Louise Day Hicks

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Louise Day Hicks
Louise Day Hicks.jpg
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 9th district
In office
January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973
Preceded by John W. McCormack
Succeeded by Joe Moakley
President of the Boston City Council
In office
Preceded by Gerald O'Leary
Succeeded by Joseph M. Tierney
Personal details
Born Anna Louise Day
(1916-10-16)October 16, 1916
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) John Hicks
Religion Roman Catholic

Anna Louise Day Hicks (October 16, 1916 – October 21, 2003) was an American politician and lawyer from Boston, Massachusetts, best known for her staunch opposition to desegregation in Boston Public Schools, and especially to court-ordered busing in the 1960s and 1970s.

Early life[edit]




Hicks enrolled at Boston College Law School in 1949, but she left after two years without earning a degree. She entered law school a second time in 1952, this time at Boston University Law School. Hicks stated that her father's death in 1950 left her resolved to follow in his footsteps. At this time female law students were still rare; Hicks was one of only nine women in her class of 232. Hicks formed close friendships with two other female students, one Jewish and one black, and she studied for exams with a group made up of mostly minorities. Hicks graduated with a law degree in 1955 and opened a law office; Hicks and Day; with her brother John.[5]

De facto segregation[edit]



By refusing to admit segregation existed in city schools and by declaring that children were the "pawns" of racial politics, she came to personify the discord that existed between some working class[citation needed] Irish-Americans and African-Americans. "Boston schools are a scapegoat for those who have failed to solve the housing, economic, and social problems of the black citizen," Hicks said. She asserted that while thirteen Boston schools were at least 90% black, Chinatown schools were 100% Chinese, the North End had schools that were 100% Italian American, and South Boston contained schools that were mostly Irish American. The Boston Public Schools included a conglomerate of white ethnics with very few WASPs.

Mayoral bid, City Council, and Congress[edit]


In 1967, Hicks came within 12,000 votes of being elected mayor of Boston, running on the coded slogan, "You know where I stand." The nonpartisan race against fellow Democrat Kevin White became so acrimonious that the Boston Globe broke a 75-year tradition of political neutrality to endorse White.[7] After the unsuccessful mayoral bid, Hicks ran for city council and won. Two years later, after Speaker John W. McCormack retired, Hicks beat out eleven other candidates to win the Democratic primary for his South Boston-based congressional district; in heavily Democratic Boston, the winner of that primary was essentially assured victory in the November election. She served one term in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1973, becoming the first female Democrat to represent Massachusetts in the House. A member of the National Organization for Women, while in Congress Hicks lobbied for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.[1] She sought reelection, but was narrowly defeated in the general election by City Councilman Joe Moakley, a more liberal Democrat who was running as an Independent. Moakley reverted to his Democratic party affiliation after he entered the House.

There were 223 murders in Boston in 1973-1974, but only two dozen involved blacks killing whites. Hicks claimed, however, that were "at least one hundred black people walking around in the black community who have killed white people during the last two years."[8]Hicks took aim at "radical agitators" and "pseudo-liberals" of the counterculture. She declared that "white women can no longer walk the streets [of Boston] in safety" and that "justice [had come] to mean special privileges for the black man and the criminal." She attacked "black militants [who] tyrannize our schools, creating chaos and disruption."[9]



Hicks opposed George Wallace of Alabama, who ran for U.S. President on four occasions: "He's a segregationist. I don't want to be connected to him."[13]Hicks continued, "While a large part of my vote probably does come from bigoted people. ... I know I'm not bigoted. To me the word means all the dreadful southern segregatinist, Jim Crow business that's always shocked and revolted me."[14]




  1. ^ a b Feeney 2003.
  2. ^ Lukas 1986, pp. 116-118.
  4. ^ Lukas 1986, pp. 118-119.
  5. ^ Lukas 1986, pp. 118-120.
  6. ^ Lukas 1986, p. 123.
  9. ^ Sandbrook, Mad As Hell, p. 109
  10. ^ Sandbrook, Mad As Hell, pp. 109-110
  11. ^ http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/tocn-mla000844-louise-day-hicks-talks-about-curfew-proposal
  12. ^ Sandbrook, Mad As Hell, pp. 110-111
  13. ^ Sandbrook, Mad as Hell, p. 115
  14. ^ Sandbrook, Mad As Hell, p. 115


See also[edit]

External links[edit]

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
John W. McCormack
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 9th congressional district

Succeeded by
Joe Moakley