Senator Maryon Pittman Allen

Maryon Pittman Allen (née Pittman; November 30, 1925 – July 23, 2018) was an American journalist and Democratic politician who served as a United States Senator from Alabama for five months in 1978. Appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, Senator James B. Allen, she became one of only two women serving in the Senate at that time and the first woman to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Her brief tenure in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, and she contributed to the legislative process during one term in office in 1978.

Allen was born Maryon Pittman in Meridian, Mississippi, on November 30, 1925. In 1926, when she was still an infant, her family moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where her father established a tractor dealership. She grew up in Birmingham and attended the city’s public schools. From 1944 to 1947, she studied journalism at the University of Alabama, though she did not complete a degree. While a student there, she married Joshua Mullins in 1946. The couple had three children, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1959, when their children were still young.

Following her divorce, Allen entered the workforce to support her family. She first worked as an insurance agent and later moved into journalism, becoming editor of the women’s sections for five weekly newspapers in the Birmingham area. This experience led to a position as a staff writer for the Birmingham News. In that capacity, she met James “Jim” Allen, then lieutenant governor of Alabama, in 1964 when she interviewed him about a speech he delivered to the Alabama Federation of Women’s Clubs. Allen, a widower with two children, and Maryon Pittman developed a relationship and married in August 1964 after a courtship of about four months.

With her second marriage, Maryon Pittman Allen became a prominent political spouse in Alabama. As lieutenant governor, Jim Allen presided over the Alabama State Senate, including a special legislative session called by Governor George C. Wallace just three days before their wedding. She later wrote that the session produced “the most public, political honeymoon in history.” In 1967, the year Jim Allen completed his term as lieutenant governor, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and underwent several months of treatment. Drawing on her experience, she wrote a series of articles for Alabama newspapers in 1968 describing the state’s hospital care programs and urging readers to obtain tuberculin tests and chest X-rays.

Jim Allen was elected to the United States Senate in 1968 and took office in January 1969. Maryon Allen accompanied him to Washington, D.C., where she continued her journalism career. She wrote a syndicated column titled “The Reflections of a News Hen” for Alabama newspapers, a feature that earned Alabama Press Association awards as the “best original column.” During this period she deepened her familiarity with national politics and legislative issues, though she herself held no public office prior to her later Senate appointment.

Senator James B. Allen died suddenly of a heart attack on June 1, 1978. One week later, on June 8, 1978, Democratic Governor George C. Wallace appointed Maryon Pittman Allen to succeed her husband in the United States Senate. A member of the Democratic Party, she thus began her service as a Senator from Alabama in 1978, serving for five months that year. In the Senate, she received assignments to two committees on which her husband had served: the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. She sought, but did not obtain, a seat on the Committee on Rules and Administration. Her appointment to the Judiciary Committee made her the first woman ever to serve on that influential panel. During her brief tenure, she participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of her Alabama constituents at a time of intense national debate over constitutional and social issues.

Politically, Allen was very conservative, even by the standards of Alabama Democrats of the era. In October 1978, she voted for a proposal that would have allowed states which had ratified the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to rescind their ratification. At that time, 35 states had ratified the ERA, three short of the number needed before the March 1979 deadline to add the amendment to the Constitution. The rescission proposal failed to secure a majority, and the Senate then joined the House of Representatives in voting to extend the ratification deadline by three years. No additional states ratified the ERA during the extended period, and the amendment ultimately failed.

After her appointment, Allen chose to run in the November 1978 special election to complete the remaining two years of her late husband’s Senate term. Governor Wallace had been widely expected to seek the seat but declined to run, initially making Allen a perceived favorite. Her campaign, however, was damaged when the Washington Post published an interview by reporter Sally Quinn in which Allen was quoted as making remarks that appeared critical of Governor Wallace and his late wife, former Governor Lurleen Wallace. Allen contended that her statements had been distorted, but the controversy alienated many Alabama voters, and her decision to grant an interview to a newspaper viewed by many conservatives as a liberal publication was itself questioned. In the Democratic primary on September 5, 1978, she led the field with 44 percent of the vote but fell short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff. In the September 26 runoff, she lost to State Senator Donald W. Stewart by more than 120,000 votes. Stewart went on to win the general election on November 7, 1978, and Allen’s Senate service concluded the following day. During her time in office, she was one of only two women serving in the Senate, the other being Muriel Humphrey of Minnesota, who had also been appointed in January 1978 to fill the seat of her late husband, Senator Hubert Humphrey; both women left the Senate in November 1978 upon the election of their successors.

Following the end of her brief Senate career, Maryon Pittman Allen remained active in journalism and public life. She worked for a period as a columnist for the Washington Post, drawing on her experience in national politics and her earlier career as a reporter and commentator. In later years she returned to Alabama, where she engaged in public relations work for an antique dealer and auction house in Birmingham. She lived quietly in her home state in her later life, remaining a figure of historical interest as one of the early women to serve in the United States Senate and as the first woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Maryon Pittman Allen died on July 23, 2018, at the age of 92.