Elly M. Peterson

Elly M. Peterson (June 5, 1914 – June 9, 2008), also known as Mrs. W. Merritt Peterson, was an American politician from Charlotte, Eaton County, Michigan. She was married to the late Colonel W. M. Peterson and was an overseas Red Cross volunteer in World War II. She was an officer in the American Cancer Society, an active member of the Congregational Church, American Legion Auxiliary, a lifetime member of the NAACP, and a 1984 inductee into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.

She was Vice-chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 1961-1963 and became a candidate for U.S. Senator from Michigan in 1964. In 1965, she became the first woman to serve as Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, as well as the first woman to chair any major state political party in U.S. history, serving from 1965-1969. She worked to elect George W. Romney as Governor of Michigan and his Lieutenant Governor, William Milliken, who succeeded him when Romney became US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1969. She was a member of the Republican National Committee from Michigan from 1969-1971. She was a national co-chairwoman of ERAmerica, a private national campaign organization, during the fight to get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified. Peterson also strongly supported abortion rights and was a charter member in the National Women's Political Caucus.