Ella T. Grasso
Ella Grasso was the first woman to be elected governor of Connecticut, and the first female governor of any state to be elected in her own right. Ella Rosa Giovanna Oliva Tambussi was born on May 10, 1919 in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, to Italian immigrants Maria Oliva and Giacomo Tambussi, a mill worker. She attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she earned her BA in 1940, and her MA two years later. She married Thomas Grasso in 1942, the same year she was hired as assistant director of research for the War Manpower Commission of Connecticut. In 1952, Grasso was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives and served until 1957. She was the first woman to be elected floor leader of the House in 1955, and in 1958 she was elected Secretary of the State of Connecticut. She served as a member of the Platform Drafting Committee for the 1960 Democratic National Convention. She co-chaired the Resolutions Committee for the Democratic National Conventions of 1964 and 1968, and in 1970 she was elected as a Democratic representative to the 92nd Congress, where she was re-elected in 1972. Grasso surprised her constituents when she did not seek re-election to Congress, choosing instead to run for the Connecticut governorship, which she won. She …show more content…
Known as “the Blizzard of ‘78,” this storm dropped roughly 30 inches of snow across the state, crippling highways and making virtually all roads impassable. In a bold move, she “closed the state” by proclamation, and forbade all use of public roads by businesses and citizens, effectively keeping all citizens in their homes. This allowed the rescue and cleanup authorities to remove most of the snow and the hundreds of cars that were stuck on the roads. The crisis ended on the third day, and Grasso received accolades from all state sectors for her leadership and