Florence Prag Kahn was an American educator and politician. She was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from California's 4th district from 1925 to 1936.
Background
Florence Prag Kahn was born on November 9, 1948 in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, the only daughter of Conrad Prag and Mary (Goldsmith) Prag. Her parents, both Polish Jews, had been early settlers in California but had lived in Salt Lake City for several years prior to Florence's birth. They returned to California in 1869 after the failure of Conrad Prag's business, whereupon Mary Prag became the principal breadwinner of the family as head of the history department at San Francisco's Girls' High School. She was an early advocate of pensions for state teachers and later served on the San Francisco Board of Education.
Education
Florence attended public schools in San Francisco and was graduated in 1883 from Girls' High School and in 1887 from the University of California at Berkeley. Frustrated in her ambition to study law by family financial problems, she too entered high school teaching, concentrating in history and English.
Career
Florence Kahn was elected to the Sixty-ninth Congress on February 17, 1925. An able politician in her own right, she was reelected to five successive Congresses. She lost her seat to Frank R. Havenner, a newspaperman running on the Democratic and Progressive tickets, in the 1936 Roosevelt landslide. Kahn balked at her initial assignment to the Committee on Indian Affairs: "The only Indians in my district are in front of cigar stores, " she said, "and I can't do anything for them". She served for three years on the committees on the census; education; expenditures in the war department; war claims; and coinage, weights, and measures. In 1928 she realized her ambition of gaining a seat on the Committee on Military Affairs and became the first woman taking that seat. An "ardent advocate of adequate preparedness", she discounted charges that she was a militarist. Kahn also served on the Appropriations Committee. Afterwards, she actively tried to get women involved in politics.
Achievements
Religion
Kahn was a Reform Jew and belonged to Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco.
Politics
Florence Kahn was a member of the Republican party. She supported measures for a strong national defense as well as bills providing benefits for army and navy nurses, veterans and their families, and others who made personal sacrifices for the United States during World War I. A believer in strict economy in public expenditures, she nevertheless favored federal support for highway construction, flood control, river and harbor improvements, and radio and aviation development. She staunchly supported funding sufficient to strengthen and broaden the law-enforcement activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, winning from J. Edgar Hoover the label "the Mother of the FBI. " Immediately joining the "wet" faction in Congress, Kahn became an outspoken leader of the drive against prohibition on the grounds that it was unenforceable and "a complete failure. " She argued for "modification" of the Volstead Act to permit the manufacture, transportation, and sale of light wines and beer; her goal was "an enforceable temperance".
Views
Quotations:
"Preparedness never caused a war, unpreparedness never prevented one. "
Membership
Florence Kahn was active in Jewish and women's organizations. She was a member of the American Association of University Women, Hadassah and the Council of Jewish Women.
Personality
Kahn was known for her wit, mimicry, and candor. She delighted visitors to the House gallery with unexpected remarks. When Fiorello La Guardia attacked her as "nothing but a stand-patter, following that reactionary, Senator George H. Moses of New Hampshire, " she shot back, "Why shouldn't I choose Moses as my leader? Haven't my people been following him for ages?". When another of her colleagues labeled opponents of a movie-censorship bill unclean, she retorted, "Don't you dare call me unclean. " Accused by a group of women of having been influenced on the bill by a young, handsome motion picture executive, she declared. "Of course I have been. Look at him and tell me if I'm to blame". The Literary Digest said that "as a wit and jester, [Kahn] has no equal in the House of Representatives".
Quotes from others about the person
"Congress treats her like a man, fears her, admires her and listens to her. "
Connections
On March 19, 1899, Florence Prag married Julius Kahn, the newly elected Republican congressman from San Francisco's Fourth District. He served in Congress until his death on December 18, 1924. They had two sons, Julius and Conrad.