Ella Grasso: Connecticut's Pioneering Governor

8 The Daughter of a Tortonese Governs Connecticut

[ 158 ] La Stampa one of Italy’s largest newspapers proudly proclaimed the news headline “The Daughter of a Tortonese Governs Connecticut ” after Ella Grasso’s historic gubernatorial victory. And it reported “wide rejoicing in Tortona and nearby villages” from which her parents had emigrated decades ago. The sense of pride and joy in Ella’s electoral win reached her father’s birthplace of Perleto (population 200) where 50 percent of the villagers were members of the Tambussi family.1 Besides being the first woman elected Governor in her own right, Ella Tambussi Grasso became the first woman of Italian ancestry to reach a Governor’s chair in the history of the United States. Italian-Americans in Connecticut, throughout America, and in Italy savored her political victory. It also helped to remove several stumbling blocks that hindered women’s political advancement: the inability of a woman to be elected governor who did not follow her husband into elective office, and the failure of an ethnic Italian first generation child of Italian immigrants to succeed to the highest elective office in Connecticut state government. Ella noted “I don’t think there are any more barriers” for Italians to face in the world of American politics, “and if there are, you have helped put them there by thinking they exist.” She noted with some humor that with her electoral breakthrough “its wonderful” that Americans have learned “there is something more to Italian cooking . . . than pasta.”2 While Ella’s pride in her ethnicity was reflected in her comments, her victory also thrust her into the national spotlight as the nation’s only y 8 Y the daughter of a tortonese governs connecticut Daughter of a Tortonese Governs Connecticut [ 159 ] woman Governor. The three major national television networks and two major weekly news magazines devoted coverage on Election Day and were present at her victory celebration that evening. Ella was clearly cognizant of the historic and national implications of her victory. “I am aware,” she said, “this is an historic occasion. I hope I have been a credit to women, and to all persons.”3 Indeed her victory was seen as a “very important breakthrough” for women nationally because “it will certainly encourage others” to run for major state office.4 Frances Farenthold, chairman of the National Women’s Political Caucus echoed that same sentiment. She commented that, “Ella Grasso’s victory in Connecticut raises the hopes and expectations of all women considering political careers . In the past, women have been forced to set their sights lower than men. But that, thank heavens, is now in the past.”5 Two years later in 1976, in the state of Washington, Dixie Lee Ray, would run for Governor successfully, and several other women in other states would follow in subsequent years: Ann Richards (D) Texas, Kay Orr (R) Nebraska, Madeline Kunin (D) Vermont, and Martha Layne Collins (D) Kentucky. Ella’s election also signaled her emergence as a potential candidate for national office. New York Times columnist Tom Wicker, four days after her Connecticut triumph, mentioned the Governor-elect as someone who might be considered by the Democratic Party for the 1976 Vice Presidential nomination. “Against a Ford-Rockefeller ticket,” Wicker wrote, “the Democrats could do a lot worse than to run say Tom Bradley (Mayor of Los Angeles) or Ella Grasso the new governor of Connecticut for vice president.”6 Speculation among political reporters and commentators would continue despite Ella’s repeated denials of any national political ambitions. Evidence of media interest came quickly with an invitation for the new governor to speak at the annual all-male Gridiron Club dinner in Washington , D.C., on March 21, 1975. The dinner marked the induction of the first woman journalist, White House correspondent Helen Thomas, Ella Grasso [ 160 ] into the Gridiron Club. Ella Grasso’s appearance at the white-tie event attended by hundreds of Washington journalists, media representatives, members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, Supreme Court Justices, and President and Mrs. Ford, underscored the national press corps’ recognition of her path-breaking electoral breakthrough . The Governor’s remarks, delivered to a large audience gathered in a Washington, D.C., hotel, poked fun at members of the Fourth Estate and Washington politicians. She reminded the audience that she was often asked by reporters, “How I made it in a man’s world.” Pausing momentarily, she answered, “everyway I could.” It...