Baldonado, Sandy

Metadata

Abstract

An oral history of Sandy Nash Baldonado, former Claremont City Councilwoman and Mayor. The interview was conducted for the Women, Politics, and Activism Since Suffrage Oral History Project for California State University, Fullerton’s Center for Oral and Public History. The purpose of this interview was to gather information regarding her experience running for city council as well as her time spent serving her community as council member and mayor. Specifically, this interview provides information on Sandy’s childhood from the time she was born in China (where her father worked as an engineer); she describes how after living in several countries she settled in New York; she explains that the election of Dewey and Truman stirred her interest in politics and from then on identified as a Democrat; she describes working for Adlai Stevenson’s campaign in 1952 and Lyndon Johnson in 1960; she discusses the first time she faced discrimination working for Macy’s; she explains her experience working for the CIA and Saks Fifth Avenue and explains the gender roles in these working spaces; she explains her involvement with the League of Women Voters in 1973 and her role as vice chair of the Democratic Party from 1977 to 1981; she discusses her challenges raising money and having people trust a woman in politics; she details her political campaign and explains the work she did for the city of Claremont from 1999 to 2006; she explains her role as city council and mayor; she describes her relationship with Diann Ring, also former councilwoman and mayor (1992); she explains that at the age of forty-six she returns to law school to become a family attorney to help women.