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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.