Caroline Love Goodwin was most likely born in 1869, although
the exact year of her birth is not known. As the daughter
of a socially important family in Georgia, she attended
the Lucy Cobb Institute and graduated in 1886. After briefly
studying art in New York City, she sailed for Europe and
supported herself as a freelance artist for the next eight
years. While in Europe she met Daniel O'Day, an oil businessman,
and in 1901 the couple returned to New York where they married.
O'Day remained quietly married to her husband for the
next fifteen years, but his death in 1916 ignited an interest
in activism that had lain dormant while a wife and mother.
It was at this time that she became vocally committed to
issues of social welfare and female suffrage. As a wealthy
widow, O'Day was able to use her financial assets for these
causes. As well, she became active with the New
York Consumer's League, the Women's
Trade Union League, and the Democratic party. In 1923,
she was appointed to the New York State Board of Charities,
and later that year she became closely allied with other
prominent social activists that included Nancy
Cook, Marion Dickerman,
and Eleanor Roosevelt.
O'Day quickly became an ardent supporter of Franklin
Roosevelt, and her assistance in FDR's presidential
campaign of 1932 was reciprocated when the president and
the first lady helped her win a congressional seat in 1934.
In the House of Representatives, O'Day championed the New
Deal, devoted much of her time to immigration issues, and
quickly became one of the most prominent women in Congress.
Just as she had opposed American involvement in World
War I, she had misgivings about deepening American commitments
to Europe in the late 1930s. Nonetheless, she remained loyal
to the White House on almost every issue, even when it became
clear that the United States was becoming more deeply entangled
in World War II
as a result of FDR's policies.
O'Day, however, would not live to see the Axis powers defeated. She became seriously
ill in 1942 and died in January 1943.
Sources:
American National Biography. Vol. 16. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, 615-616.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Internet on-line. Available From
http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch1.asp.
Lash, Joseph. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1971, 418, 426,
448, 686.