About: Emily Taft Douglas

Emily Taft Douglas (April 10, 1899 – January 28, 1994) was a Democratic Party politician from the U.S. state of Illinois. She served as a U.S. Representative at-large from 1945 until 1947 and was married to U.S. Senator Paul Douglas from 1931 until his death in 1976. She was the first female Democrat elected to Congress from Illinois, and her election made Illinois one of the first two states (the other being California) to have been represented by female House members from both parties. She was the daughter of sculptor Lorado Taft and a distant relative of U.S. President William Howard Taft.