Evelyn “Evy” Dubrow, an indefatigable lobbyist for garment workers for almost 50 years and the only person on Capitol Hill allowed to share the congressional doorkeepers’ chairs outside the House chambers, died Tuesday of a heart attack at George Washington University Hospital. She was 95.
Ms. Dubrow, the 4-foot 11-inch, throaty-voiced representative for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and its successor union from 1956 until about two years ago, wore out countless pairs of size 4 shoes in the marble halls of the Capitol where she advocated a higher minimum wage, fair trade laws, family and medical leave policies and civil rights.
“Evelyn Dubrow is the union label,” Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) once said.
Her longevity gave her knowledge of the institution and an understanding of when to compromise. “There’s no point trying to organize an industry if there are no jobs,” she said in 1985, explaining why labor supported a protectionist bill.
It also gave her a seat just outside the House chambers as the speaker, Rep. Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, ordered the doorkeepers to share their seat with the representative of seamstresses, hemmers and buttonhole girls. The apparently unprecedented courtesy lasted until Rep. Newt Gingrich won the speakership and barred lobbyists from the second floor during votes.
President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999, calling her “a tiny woman, larger than life” who was “renowned for her grace, candor, and integrity.”
