US Political Figure. Though essentially a one-issue candidate, she twice ran for President of the United States and in 1976 became the first female to qualify for federal matching funds and Secret Service protection. Born Eleanor Rose Cullen, she was a Long Island housewife and practicing Catholic who opposed the legalization of abortion by New York State in 1970 and the subsequent 1973 Roe v. Wade US Supreme Court decision. In 1976 she ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination using advertisments that called abortion the "equivalent of murder"; Ellen entered 18 primaries in which she drew 238,000 votes while raising around $525,000. Her efforts garnered her $247,000 in matching funds, a Secret Service detail, and 22 first ballot delegates at the Democratic National Convention where she was to see her name placed in nomination. Ellen's showing prompted a change in the rules which made it more difficult to qualify for federal campaign money; turning her efforts to the National Right to Life Party, she became its New York State Chairwoman and 1978 candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Running for President again in 1980 she neither qualified nor applied for matching money but did get on the ballots of three states and poll roughly 32,000 votes. In later years she continued to oppose abortion; retiring to Sag Harbor, Long Island, following her husband's death in 1993 she painted landscapes. Ellen lived her final years with her daughter in Connecticut and died of longstanding heart disease that began during one of her pregnancies, a pregnancy which she refused to have terminated despite medical advice.

US Political Figure. Though essentially a one-issue candidate, she twice ran for President of the United States and in 1976 became the first female to qualify for federal matching funds and Secret Service protection. Born Eleanor Rose Cullen, she was a Long Island housewife and practicing Catholic who opposed the legalization of abortion by New York State in 1970 and the subsequent 1973 Roe v. Wade US Supreme Court decision. In 1976 she ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination using advertisments that called abortion the "equivalent of murder"; Ellen entered 18 primaries in which she drew 238,000 votes while raising around $525,000. Her efforts garnered her $247,000 in matching funds, a Secret Service detail, and 22 first ballot delegates at the Democratic National Convention where she was to see her name placed in nomination. Ellen's showing prompted a change in the rules which made it more difficult to qualify for federal campaign money; turning her efforts to the National Right to Life Party, she became its New York State Chairwoman and 1978 candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Running for President again in 1980 she neither qualified nor applied for matching money but did get on the ballots of three states and poll roughly 32,000 votes. In later years she continued to oppose abortion; retiring to Sag Harbor, Long Island, following her husband's death in 1993 she painted landscapes. Ellen lived her final years with her daughter in Connecticut and died of longstanding heart disease that began during one of her pregnancies, a pregnancy which she refused to have terminated despite medical advice.

Bio by: Bob Hufford