Percy Maxim Lee
Percy Maxim Lee | |
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| Born | Percy Hamilton Maxim July 4, 1906 New London, Connecticut |
| Died | November 9, 2002 (aged 96) Hartford, Connecticut |
| Spouse(s) | John Glessner Lee |
| Children | 4 |
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Percy Maxim Lee (Mrs. John G. Lee) was president of the League of Women Voters of the United States for four terms, from 1950 to 1958. She had been elected to the national board of the league in 1944. She was also a founder and trustee of the League of Women Voters Education Fund, the organization's educational arm.
She presided over the League during the time of the largest membership growth in League history, with over 126,000 members and 950 local leagues in all 48 states.[1][2] This was also the period when Senator Joseph McCarthy saw the threat of Communist influence throughout American life. In 1951, the League established a Freedom Agenda Committee and published a pamphlet called Individual Liberty to refute McCarthyism. After the American Legion attacked the Freedom Agenda and demanded that the LWV repudiate it, Percy Lee gave a speech in Indianapolis refusing to do so[1]
Throughout her term as president she promoted the League's policy of supporting international cooperation. Before the 1952 convention of the League, Lee said that "Support of United States policies to strengthen the United Nations and to bring about international economic development continues to be a subject of great interest to membership."[3] In 1952, she announced a campaign to improve citizens' understanding of United States trade policy.[4] In 1953, she was active in a League of Women Voters campaign to promote stronger backing for the United Nations, a more liberal international trade policy, and restoration of funds to Truman's Point Four program of technical assistance to foreign countries.[5][6] Under her leadership in 1954, the League program reaffirmed support of the United Nations and for US participation in international programs for regional Defense, economic development, and technical assistance.[7] She later testified against the Bricker Amendment limiting Presidential treaty-making powers and strongly supported the League's study of international trade and individual liberty.[8][9] In 1955, as League president, she testified at a Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights hearing against Senator Joseph McCarthy's abuse of Congressional investigative powers.[10] In 1956, Lee was re-elected for the fourth time and the program adopted included individual liberties with an emphasis on loyalty-security programs and conservation with an emphasis on water resources.[11]
She was president of the league's Overseas Education Fund, which encourages political activity among women abroad, from 1959 to 1964.[12]
She was president of the Connecticut State League during the time when the League was opposed to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). She explained in a letter to a proponent that first, that it "would do violence to the political system embodied in our Constitution" by allowing Congress to make rules on matters formerly reserved to local bodies, and later, that it would create confusion and uncertainty and invite litigation.
Mrs. Lee holds four honorary degrees, a LL.D. from Rutgers University, Drexel Institute in Philadelphia, Cedar Crest College and a LH.D. from the University of Hartford.
Mrs. Lee was married to the late John Glessner Lee. They had four children. During the Second World War, the Lee family welcomed two daughters of Oxford University (UK) professors into their home as well as a German family of three.
Mrs. Lee was a founder of the Junior School of West Hartford, now The Renbrook School, served on the Board of Trustees of the Putney School in Vermont, and served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Connecticut College in New London. She was also appointed by the Governor of Connecticut to serve on the State Library Commission.
She was Chairman of the Capitol Region Planing Agency in Hartford, a member of the Commission on the Status of Women, and a member of The Clean Water Task Force. She served from 1954 to 1955 in the group acting as liaison between the public and The Foreign Operations Administration. In 1962, President John Kennedy appointed her to The Consumer Advisory Council. Later President Johnson appointed her Chairman of the Council. President Johnson also appointed her to the Public Land Law Review Commission.[13]
Early Life
Percy Hamilton Maxim was born to Hiram Percy Maxim and Josephine Hamilton Maxim on the fourth of July in 1906. She married John Glessner Lee, son of Frances Glessner Lee and Blewett Harrison Lee, in 1926.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Stuhler, Barbara (2000). For the Public Record: A Documentary History of the League of Women Voters. Westport CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 247. ISBN 9780313253164.
- ↑ "Head of Voter Unit to Speak in Capital". The Anniston Star. September 24, 1954. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
- ↑ "Women Map Agenda for League". Washington Evening Star. November 12, 1951. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
- ↑ "Trade Policy to be topic of project". Washington Evening Star. November 22, 1952. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
- ↑ "Women Map Study of World Affairs" (PDF). The New York Times. September 23, 1953. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
- ↑ "Officers inducted by women voters" (PDF). The New York Times. April 19, 1950. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
- ↑ Asbury, Edith Evans (May 1, 1954). "Women Voters again back U.N." (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
- ↑ Asbury, Edith Evans (April 28, 1954). "Program upheld by women's head" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
- ↑ "Women voters oppose plan" (PDF). The New York Times. January 14, 1954. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
- ↑ "Percy Maxim Lee a retrospective". The Free Library. 2003. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
- ↑ "Voters' League will study conservation, individual liberties". Charleston Daily Mail. May 27, 1956. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
- ↑ "Percy Maxim Lee, 96 -- Leader of League of Women Voters". The New York Times. 15 November 2002. p. A-29. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
- ↑ "Lee, Percy Maxim". Hartford Courant. 12 November 2002. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
External links
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