Most Powerful Woman in American History?

Mother of five makes history as first female house speaker

23 May 2010

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi greets California students during their trip to Washington, DC.

Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker in the 218-year history of the U.S. House of Representatives, has been described as the most powerful woman in American history.

Although she didn't run for office until she was in her mid-40s, Nancy Pelosi was born into politics.

Family business

The seventh child and only daughter of Thomas and Anunciata D'Alesandro talked about growing up in a political family at a ceremony naming a street after her in her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.

"I was born and raised in Baltimore, where my father was mayor, and we were raised in a family that was devoutly Catholic, deeply patriotic, extremely proud of our Italian heritage, extremely proud of that, and in our case, staunchly Democratic," she said.

Campaigning was practically a family tradition. One of Pelosi's brothers was also elected mayor of Baltimore.

Veteran Democratic pollster and consultant Celinda Lake, who advises Pelosi, says young Nancy learned vote-counting, taking care of constituents and other political skills as a child.

"Politics was certainly not something that was new to her. I don't know if she ever aspired to be arguably the most powerful woman in the United States today, and one of the most successful," said Lake. "Because she has really organized that Democratic Party and gotten them to do things in the House that no one else could do and that people said was impossible in this day and age in politics."