Becky Cain

Last updated

Rebecca "Becky" Cook Cain-Ceperley was the president of the League of Women Voters from 1992 to 1998. Cain is currently the president and CEO of The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation in Charleston, West Virginia.

Contents

Life

Cain is from St. Albans, West Virginia. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from West Virginia University in 1969. While at West Virginia University, she was a member of Alpha Phi. In the summer of 1970, she did postgraduate work in Education at West Virginia University. She is married, and has one son. [1] [2]

Career

Cain was originally a teacher to school-age children, and taught about American civics and the United States government. She joined the League of Women Voters in 1975, as a member of their Charleston, West Virginia chapter. [1] She began to volunteer for the organization and advocated for the increased participation of women in American politics. [3] She became the national president of the League of Women Voters in 1992, which was a volunteer position. As the national president of the League, she played an active role in seeking congressional action on a broad range of public policy issues including the fight for the passage of the National Voter Registration Act. [4] [3] She also sought to rebuild the faith of voters in the American political symptom, and combat voter apathy. [3]

In 1996 the Ladies' Home Journal named her one of the most powerful women in politics in the category of issues and advocates. As president, she also helped to run advertisements in the Ladies' Home Journal that were aimed at increasing the political involvement of American women. [3] Following her tenure at the League of Women Voters, she worked to achieve campaign finance reform in Congress as the president of Campaign for America. [5] Cain has appeared on CBS This Morning, Primetime Live, the Larry King Show, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered . Scripps-Howard and Cox News Service have also carried her columns and guest editorials. She is currently a contributing columnist for The Charleston Gazette. [5] In 2006, West Virginia Executive Magazine named her one of the 50 most powerful people in West Virginia. [5]

Cain is a former member of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Advisory Committee on Election Law to the American Bar Association, and the West Virginia Election Commission. She is currently a member of the board of directors of the Campaign Finance Institute, the Alliance for Better Campaigns, the American Judicature Society, the West Virginia Center for Civic Life and the West Virginia Nature Conservancy. She also serves on the Committee on Legislation and Regulations for the Council on Foundations. [6]

Honors and awards

In 1988, she received the West Virginia Common Cause Public Service Award. That same year, she also received the West Virginia Celebrate Women Award for her commitment to, and achievement in, volunteer work. In 1992, she was honored with the West Virginia Education Association Corma A. Mowrey Memorial Award. She was named a distinguished alumnus of the West Virginia University Department of Political Science in 1994. [1] In 1998, upon the end of her term as president of the League of Women Voters, the Becky Cain Award for Visionary Leadership was established by the organization in her honor. [2] Cain has also received honorary Doctor of Law Degrees from Ripon College, University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Charleston, West Virginia. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Bush</span> First Lady of the United States (2001–2009)

Laura Lane Bush is the wife of George W. Bush and served as the first lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as the first lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. She is also the daughter-in-law of former president George H. W. Bush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Rockefeller</span> American politician (born 1937)

John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV is a retired American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia (1985–2015). He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as governor of West Virginia (1977–1985). Rockefeller moved to Emmons, West Virginia, to serve as a VISTA worker in 1964 and was first elected to public office as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates (1966-1968). Rockefeller was later elected secretary of state of West Virginia (1968–1973) and was president of West Virginia Wesleyan College (1973–1975). He became the state's senior U.S. senator when the long-serving Senator Robert Byrd died in June 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">League of Women Voters</span> US non-profit, non-partisan political group

The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for voting rights. In addition, the LWV works with partners that share its positions and supports a variety of progressive public policy positions, including campaign finance reform, women's rights, health care reform, gun control and LGBT+ rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 United States presidential election</span> 56th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American to be elected to the presidency, as well as being only the third sitting United States senator elected president, joining Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, this was only the second successful all-senator ticket since the 1960 election and is the only election where both major party nominees were sitting senators. This was the first election since 1952 in which neither the incumbent president nor vice president was on the ballot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelley Moore Capito</span> American politician and educator (born 1953)

Shelley Wellons Moore Capito is an American politician and retired educator serving in her second term as the junior United States senator from West Virginia, a post she has held since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Capito served seven terms as the U.S. representative from West Virginia's 2nd congressional district from 2001 to 2015. The daughter of three-term West Virginia governor Arch Alfred Moore Jr., she is the dean of West Virginia's congressional delegation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MoveOn</span> American grassroots progressive campaigning community

MoveOn is a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown into one of the largest and most impactful grassroots progressive campaigning communities in the United States, with a membership of millions. MoveOn did not endorse a candidate during the 2020 presidential primary campaign; it then endorsed and actively supported Joe Biden in the general election. Rahna Epting has been Executive Director of MoveOn Civic Action and MoveOn Political Action since 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrie Chapman Catt</span> 19th and 20th-century American social reformer and suffragist

Carrie Chapman Catt was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women the right to vote in 1920. Catt served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1900 to 1904 and 1915 to 1920. She founded the League of Women Voters in 1920 and the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in 1904, which was later named International Alliance of Women. She "led an army of voteless women in 1919 to pressure Congress to pass the constitutional amendment giving them the right to vote and convinced state legislatures to ratify it in 1920". She "was one of the best-known women in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century and was on all lists of famous American women."

