Barbara Mikulski

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American politician, one of 13 women in the U.S. Senate as of 2000. The granddaughter of Polish immigrants, Mikulski is a champion of the working man and has pressed for changes in issues that range from women’s rights to high-tech arsenals. The dean of female senators, she is a ranking member of the powerful Appropriations Committee and a savvy 25-year vet of the Washington scene. A bit rotund, Mikulski is a dynamic 4’ 11". The eldest of three girls, she was raised in a close, supportive Polish Catholic family. Known for being unpretentious and salt-of-the-earth, she grew up loving books and movies. In 1954, her parent’s grocery store burned to the ground. Despite their struggle, they insisted that she follow her plans to attend college where she majored in sociology. When her dad died of Alzheimer’s in 1988, it spurred her efforts to insure nursing care of the elderly. Her stint as a welfare worker in the late ‘60s heightened her concern for the poor. In 1971, she entered politics, going from door-to-door to coax votes for her place in city council. Doubters said that no women could win, let alone one without a political machine to back her, but she proved them wrong. From 1972-1976 she served as a teacher, adjunct professor at Loyola College, and an administrator and caseworker with the Baltimore Department of Social Services. In 1973, she was Chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention Committee on Delegate Selection and Party Structure. In 1976 she began her decade in the U.S. House, followed by a successful run for the Senate. A workaholic, Mikulski is single and lives in an elegant condo in Baltimore. She dotes on her extended family and her brashness is tempered by a self-depreciating wit. Mikulski and her friend, L.A. Times reporter Marylouise Oates have coauthored two murder mysteries, set, of course, in political Washington. Link to Wikipedia biography