CEDAR RAPIDS, IA - The 2016 theme for Women’s History Month which runs through March honors women who have shaped America’s history and its future through their public service and government leadership. Iowa had such a leader in Eunice Viola “Ola" Babcock Miller. Today the United States Attorney’s Office commemorated the month with an examination of this leader’s great accomplishments during a program at the federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids.
U.S. Attorney Kevin W. Techau welcomed those attending the program, including special guests. Chief of the Iowa State Patrol, Colonel Michael Van Berkum, attended the event and was treated to a historical account of Ms. Babcock’s important role in Iowa’s history as portrayed by Rosemary Harris of Columbus Junction.
Techau noted, as the former Commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety, that Ola Babcock Miller was an “inspirational governmental leader when women were generally not active politically." He added, “Ms. Miller was a leader ahead of her time. Her courage and willpower in founding the Iowa State Patrol saved thousands of lives. We were proud to honor her memory and legacy as an outstanding public servant and leader. "
In 1932 Miller was elected the state’s first Secretary of State and before that was active in the suffrage movement as well as the Daughters of the American Revolution.
America’s history sometimes overlooks and undervalues the dramatic influence on our public policy and the building of viable institutions and organizations contributed to by our political leaders like Ola Babcock Miller.
Extraordinary women have fought tirelessly to broaden our democracy’s reach and help perfect our freedoms. Today those successes and influences were celebrated.
Miller was one of the first four women to be inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1975. In 1999, the Iowa Legislature, prompted by the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women, authorized the renaming of the stately Old Historical Building at East Grand Avenue and East 12th Street as the Ola Babcock Miller State Office Building. The State Library and other state offices are housed in the building following a $20 million renovation.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
