National Affairs: I'm No Lady

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In the early days, before Capitol Hill knew buxom Mary Teresa Norton as "Battling Mary," a Congressman gallantly offered to yield the floor to "the lady from New Jersey." Snapped Mary: "I'm no lady. I'm a member of Congress and I shall proceed accordingly."

For 25 years she had proceeded with a firm political tread, earned labor's solid gratitude (as chairman of the House labor committee) by forcing a vote on the Wages & Hours act in 1938, mechanically piled up election majorities by her loyalty to her Jersey City (13th) district and to State Democratic Boss Frank Hague.

Last week, as four opposing candidates battled to send her into defeat along with Hague in next month's primaries, Mary Norton sent word from the Bethesda Naval Hospital (where she was bedded with influenza) that, on her 75th birthday, she had decided to call it a day.