Videotape collection of Mary Dent Crisp, 1979-1998

Mary Dent Crisp was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She received her degree in botany from Oberlin College in 1946, later pursuing graduate studies in political science at Arizona State University. In 1948 she married William Crisp, a doctor; they had three children before divorcing in 1976. A fervent supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and of abortion rights, Crisp was an active member of the Republican Party, first on the local and then on the national level, for over 20 years. In 1977, she was elected co-chair of the Republican National Committee, and served until 1980. At the 1980 Republican Convention, she spoke out against the platform committee's decision to oppose the Equal Rights Amendment, and also protested the party's opposition to the federal funding of abortion. Crisp subsequently announced that she would not seek reelection as co-chair and signed on as presidential candidate John Anderson's campaign manager. She served on President Carter's Advisory Committee for Women and on the boards of Women's Economic Roundtable, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Women's Political Caucus, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. From 1984 until the mid-1990s, she was a national director of the political action committee, Business Executives for National Security, a nonpartisan advocacy group concerned about the economic effects of the arms race. In 1989, after the Supreme Court restricted federal funding for abortion, Crisp co-founded and served as chair and spokesperson for the National Republican Coalition for Choice. She died in her home in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2007, from complications from a stroke.