Thompson, Sylvia Williams

Sylvia Thompson ran successfully in 1916 and 1918 to be the representative for Wasco and Hood River counties in the Oregon House of Representatives. During these two terms she served on the Committee on Education and the Committee for Health and Public Morals. She sponsored numerous pieces of legislation related to education policy. In 1920, she ran a primary race against Esther Lovejoy as a candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, but lost. In 1916, Thompson gave a campaign address for Woodrow Wilson's reelection. She spoke in her capacity as a member of the Woodrow Wilson League, an organization in Oregon supporting Wilson's reelection. Thompson was a member of the Women's Democratic National Committee prior to 1920, when she was asked to leave due to a personal disagreement with a national committeeman. She was a suffrage leader in Oregon. In 1920, she called on the governor to request a special legislative session to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, and said that she would forgo her salary and per diem for the special session. She believed that states that already had granted women the right to vote, such as hers, should take the lead in ratifying the federal amendment. When the Oregon House of Representatives did meet, she introduced its ratification bill. Thompson was born in Kentucky in 1873 and later used southern accents and stories for  public performances. She became active in the Federation of Women's Clubs after serving in the legislature. She married three times. Although active in Democratic politics, at the end of her life she supported the candidacy of Herbert Hoover. Thompson died in 1950.