Ruth Thompson

Ruth Thompson became Michigan’s first woman in Congress when voters elected her to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1950. A Whitehall native, Thompson (1887-1970) spent her entire working life as a public servant. While serving three terms as a Muskegon County probate judge (1925-1937), she gained national recognition as an advocate for children’s rights. Thompson was elected the county’s first female state representative in 1938. During and after World War II she worked as a civilian employee of the U.S. Army in Washington, D.C., and in Europe. Upon taking Congressional office on January 3, 1951, she received the first House Judiciary Committee appointment granted to a woman. Reelected for two subsequent terms, Thompson lost her primary bid for a fourth term in 1956 and retired to her home in Whitehall.