Iris Faircloth Blitch

Who was Iris Faircloth Blitch?

Iris Faircloth Blitch was a United States Representative from Georgia. She was the third woman elected to Congress from Georgia. Blitch was born near Vidalia, Georgia and attended the University of Georgia in Athens in 1929. She also attended South Georgia College in Douglas in 1949. Blitch worked with her husband in the drug business, naval stores in industry and farming in Homerville, Georgia.

In 1946, Blitch was elected to the Georgia Senate, and she was subsequently elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1948 but lost her reelection bid to that office in 1950. She won election to the state Senate again in 1952 and remained in that position through December 31, 1954. From 1948 through 1954, Blitch was Georgia's Democratic Party national committee member.

Running a successful campaign for Georgia's 8th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat, Blitch served in the 84th United States Congress. A staunch segregationist, in 1956, Blitch signed "The Southern Manifesto." She won reelection to three additional terms in that seat before choosing not to seek reelection in 1962 due to health reasons. In 1964, Mrs. Blitch left the Democratic Party and endorsed Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater.