Ella Grasso: Connecticut's Pioneering Governor

7 I Believe Working for People Is the Noblest Profession

[ 130 ] January 19, 1974, unfolded as a stormy, wintry New England day in Connecticut. Snow, ice, and sleet blanketed the roads and highways throughout the state. For Ella Grasso, however, it was the day of her long anticipated announcement that she was running as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Connecticut. It was a day she had long hoped would come. The idea of running for Governor “was there for a long time but it didn’t seem possible,” she said, “women weren’t candidates. You remember John Bailey’s famous statement that he’d run a woman when he thought he’d lose. He would say that and chortle ho-ho-ho.”1 Molly Toro remembers from her time with Ella in the Secretary of the State’s Office that running for Governor “was in her mind . . . she knew she was going to be Governor some day.”2 Susane Grasso recalls that her mother “definitely wanted to be Governor and she was focused . . . she was just waiting for the door to open.”3 After months of speculation, rumor, and private discussions, Ella made her official announcement January 19, 1974, before an excited and happy throng of family, hometown friends, neighbors, and political supporters . Not surprisingly, Ella selected Windsor Locks as the location for her declaration, which took place at the local Ramada Inn. Making the announcement in her hometown seemed especially appropriate for this woman who reminded the crowd what Windsor Locks meant to her. “This is the town in which I was born. I learned here about the meaning of neighbor, my personal responsibility to state and country, y 7 Y i believe working for people is the noblest profession Working for People Is the Noblest Profession [ 131 ] and the wisdom of a proper respect for the opinion of others.” It was a gentle reminder to all of her deep hometown roots, the lessons she earned early in her life and of that which prepared her for “a long and hard and difficult undertaking.”4 In her announcement address she promised to offer Connecticut’s citizens “new confidence in government and positive leadership.” She emphasized that, “The time is now to restore government, connecticut style, the diligence, the dialogue and direction that means once more—people, all of the people—working together in the service of our beloved State.” She put forth what would become a major theme of her campaign: openness in government. “The time is now,” she said, “to establish the principle that in order to serve the people, government must be open, direct and available. The governor must seek the voices of people in each of our cities and towns and the counsel of their elected officials in a new partnership of citizens and government for a better Connecticut.”5 Ella also reminded the gathering of “dedicated party workers, old and new friends, and associates in other causes without party labels,” that there had been one principle that motivated and guided her public career , “to work for people and to serve them with all my heart and mind and spirit.”6 Ella’s announcement on that cold, stormy morning conveyed to the excited crowd of friends and supporters her sincere commitment to public service. And it demonstrated clearly her skillful use of a rhythmic , cadenced flow of words intended to inspire and engage people in her most ambitious and challenging political endeavor. Ella’s decision to run for Governor had been rumored for several months in stories she neither confirmed nor denied. Prior to her January announcement, a front-page story in the Hartford Times in early November 1973 quoted personal friends of Ella as saying that she told them she was going to make the run.7 In fact, her campaign chairman Bill O’Neill, Democratic state representative from East Hampton, recalls Ella Grasso [ 132 ] being called by Ella in late November or early December 1973 and asked, “if I would help her.”8 O’Neill, who did not know Ella well, conferred with John Bailey before acceding to Ella’s request. O’Neill explained that, “it made great sense if you were an Italian running for Governor in the State of Connecticut” to select an Irishman as the campaign chairman. “I was Irish and I had not made any enemies in the legislature.”9 Indeed the careful ethnic equilibrium between the Irish and Italians so critical to political...