MSS 863 Donna Pope Papers

              MSS 863
Donna Pope Papers
5- 114 c u b i c f e e t
Standard i n v e n t o r y
C o l l e c t i o n S y n o p s i s
Provenance: The Ohio H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y a c q u i r e d t h e Donna Pope
Papers as a g i f t o f Donna Pope, Washington, DC, i n J u l y 1984.
P e t e r Lundskow p r o c e s s e d t h e c o l l e c t i o n i n F e b r u a r y 1985.
P r o p e r t y r i g h t s : The Ohio H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y owns t h e p r o p e r t y
r i g h t s t o t h i s c o l l e c t i o n .
C o p y r i g h t s : Donna Pope has d e d i c a t e d such c o p y r i g h t s as she
possesses i n t h i s c o l l e c t i o n t o t h e p u b l i c . C o n s i d e r a t i o n o f
a l l o t h e r c o p y r i g h t s i s t h e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y o f t h e a u t h o r and
pub1 i sher.
Access: T h i s c o l l e c t i o n i s open under t h e r u l e s and r e g u l a t i o n s
o f t h e Ohio H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y .
C i t a t i o n : Researchers a r e r e q u e s t e d t o c i t e c o l l e c t i o n name,
c o l l e c t i o n number, and t h e Ohio H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y i n a l l f o o t -
n o t e and b i b l i o g r a p h i c r e f e r e n c e s .
T r a n s f e r s : Photographs and a u d i o t a p e c o n c e r n i n g t h e c a r e e r o f
Donna Pope were t r a n s f e r r r e d t o t h e a u d i o v i s u a l c o l l e c t i o n s i n
F e b r u a r y 1985.
B i o g r a p h i c a l s k e t c h : Donna Pope was b o r n October 15, 1931, on
t h e s o u t h e a s t s i d e o f C l e v e l a n d . She a t t e n d e d p u b l i c school and
g r a d u a t e d from C l e v e l a n d ' s South High School i n 1949. I n 1950
she m a r r i e d Raymond L. Pope, a C l eve1 and p o l i c e m a n . They have
two d a u g h t e r s , Candace ( Evans) and C h e r y l Ann.
Pope f i r s t became i n v o l v e d i n t h e Parma, Ohio, P a r e n t Teachers
A s s o c i a t i o n i n t h e e a r l y 1960s. I n 1964 she became a c t i v e
p o l i t i c a l l y i n t h e R e p u b l i c a n P a r t y , f i r s t as a p r e c i n c t committee-woman
t h e n i n 1966, as a ward l e a d e r and a s t a t e c e n t r a l committee-woman.
I n 1968 Pope was h i r e d as a s u p e r v i s o r f o r t h e Cuyahoga
County Board o f E l e c t i o n s where she remained u n t i l h e r a p p o i n t m e n t
t o t h e 5 1 s t Ohio House D i s t r i c t i n 1979. Pope was e l e c t e d t o t h e
r e d i s t r i c t e d 1 2 t h D i s t r i c t t h a t f a l l . She was r e s p e c t e d by her
p e e r s o f b o t h p a r t i e s and r e e l e c t e d e i g h t t i m e s by a p r i m a r i l y b l u e
c o l l a r Democratic d i s t r i c t . Some o f t h e i s s u e s championed by
Pope were l e g i s l a t i o n f o r a n t i - p o r n o g r a p h y l a w s , passage o f t h e
Equal R i g h t s Amendment, and t h e r e e n s t a t e m e n t o f t h e d e a t h p e n a l t y .
I n 1978 d u r i n g h e r s i x t h term, Pope was e l e c t e d as m i n o r i t y whip
and s e r v e d on t h e j u d i c i a r y and c r i m i n a l j u s t i c e , r u l e s , e t h i c s ,
a g i n g , and h o u s i n g c o m m i t t e e s .
D u r i n g t h e p r e s i d e n t i a l e l e c t i o n o f 1980 Pope s e r v e d as
c o - c h a i r p e r s o n b o t h f o r t h e Ohio R e p u b l i c a n C o n v e n t i o n D e l e g a t i o n
and t h e Ohio Reagan Campaign. W i t h t h e e l e c t i o n o f Ronald Reagan
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