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Concept
Elly M. Peterson
Summary
Elly M. Peterson (June 5, 1914 – June 9, 2008), was an American politician from Charlotte, Eaton County, Michigan.
Peterson was an overseas Red Cross volunteer in World War II. She was an officer in the American Cancer Society, an active member of the Congregational Church, American Legion Auxiliary, a lifetime member of the NAACP.
On June 5, 1914, Peterson was born as Ella Maude McMillan in New Berlin, Illinois.
Peterson graduated from what became William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri.
Peterson was vice chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1961 to 1963 and a candidate for U.S. Senator from Michigan in 1964. Asked to run by Governor George W. Romney, Peterson would later comment that she picked up the gauntlet and ran for the Senate because no one else would run against the popular incumbent, Philip Hart, particularly in a year with her party divided over its presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater. Winning just 35.3 percent of the vote, she nevertheless bettered Goldwater's tally in Michigan—33.1 percent—and did so with little funds; to accomplish that much was a tribute to her energy, organization and down-to-earth appeal.
In 1965, Peterson became the first woman to serve as chair of the Michigan Republican Party. In 1965, Peterson was also the first woman in U.S. history to chair a Republican state central committee, until 1969.
The Michigan Political History Society eventually selected Elly Peterson as the best Republican state chairwoman in the last fifty years. She was assistant to the chair of the Republican National Committee from 1969 to 1971.
In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Peterson's name and picture.
Eventually, Peterson became an Independent.
She worked to elect Romney as governor and his lieutenant governor, William Milliken, who succeeded him when Romney became joined the cabinet of President Richard Nixon as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1969.
Official source
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