History of Women in Utah

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Ivy Maude Baker was born September 7th, 1905 to Clara Fernley and Orange D. Baker in Kimberly, Utah.  Her family helped moved to Bigham Canyon in 1912 so that her father could work in the Kennecott Copper Mine.  Baker’s mother ran a boarding house in town to help with finances after Orange became injured in the mine.  At the boarding house 20 or more miners would eat every day, paying for a home cooked meal. ^[1]

Baker’s mother was often frustrated at the amount of mud and dirt brought in by the miners due to the town’s dirt roads.  When she brought the issue to the city’s mayor he refused to make improvements.  Baker saw her mother assist the family doctor successfully ran for Bigham’s mayor on the promise of wooden sidewalks, assisting in registering voters and residents establish citizenship.  After spending all of election day at the polls, after which Dr. Strupp was declared the winner, Baker remembers feeling elated.  This was the beginning of a long career in politics, making changes to improve others lives. ^[1]

During the Great Depression Baker’s father became unable to work due to injuries suffered while working in the mines, therefore she worked as a telephone operator and a department store saleswoman in Salt Lake City to help her family.  At the same time, she was also taking extension classes at the University of Utah, joining the Utah Young Republicans. ^[2]

At the age of 27 Baker was elected as a delegate to the 1932 Utah GOP Convention.  In 1934 she ran her first campaign, running unsuccessfully for a seat in the Utah House of Representatives.  But, for what became a pattern for Baker, she didn’t truly lose, as she was instead elected as Regional Co-Chairman of the Young Republicans National Federation.  Baker served in this position from 1934-1936, working at the grassroots level to organize Republican women’s clubs. ^[3]

Ivy Baker met Roy Fletcher Priest, a Utah furniture salesman, and they married in 1935, the couple had three children.^[2] 

Baker was once again a GOP delegate in 1944, but this time it was on the national stage, representing Utah at the Republican National Convention.  She served in this capacity from 1944-1953, during which time she decided to run again for a seat in the Utah House of Representatives. ^{2]

The election of 1950 was between Ivy Baker and Reva Beck Bosone, it was the only Congressional race in the country that year with two women facing each other for a seat creating national attention.  Although the election never devolved to the predicted “cat-fight” the campaigns were contentious.  Baker was criticized as a wife and mother who had abandoned her family in exchange for political ambition, Baker charged that it was her concern for her children that made her politically active.  Bosone won re-election, but at 53% of the vote. ^[3]

During the 1952 Republican National Convention Baker single handedly convinced fellow Utah GOP Delegates to support Eisenhower, a late entry, for President. Baker became assistant chair for Eisenhower’s national campaign in charge of the women’s division.  She was credited with expanding the turnout of women voters nationwide by almost 40%, accounting for 52% of the vote. ^[3]

Newly elected President Eisenhower appointed Baker Treasurer of the United States, making her the second woman to serve in the position which she held for eight years. In 1965 Baker, who had moved to California, was successfully elected to the office of California State Treasurer becoming the first woman elected to a California high constitutional office, serving eight years alongside (then) Governor Ronald Reagan. In August 1968, Ivy became the first women to formally nominate the presidential candidate of a major political party when she nominated Ronald Reagan at the Republican National Convention (he was not elected until 1980). ^[1]

As part of a Presidential administration, Ivy acknowledged the inherent conflicts of family and professional life:

Any woman who has a career and a family automatically develops something in the way of two personalities, like two sides of a dollar bill, each different in design. But one can complement the other to make a valuable whole. Her problem is to keep one from draining the life from the other. ^[1]

Throughout her career Baker encouraged other women to participate in politics at every level.  She was a strong advocate for the American Red Cross, the Utah and National Safety Councils, and the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults. ^[2]

Ivy Baker Priest died of cancer on June 23, 1975 in Santa Monica, California. ^[1]

Ivy Baker Priest Papers Finding Aid

Ivy Baker Priest Photograph Collection Finding Aid

^[1]  Ivy Baker Priest - Utah Women’s History - Better Days. (2024, February 5). Utah Women’s History - Better Days. https://utahwomenshistory.org/the-women/ivybakerpriest/

^[2]  Ivy Baker Priest papers - Archives West. (2019). Orbiscascade.org. https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv78616

^[3]  Ivy Baker Priest | History to Go. (2019). Utah.gov. https://historytogo.utah.gov/priest-ivy/

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