From collection Candidates
Marion Dickerman ran as the Democratic candidate from Oswego County for the New York State Assembly in 1919. Dickerman had been a Republican before being approached by labor reformer Elisabeth Dreier to run as a Democrat against incumbent Thaddeus C. Sweet. As speaker of the assembly, Sweet had opposed minimum wage and shorter work days for women and children. Dickerman lost but received 10,000 votes to Sweetís 17,000. She claimed her credentials, endorsements, and policies had, for the first time, made Sweet work hard for his victory. Through the campaign she moved into state Democratic networks and her work with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Dickerman was an associate of First Lady Eleanor Rooseveltís on the ìWomenís Democratic Newsî and corresponded extensively with her.
After attending Wellesley as well as Syracuse University, Dickerman served her life in public service, much as her grandfather and father. Dickerman's grandfather was a United States Senator from Connecticut, and her father worked as a lawyer in upstate New York. Dickerman and her life partner Nancy Cook worked for suffrage. Dickerman taught high school civics and history. During WWI, she was an aid worker in Europe. Dickerman in later life supported President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. She taught at the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers at Bryn Mawr College.
