Elizabeth Warren biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on June 22, 1949, Elizabeth Warren was the last of four children—and the only daughter—of Donald and Pauline Herring. Warren spent most of her early life on what she referred to as "the ragged edge of the middle class." Her father worked mostly as a maintenance man, and when he suffered a heart attack that created massive medical bills, Warren's mother brought in extra money by working in the catalogue-order department at Sears. Warren also began helping out at the age of 13, by waiting tables at her aunt's Mexican restaurant. But despite efforts to relieve the financial strain on the family, money remained tight; Warren recalled her mother's hesitation to take her to the doctor when she was a child because of a lack of finances.

A brilliant student, Warren became a state debate champion and graduated high school at the age 16. That same year, she entered George Washington University on a full debate scholarship. After two years at the university, Warren left school to marry her high-school sweetheart, NASA mathematician Jim Warren. She and Warren moved to Texas, and Elizabeth finished her degree in speech pathology at the University of Houston, becoming the first member of her immediate family to graduate from college.

Elizabeth and her husband moved to New Jersey, where Warren worked in public schools, helping children with disabilities. During this time, Warren gave birth to two children, daughter Amelia and son Alex. The day her first child turned 2, she headed to graduate school for law at Rutgers University. She earned her J.D. in 1976, and practiced law out of her living room.

Political Career

By 1978, she had divorced her first husband. In the year after the split, Warren began exploring the economic pressures facing the American middle class, looking specifically at a 1978 law passed by Congress that made it easier for companies and individuals to declare bankruptcy. Warren decided to investigate the reasons why Americans were ending up in bankruptcy court, and discovered that most of the financial victims were from middle-class families who had lost jobs, experienced financial hardship from a divorce, or suffered illnesses that decimated their savings. From then on, Warren would focus her research on bankruptcy and commercial law—specifically on how it affected financially distressed companies and women, the elderly and the working poor.

Warren married Harvard law professor Bruce Mann in 1980. She and Mann then moved together around the country, with Warren teaching at the University of Texas, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania.