Alla Delphia Clary: The Speaker's secretary

This biographical study of Alla Clary, who was Texas Congressman Sam Rayburn's secretary for more than forty years, portrays a woman who witnessed major historical events during the first half of the twentieth century. This research examines Clary's personal life and her career in Washington, D.C. Her personal diaries as well as material from the Rayburn Papers, a collection located at the Center for American History at the University of Texas, helped gain a clearer picture of Alla Clary. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to give visibility to someone whose significance has been generally overlooked in traditional historical investigation.