by Jo Freeman

 

“An iron fist in a Gucci glove” is how author Susan Page frequently describes Nancy Pelosi, though she didn’t coin the phrase.

 

Beginning with Little Nancy and her forbears, the book concludes with the Jan. 6 riot, covering Pelosi’s more than 81 years.  One of Page’s researchers interviewed people in the Italian village that Pelosi’s grandparents emigrated from.

 

Nancy D’Alesandro was born to politics.  Her father was such a natural pol that he easily became Mayor of Baltimore as well as a Member of Congress. But she wasn’t born to actually run for office, let alone win.   Like her mother, she was expected to serve men and their ambitions. Initially, she followed the path of a good Catholic girl: attend a Catholic girls school, marry a nice, young man from a good family, have five children in six years.

 

Only after moving to Paul Pelosi’s home town in 1969 did her own ambitions bloom, and that was because of her fortunate marriage.  San Francisco politics are very different than Baltimore politics but they do have in common that old adage “It’s not what you know but who you know.”  Her husband’s family was well connected and his brother sat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.  If they had stayed in New York City, where Paul was pursuing a career in finance, Nancy’s skills would have taken her in a different direction.

 

Their large house became a frequent spot for Democratic fundraising parties.  Pelosi’s talent for raising money soon opened doors.  She moved up in the party ranks, becoming state Democratic Party chair in 1981 and chair of the host committee for the Democratic National Convention in 1984.