Mary Sue Terry is an American Democratic politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of West Virginia</span> Overview of the procedure of elections in the U.S. state of West Virginia

From the time of the Great Depression through the 1990s, the politics of West Virginia were largely dominated by the Democratic Party. In the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush claimed a surprise victory over Al Gore, with 52% of the vote; he won West Virginia again in 2004, with 56% of the vote. West Virginia is now a heavily Republican state, with John McCain winning the state in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgette Mosbacher</span> American political activist, businesswoman, & diplomat (born 1947)

Georgette Mosbacher is an American business executive, entrepreneur, and political activist who served as the United States Ambassador to Poland from 2018 to 2021. She is the chairman of the Green Beret Foundation advisory board, and a Fox News contributor. On November 19, 2015, President Barack Obama nominated her as a member of the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 United States presidential election in West Virginia</span> Election in West Virginia

The 2008 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 5 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Tennant</span> American politician

Natalie E. Tennant is an American politician who served as the Secretary of State of West Virginia from 2009 to 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Tennant was the 2014 Democratic Party nominee for West Virginia's open U.S. Senate seat, which she lost to Republican Shelley Moore Capito. In 2016 she was defeated for re-election by Republican Mac Warner, and left office on January 16, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Percy Rockefeller</span> American politician (born 1944)

Sharon Lee Percy Rockefeller is the wife of former West Virginia Senator John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV and served as that state's First Lady from 1977 to 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Johnson Gates</span> American politician

Anna Johnson Gates was an American suffragist and progressive era politician who was the first woman elected to the West Virginia Legislature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Lee Fain</span> American politician

Sarah Lee Odend'hal Fain was a Virginia schoolteacher and Democratic politician who became one of the earliest female members of the Virginia General Assembly and later assisted with New Deal reforms in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Texas and California. In 1923, Fain and fellow schoolteacher Helen Timmons Henderson became the first two women elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia</span>

The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in West Virginia were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the three U.S. representatives from the West Virginia, one from each of the state's three congressional districts. The filing deadline was January 27, 2018. The primary elections were held on May 8, 2018. The elections coincided with the other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections.

Kathleen Nagler Straus served as a member of the Michigan State Board of Education from 1993–2016. She has been continuously involved in civic organizations in Michigan, since moving to Detroit in 1952. Her volunteer and professional roles have included the Presidency of the League of Women Voters of Detroit, Executive Director of People and Responsible Organizations (PRO) for Detroit, President of the Michigan State Board of Education, and Secretary of the National Association of State Boards of Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel McGhee Davis</span> American educator, social worker, and college administrator

Ethel Elizabeth McGhee Davis was an American educator, social worker, and college administrator. She served as the student adviser (1928–1931) and as the Dean of Women (1931–1932) for Spelman College in Atlanta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lenna Lowe Yost</span>

Lenna Lowe Yost, president of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association (WVESA) during the state woman suffrage referendum campaign of 1916 and chairman of the WVESA Ratification Committee during the national amendment ratification campaign of 1920. Yost was at the time also the state president of the West Virginia Woman's Christian Temperance Union, thus being the only woman in the nation to serve as both president of temperance and of the suffrage club at the same time. Yost was the first woman to be appointed to the state Board of Education, and the first woman to chair the West Virginia Republic Party convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naomi Silverman Cohn</span>

Naomi Silverman Cohn was an American social activist and government worker. She cofounded the Virginia Council on State Legislation which followed legislative bills dedicated to women's issues. Cohn directed the Division of Women and Children of the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry until 1942. Her activism resulted in posthumous recognition by the Women of Virginia Historic Trail and Virginia Women in History. Cohn's name was added to the Virginia Women's Monument in 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Becky Cain". Iowa State Plaza of Heroines. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  2. 1 2 Stuhler, Barbara (2000). For the Public Record: A Documentary History of the League of Women Voters. Greenwood Publishing: Greenwood Publishing. p. 288. ISBN   9780313253164 . Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Commending Becky Cain". Congressional Record Online. pp. S6217–S6218. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  4. ↑ Lawson, Betsy (18 May 2015). "Reminiscing: 22 Years After The National Voter Registration Act". The League of Women Voters. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Fifty Years of Service to the Community" (PDF). Views & Visions. No. Spring 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  6. 1 2 "WV Grantmakers Appoint New Board Member". West Virginia Executive. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.