Representative Mary Elizabeth Pruett Farrington

Mary Elizabeth Pruett Farrington (May 30, 1898 – July 21, 1984), more commonly known as Elizabeth P. Farrington, was an American newspaper publisher and Republican politician who served as delegate to the United States Congress for the Territory of Hawai‘i. A member of the Republican Party, she represented Hawai‘i in the United States House of Representatives from 1953 to 1957, contributing to the legislative process during two terms in office. She was the wife of Joseph Rider Farrington, whom she succeeded in Washington, D.C., and the daughter-in-law of Wallace Rider Farrington, the Territorial Governor of Hawai‘i.

Farrington was born in Tokyo, Japan, on May 30, 1898. Her parents, Robert and Josie Pruett, were Christian missionaries from Tennessee, and her early childhood reflected their international and religious commitments. She attended the Tokyo Foreign School before the family returned to the United States, where she continued her education in several regions of the country. She was enrolled in grammar schools in Nashville, Tennessee, El Paso, Texas, and Los Angeles, California, experiences that exposed her to diverse communities and cultures at an early age.

After completing her primary schooling, Farrington attended Hollywood High School in Los Angeles. She then enrolled at Ward-Belmont Junior College in Nashville, Tennessee, from which she obtained a degree in 1916. Pursuing an interest in writing and public affairs, she went on to study journalism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. There she met fellow student Joseph Rider Farrington, who would later become a prominent journalist and delegate to Congress from Hawai‘i. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1918, and, newly married, settled with her husband in Honolulu. The couple later adopted two children.

Farrington’s professional career was rooted in journalism and publishing. After moving to Honolulu, she became a newspaper correspondent for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, a position she held through 1957. Within the family’s media enterprises she rose steadily in responsibility. Following the death of her father-in-law, Wallace Rider Farrington, and later the growing prominence of her husband, she became deeply involved in the management of the Star-Bulletin. In 1946 she succeeded her husband as publisher, president, and director of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, serving in those capacities from 1946 to 1961. Concurrently, she was director and chairman of the Honolulu Lithograph Company, Limited, and president of the Hawaiian Broadcasting System, Limited, extending her influence across print and broadcast media in the Territory of Hawai‘i.

Alongside her publishing work, Farrington built a significant career in Republican Party politics and women’s political organizations. She was elected president of the League of Republican Women and served in that office in Washington, D.C., from 1946 to 1948. She then advanced to national prominence in party women’s groups as president of the National Federation of Women’s Republican Clubs, serving from 1949 to 1953. In 1952 she was a delegate for the Territory of Hawai‘i to the Republican National Convention that nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower for President of the United States, reflecting her growing stature within the party at both territorial and national levels.

Farrington’s congressional service began after the unexpected death of her husband, Delegate Joseph Rider Farrington. She was elected in a special election to fill the vacancy and subsequently was re-elected to a full term in her own right. Her tenure in Congress is recorded as running from July 31, 1954, to January 3, 1957, during which she served as the non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the Territory of Hawai‘i. Her service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, marked by the early Cold War and debates over territorial status and statehood. As a member of the House of Representatives, she participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of her Hawaiian constituents. She was the first woman elected to represent Hawai‘i in any capacity—territory or state—in the U.S. Congress. In 1956 she sought re-election to a third term but was defeated, and at the conclusion of her service on January 3, 1957, she returned full-time to her family’s newspaper and related business interests in Honolulu.

In later years, Farrington continued to be called upon for public service. She made a brief return to federal politics when President Richard Nixon appointed her Director of the Office of Territories in the United States Department of the Interior, a position that placed her in a key role overseeing federal relations with U.S. territories. After completing her term in that office, she retired to Honolulu. Elizabeth P. Farrington died in Honolulu on July 21, 1984. Her ashes were interred at O‘ahu Cemetery, closing the life of a pioneering woman who had played influential roles in journalism, territorial politics, and the representation of Hawai‘i in the United States Congress.