An article that describes her announcement to run for Lt. Governor of Vermont. Includes biographical information.
1
SOUTH BURLINGTON — Consuelo Northrop Bailey, attorney of South Burlington, has announced her candidacy for the republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor in the September primaries.
When Mrs. Bailey was elected Speaker of the Vermont House, January 7, 1953, she was the first woman so elected in Vermont and the second in the United States. She had had previous legislative experience as State Senator from Chittenden County in 1931 and represented the Town of South Burlington in the legislature of 1951.
Mrs. Bailey was born on a farm at Fairfield, Vt., October 10, 1899, the daughter of Peter Bent and Katherine Fletcher Northrop. The farm has been in the Northrop family for nearly one hundred years and is now owned by Mrs. Bailey and her sister, Frederika Northrop Sargent. Mrs. Bailey's great-g randfather, Abraham Northrop, was one of the original settlers of the town of Fairfield and the first of four generations that have since tilled the soil there.
Following Mrs. Bailey's graduation from the St. Albans High school she entered the University of Vermont from which she was graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1921 with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. Before entering Boston University Law School in the fall of 1922, Mrs. Bailey was a teacher at the Shelburne, Vt., High school. Upon her graduation from Boston University Law School in 1925, Mrs. Bailey returned to Burlington and in September of that year was appointed Burlington City Grand Juror in which capacity she served until taking over the duties of State's Attorney of Chittehden County to which position she was elected in 1926 and reelected in 1928. Mrs. Bailey was admitted to practice law in the Vermont Courts January 5, 1926. From 1931-1937 she served as secretary to the late Senator Ernest W. Gibson in Washington.
In 1936 Mrs. Bailey was elected Republican National Committee-woman for Vermont and has been reelected in each succeeding presidential year. Mrs. Bailey was a member of the Vermont Republican State Committee for many years and served as its Vice Chairman. She was elected a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1936 and 1948. In July, 1952, at the Republican National Convention at Chicago, Mrs. Bailey was elected Vice Chairman of the National Committee, which position she now holds. As Vice Chairman she has presided over deliberations of that organization. Mrs. Bailey has spoken for her party in many states of the Union. In 1948 she spoke for the National Ticket in Oklahoma 14 times in as many days.
On July 8, 1953, President Eisenhower sent Mrs. Bailey's name to the United States Senate for confirmation as a member of the United States Post Office Advisory Board. Mrs. Bailey is the first New Englander ever named to the board and the first woman so appointed. Mrs. Bailey has several other firsts to her credit. She was the first woman elected to a prosecuting office east of the Mississippi, the first Vermont woman to try a murder case, to be admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, to serve on the Drafting Board of the National Republican Platform Committee; to serve on the Arrangements Committee of a National Party Convention of which she was a member for the Conventions of 1948 and 1952. To date Mrs. Bailey is the youngest woman at the time of her service in the Vermont Senate.
At Fairfield, on September 2, 1940, Consuelo Northrop married Henry A. Bailey, attorney and former State Senator. At that time she and her husband established the law firm of Bailey and Bailey at Burlington. Mrs. Bailey is a member of the Vermont and Chittenden County Bar Associations, the Board of Directors of the Women's Medical College of Philadelphia, the Champlain Valley Grange and is Chittenden County Chairman of the Vermont Association for The Blind. She is also a member of the Burlington Zonta Club (international organization of business and professional women) and the Sigma Gamma Sorority at the University of Vermont both of which she was instrumental in organizing.
Mrs. Bailey states that she will be glad to discuss State issues during the progress of the campaign.