Evening star., 1945-01-01
Ruth Hanna McC Corn1ick Sinn1s,
|GOPWomonL leader, Dies at 81

| 49,
|GOPWomunLe
| Active in Politics
| Over 40 Yeors;;
Served in House
Ey the Associated Press.
| CHICAGO, Jan. Mrs. Ruth
Hanna Mccormick Simms, "a,
Republican party leader, former
Representative Large from IL
Ilinois and publisher of the
Rockford (Ill.) Register-Republic
and Morning Star, died yester-
day from a pancreatic ailment.
Her husband, Albert G. Simms OF
Albuquerque, N. Mex. and her
daughters, Mrs. Cortlandt Barnes of
New York and Mrs. Peter Miller of
Chicago, were at her bedside. Fam
lily funeral services will be held
Thursday afternoon in Albuquer-
| que.
Mrs. Sirnms was the daughter of
Mark A. Hanna, late Senator from
Ohio, often referred to as "Presi-
dent maker"
An active supporter of Gov
Thomas E. Dewey, Mrs. Simms
worked for his nomination as presi-
Dental candidate in 1910 and again
last year as q delegate from New
Mexico at the convention. How
ever, an injury that preceded her
last illness, restricted her participa-
ton in the campaign.
Gov. Dewey said today, on learn
ing of her death, "The passing of
Ruth Simms brings to Mrs. Dewey
and me a feeling OF deep personal
loss. Her tremendous energy and
the warmth of her friendship will
leave bereft countless friends in
every State in the Nation, who knew
and loved her as one of the great
women of our time"
Daughter of Mark Hanna, one of
the most famous politicians in
American history. Mrs. Simms had
been active in politics for more than
40 years.
She was popular figure in Wash
ington society and political circles
as the wife Of the late Senator
Medill Mccormick of Illinois, and,
after his death in 1925, as a Repub-
lican member of Congress from
Illinois.
Her interest In politics remained
active after her second marriage, in
1882, to Albert @. Simms, banker,
lawyer and former Representative
from Albuquerque, N. Mex.-whom
she met while they occupied ad-
joining seats In the House-and
she was a delegate from New Mex
leo to the Republican convention
that nominated Gov. Dewey for the
presidency last summer
Injured In October.
In October she suffered a frac-
tured shoulder when her horse
stepped into gopher hole and
threw her and was forced to "set
out" most of the 1914 election cam
paign In a hospital at Chicago.
Born into politics, Mrs. Simns
as schoolgirl, stumped the coun-
try with her father in 1896. when
he engineered the election of VIII
liam Mckinley to the presidency
and made her first political speech
in a small Dakota town when her
fathers voice gave out.
When she was 10 her father de-
cided she had enough of formal
schooling and put her to work as his
secretary at the Capitol. They lived
in the old Cameron House, which
now is a part Of the Cosmos Club.
across lafayette Park from the
White House. 1t was there that
Senator Hanna gave his famous
political" breakfasts of griddle
cakes and corned beef hash, at
which Ruth Hanna talked politics
with President Mckinley, his sue
cessor, Theodore Roosevelt, and
other leaders In public life.
Was Suffrage Leader.
She became q leader in the fight
for women's suffrage, and long be-
fore she had the right to vote played
an important role in Republican
election campaigns. The party re-
warded her years of work with
honors and offices, making her ma
tional committeewoman from Illi-
nois in 1924. Four years previously
she had enjoyed the signal honor of
helping to close the presidential
campaign by speaking from the
same platform at Marion, Ohio
with Warren G. Harding, the COP
presidential nominee.
In 1923, she stumped Illinois on
her own behalf and won election as
Representative-at-large, polling the
largest plurality accorded any Of her
Republican teammates, even Presi-
dent Hoover. She won Republican
nomination for the Senate In 1890,
but lost the election.
For the last several years, Mrs.
Simms listed herself as president
and publisher of the Rockford Gill;
nois) Newspapers, Inc, q merger of
three papers there. For time she
maintained a 2,400-acre dairy farm
near Byron, Ill, which she disposed
of shortly after her marriage to Mr..
Simms
Operated Girls School
Making her home in Albuquerque,
she operated the Sandra Girls Pre-
paratory School there from 1882 un-
til 1912, when the Government took
over the building for use as a mill
tary hospital. She then turned to
managing the familyis zoo, ,000-acre
Trinchera Ranch, near Fort Gar
land, Colo, as an outlet for that
part of her boundless energy not
consumed In political affairs.
She was co-manager in 1910 with
Russell Sprague Of the Dewey pre-
convention campaign and supported
Wendell L. WILKES cau1DaiRn when