Hazel Hempel Abel

Republican Senator of Nebraska

Senator
Nebraska
November 8, 1954 - December 31, 1954

Congresses Served

Senate Terms

January 1, 1888 (78 years old)

Birthday

January 1, 1966

Death

Served as a United States Senator for fifty-four days in 1954, making her the first woman elected to the Senate from her state and the shortest-serving senator from there.
Born and raised in Nebraska, she was an educator before entering politics, working as a high school mathematics teacher and principal.
Graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1908.
Worked in her husband’s construction company, eventually becoming its president.
Was a delegate to the state’s Republican Conventions multiple times between 1939 and 1956 and served as vice chairman of the State Republican Central Committee in 1954.
Succeeded Eva Bowring in the Senate, becoming the first woman to follow another woman in a Senate seat.
Resigned her Senate seat three days before the term ended to give her successor a seniority advantage, stating her campaign was to raise the visibility of women in political office.
Voted to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army–McCarthy hearings.
Was a delegate to the White House Conference on Education in 1955 and chairwoman of the Nebraska delegation to the 1956 Republican National Convention.
Served on the Theodore Roosevelt Centennial Commission from 1955 to 1959 and was named “American Mother of the Year” in 1957.
Founded the Nebraska Federation of Republican Women and served on the board of trustees for Doane College and Nebraska Wesleyan College.
Ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for Governor of Nebraska in 1960.
Died in Lincoln, Nebraska, and is interred there; a park in Lincoln is named in her honor.
Married George Abel in 1916 and had five children.