends may
call at Summers Funeral Home
Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m.
to 9 P.M.
Mrs. Borah, born Oct. 17, 1870, in
Arcata, Calif., was schooled in
practical politics before she mar-
ried Borah, a young Boise lawyer,
in 1895. Her father, William J.
McConnell, Moscow, was a U.S.
senator. He also was Idaho's third
governor from 1893 to 1897. His
wife, in frail health, remained in
Moscow, and his daughter became
his official hostess and secretary in
Boise.
She and young Borah met while
he was helping her father cam-
paign. After their marriage, they
lived in Boise until Borah was
elected to the Senate in 1907. He re-
mained there until his death, 33
years later.
During their life in Washington,
Mrs. Borah's wit and charm
opened doors to the capital's top -
drawer society. She was a guest in
the White House of every president
from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyn-
don Johnson.
She was once reportedly credited
by Alice Roosevelt Longworth as
being the only woman who could
make President Calvin Coolidge
laugh. She and Mrs. Woodrow Wil-
son were good friends, although
their husbands were bitter political
enemies.
PAYETTE LAKES
PROGRESSIVE CLUB
D 105 YEARS OF MEMORIES
e was always by her bedside
stitutional.
"Personally, I think women
should have equal employment op-
portunities and pay commensurate
with the ability, the same as men,"
she was quoted as saying.
Relatives who survive her are
three nieces, Mrs. William Sched-
ler and Mrs. Alan Ainey, Van-
couver, Wash., and Mrs. Mary Per -
rine, Moscow, and a nephew, Ben
Bush Jr., of Seattle.
Mary Borah
Laid to Rest
Near Husband.
Idahoans mourned the death of
Mary Borah in a simple, 20- minute
service Monday at St. Michael's
Cathedral.
"I am the resurrection and the
light," Canon Marvin Blake in-
toned as the pallbearers accom-
panied the casket, draped in a gold
brocade coverlet with a red velvet
crucifix, to the front of the cathe-
d ral.
There were 75 persons present
to honor the widow of former U.S.
Sen. William E. Borah, the "Lion
of Idaho," who served 33 years in
the Senate. She died Wednesday at
the age of 105 in a Beaverton, Ore.,
nursing home.
Mary Borah, born in Arcata, Acl-
if., Oct. 17, 1870, was the daughter
of William J. McConnell, a U.S.
senator and governor of Idaho
from 1893 to 1897. She met young
Borah while he was helping her fa-
ther campaign. They were married
in 1895 and lived in Boise until he
was elected to the U.S. Senate in
1907.
To the refrain of "A Mighty For-
tress Is Our Cv6d," the body of
Mary Borah was escorted from the
cathedral, the beautiful coverlet
removed from the blue casket for
the ride to Morris Hill Cemetery,
where she was buried next to her
husband.
THE IDAHO STATESMAN, Boise, Tuesday, January 20, 1976
�Y ,
PALLBEARERS CARRY MARY BORAH TO FINAL SERVICES
... at St. Michael's Episcopal Cathedral
Mary Borah never knew, and
neither did the public, that a retire-
ment program was devised for her
in the Idaho Legislature.
When Sen. William E. Borah died
in 1940, there was no retirement
plan for widows of senators and
congressmen.
And after' the senator died,
$200,000 cash was found in his safe-
ty deposit box in Washington, D.C.,
which caused some raised eye-
brows. But it went to Mary Borah,
who retained her apartment in
Washington.
When she moved to a nursing
home in Beaverton, Ore., nearly a
decade ago, there were some mon-
ey problems. Finally, in 1970, Ida-
ho's legislative leadership devised
a plan that provided Mrs. Borah
with $4,000 a year. The plan had
the approval of Sen. Frank Church
and then -Sen. Len B. Jordan.
A compassionate legislative lead-
ership did not want Mrs. Borah to
know that funds from the State of
Idaho were being provided in her
behalf. The system by which the
funds were provided was a well -
kept secret. Members of the press
corps were advised of the plan and
agreed not to make public the facts
of the retirement arrangement.
Last year, however, the legisla-
ture passed a supplemental retire-
ment system bill that openly pro-
vides that widows of governors,
U.S. senators and congressmen can
qualify for a retirement allowance.