and coya knutson loses her congressional career because of that familial connection.ame up -- first of all, she represented a district in minnesota for two terms. but she came up through the democratic farmer labor party in minnesota. and that is how she got her political start. she served in the minnesota house of representatives and had a very promising political career. in 1954, she decides to run for a u.s. house seat. she goes against the wishes of democratic farmer-labor leaders who are not happy with the fact she does not want to stay in the state house of representatives. she has to fund her own political campaign. she does so. she wins election. her husband, andy, and that was a strained marriage to begin with, he grows jealous of her political success. and so, coya knutson in the house, has a successful career. she gets on the agricultural committee. it is a very promising career. one of the things she does is, because of her background as a teacher, she wants to push for federal student loan program. and she manages, after the sputnik crisis, to slip in an

coya knutson, matt talks about the generation of women and how that relates to what's going on in the nation at large. and coya in some ways pays the price of the changing view of women in the 1940s and '50s after world war ii ends. this is a photograph of her with her husband andy in front of andy's hotel, and he plays a prominent role in how her career ends. >> yeah, up to this point in the story there's so many women who come to congress through that connection to their husband, through some kind of familial connection. she loses her position because of that familial connection. she represented the district of minnesota through two terms, but she came up through the democratic farmer labor party in minnesota. and that's how she got her political start. she served in the minnesota house of representatives and had a very promising political career. in 1954 she decides to run for a u.s. house seat, she goes against the wishes of democratic farmer labor leaders who are not happy with the fact she doesn't want to stay in the statehouse of representatives, so she has to fund her own poli