Career
In 1945, she became the first female department head of the United Auto Workers union. In the 1950s and 60s, Jeffrey became more active in the civil rights movement, marching with Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior., and registering voters in Mississippi. She was influential in the campaign of then Senator John F. Kennedy and later managed Senator Robert F. Kennedy"s Michigan state presidential campaign in 1968.
In the 1970s, she helped establish the National Women"s Political Caucus, fighting for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, child care and equal pay legislation.
She was instrumental in advancing the name of Geraldine Ferraro as the Democratic Party"s nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1984. Her mother, Bertha McWilliams, who raised Millie, the oldest, and six other children, became Iowa"s first female registered pharmacist in 1908 and owned a drugstore in Alton and later in Minneapolis.
Millie"s papers are housed at the Reuther Library at Wayne State University. Recently, Palo Alto High School students undertook a yearlong investigation of Jeffrey"s life after coming across a telegram written by Robert F. Kennedy to Jeffrey before he publicly announced his candidacy for the presidency in March 1968.
