Constance Weissman

Constance Fox Weissman (March 28, 1908 – January 8, 1972) was an American socialite, journalist, Marxist activist and member of the Socialist Workers Party. Family and Early Life Constance Fox was born on March 28, 1908, in New York City. She came from a family that was prominent in New York finance and politics. Her father, Edward Lyttleton Fox, was a prominent lawyer. Her mother, Genevieve O’Brien came from a wealthy Irish-Catholic family. Constance's maternal grandfather, Morgan J. O’Brien, was a judge on the New York Supreme Court and a prominent philanthropist. The family's politics were conservative. O’Brien used his position as a public figure to criticize socialism in 1906, and argue for an increase in religious instruction to combat its rise. Constance grew up on the Upper East Side, at her family's house on 136 E. 72nd St.  The Foxes also spent their summers in Southampton where they had a summer home called Foxhole. As a child she and her siblings were frequently featured in newspapers, described as “society’s children”. She attended the Todhunter School, an experimental educational institution founded by Winifred Todhunter. Constance also attended occasional classes at Columbia University in French and drama but never attended college as a full-time student. She made her debut in society in the winter of 1926. For this occasion, her portrait by Charles Sheeler was featured in Vogue. According to her obituary, when she was in the Junior League after her debut, she lobbied for the elimination of laws banning teaching about birth-control, despite her family's Catholicism. First Marriage In March 1929, Constance became engaged to William Barclay Harding, the son of J. Horace Harding, who worked as an investment banker with Charles D. Barney & Co. They were married May 30, 1929, at the Ambassador Hotel in Manhattan. The couple lived in Manhattan and a farm in Rumson, New Jersey. William B. Harding was a flying enthusiast, having purchased a Waco airplane in 1928. Constance soon joined him in learning how to fly, taking solo lessons and gaining a pilot's license in 1930. Besides her flying, her days were mainly spent volunteering for charities as a society hostess and attending society events. Among other notable events, she and her husband attended the 1939 three-day premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta. Her society volunteer work first introduced her to political activism. In 1930, she worked to register women against the Volstead Act.