Kathryn E. Granahan

Kathryn Elizabeth Granahan (December 7, 1894 – July 10, 1979) was an American politician. She served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and was appointed Treasurer of the United States by President John F. Kennedy.

Granahan was a member of the Democratic Party and was the first woman to be elected to the United States Congress from Philadelphia.

Early life and education Granahan was born Kathryn Elizabeth O'Hay in Easton, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. All four of her grandparents were Irish immigrants. She graduated from Easton Area High School and then Mount St. Joseph Collegiate Institute in Philadelphia, which was later renamed Chestnut Hill College.

Career She was supervisor of public assistance in the State Auditor General's Department, and liaison officer between that department and Pennsylvania Department of Public Assistance, from 1940 to 1943.

She was a member of national board, Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and was a delegate to the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

Congress Her husband, Rep. William T. Granahan served in Congress from 1945 to 1947 and from 1949 until his death in 1956. His death came shortly after the 1956 primary election and the Democratic Party in Philadelphia selected Kathryn to succeed her husband in both the special election and general election. She was simultaneously elected to serve out her husband's term in the 84th United States Congress and a term in the 85th United States Congress in her own right.

She served as chair of the House Subcommittee on Postal Operations, and worked with Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield to pass the Granahan bill "to seize and detain the mail of anyone suspected of trafficking in obscenity."

Treasurer of the United States After the 1960 census, Pennsylvania was expected to lose three seats in redistricting. The Democratic Party leadership chose Granahan's seat as one of those to be eliminated. Rep. Bill Green secured her assurance not to run in the 1962 elections. In return, Green convinced then U.S. president John F. Kennedy to appoint her Treasurer of the United States, which Kennedy did.

Death Granahan died in Norristown, Pennsylvania on July 10, 1979, at age 84. She is interred at Gethsemane Cemetery in Easton, Pennsylvania.