A Mind of Her Own

"Helen Connor Laird was the eldest child of William Duncan Connor, a major figure in Wisconsin's emerging hardwood lumber industry and in Wisconsin's turbulent turn-of-the-century political scene, instrumental in Robert La Follette's phenomenal success in the gubernatorial election of 1904 and his unsuccessful bid to gain Republican support for the 1912 presidential election." "Helen spent almost her entire ninety-three years in central and northern Wisconsin. Her vast reading and probing mind, however, connected her to the world, and her early life in frontier communities as well as her home influences, Presbyterian background, and education at Milwaukee Downer and the University of Wisconsin-Madison impelled her to lead. While engaging at times in the business that absorbed members of her competitive family and sharing with them an interest in politics, she pursued a life-long passion for education, serving on the University of Wisconsin board of regents in the 1950s. By the time her third son, Melvin R. Laird Jr., became secretary of defense in 1969, she had served in leadership positions in her community, district, and state even has her family had become one of Wisconsin's leading Republican dynasties."--Jacket.

Year

2006

Language

English

Publisher

University of Wisconsin Press

Editions

2

Pages

526

ISBN

9780299214500

Data source: Wikidata