Flamboyant Advocate.

Bella Abzug made news in the 1970s as a vocal and flamboyant advocate for equal rights for women. Born in New York City in 1920, Bella Savitsky Abzug was the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants. She attended Bronx public schools, and, after graduating from Hunter College and Columbia University Law School, she was admitted to the New York bar in 1947. In the 1950s and 1960s she was a leader in the anti-McCarthy and civil rights movement and served as a labor and American Civil Liberties Union lawyer.

Elevation to Congress.

By the mid 1960s she lobbied for nuclear disarmament and was a vigorous critic of the Vietnam War policies of Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Her leadership roles in the women's liberation movement and in the new Democratic coalition led to her serving in Congress from 1971—1976.

First Jewish Congresswomen.

Defeating a seven-term regular...