Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Chase Smith | |
---|---|
Wallace H. White Jr. | |
Succeeded by | William Hathaway |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 2nd district | |
In office June 3, 1940 – January 3, 1949 | |
Preceded by | Clyde H. Smith |
Succeeded by | Charles P. Nelson |
Personal details | |
Born | Margaret Madeline Chase December 14, 1897 Skowhegan, Maine, U.S. |
Died | May 29, 1995 Skowhegan, Maine, U.S. | (aged 97)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | |
Signature | |
Margaret Madeline Chase Smith (née Chase; December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995)[1] was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S. representative (1940–1949) and a U.S. senator (1949–1973) from Maine.[2] She was the first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress, and the first woman to represent Maine in either.[3] A Republican, she was among the first to criticize the tactics of Joseph McCarthy in her 1950 speech, "Declaration of Conscience".[4]
Smith was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1964 election; she was the first woman to be placed in nomination for the presidency at a major party's convention.[2] Upon leaving office, she was the longest-serving female senator in history, a distinction that was not surpassed until January 4, 2011, when Senator Barbara Mikulski from Maryland exceeded her record.[5] Smith was ranked as the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate,[6] a distinction that was not surpassed until January 3, 2021, when Susan Collins, who holds the same Senate seat she previously held, was sworn in for a fifth term.[7][8]
Early life and education
Margaret Chase was born in
She received her early education at Lincoln and Garfield Elementary Schools.
Early career
Following her high school graduation, Chase briefly taught at the Pitts School, a one-room school near Skowhegan.[10] She also coached the girls' basketball team at Skowhegan High (1917–18).[15] She was a business executive for the Maine Telephone and Telegraph Company (1918–1919) before joining the staff of the Independent Reporter, a Skowhegan weekly newspaper (owned by Clyde Smith) for whom she was circulation manager from 1919 to 1928.[9] She became involved with local women's organizations. She co-founded the Skowhegan chapter of the Business and Professional Women's Club in 1922, and served as editor of the club's magazine, The Pine Cone.[10] From 1926 to 1928, she was president of the statewide organization, the Maine Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs.[16] She became treasurer of the New England Waste Process Company in 1928 and was also employed as an office worker with the Daniel E. Cummings Woolen Company, a local textile mill.[9]
On May 14, 1930, Chase married Clyde Smith, who was 21 years her senior.[13] She soon became active in politics and was elected to the Maine Republican State Committee, on which she served from 1930 to 1936.[9] After Clyde was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 2nd congressional district in 1936, Smith accompanied her husband to Washington, D.C., to serve as his secretary.[2] In this position, she managed his office, handled his correspondence, conducted research, and helped write his speeches.[12] She also served as treasurer of the Congressional Club, a group composed of the wives of congressmen and Cabinet members.[9]
U.S. House of Representatives
In the spring of 1940, Clyde Smith fell seriously ill after suffering a heart attack, and asked his wife to run for his House seat in the general election the following September.[14] He prepared a press release in which he stated, "I know of no one else who has the full knowledge of my ideas and plans or is as well qualified as she is, to carry on these ideas and my unfinished work for my district."[12] He died on April 8 of that year, and a special election was scheduled on the following June 3 to complete his unexpired term.[2] Facing no Democratic challenger, Smith won the special election and became the first woman elected to Congress from Maine.[13] Three months after the special election, she was elected to a full two-year term in the House in her own right.[17] Smith defeated Edward J. Beauchamp, the Democratic mayor of Lewiston, by a margin of 65–35%.[17] She was re-elected to three more terms over the course of the next eight years, never receiving less than 60% of the vote.[13]
During her tenure in the House, Smith developed a strong interest in issues concerning the military and national security. After being appointed to the House Naval Affairs Committee in 1943, she was assigned to the investigation of destroyer production, and made a 25,000-mile (40,234-km) tour of bases in the South Pacific during the winter of 1944.[9] She also became the first and only civilian woman to sail on a U.S. Navy ship during World War II.[18] She became known as "Mother of the WAVES" after introducing legislation to create that organization.[19] Although Congresswoman Smith was a strong supporter of women in the armed services, she did not write the legislation that created the special female military units during World War II. She did, however, champion the legislation that gave women permanent status in the military following the war.[20]
A supporter of
Smith also earned a reputation as a moderate Republican who often broke ranks with her party.[21] She supported much of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, as had her husband while he was in office.[16] She voted in favor of the Selective Service Act in 1940 and voted against the Smith–Connally Act in 1943.[16] In 1945, she voted against making the House Un-American Activities Committee a permanent body.[9]
As a member of the House, Smith began wearing a single red rose that became a daily fixture of her attire throughout her career in public office.[11] She waged a long campaign to have the rose declared the official flower of the United States, which Congress eventually approved in 1987.[5]
U.S. Senate
1948 election
In August 1947, after three-term incumbent
Early tenure
Smith was sworn into the Senate on January 3, 1949.[2] After a year in office, she gained national attention when she became the first member of Congress to condemn the anti-Communist witch hunt led by her fellow Republican Senator, Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin.[18] Smith was initially impressed by McCarthy's accusations of Communists working in the State Department, but became disillusioned after McCarthy failed to provide any evidence to validate his charges.[24]
Smith voted in favor of Harry Truman's Supreme Court nomination of Tom C. Clark on August 18, 1949,[25] but was absent during the nomination of Sherman Minton while Senate Minority Whip Leverett Saltonstall announced that Smith would have voted in favor if present.[26] Smith was present in the United States Senate on March 1, 1954, when Dwight Eisenhower's nomination of Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the United States was unanimously confirmed,[27] voted in favor of the nomination of John Marshall Harlan II on March 16, 1955,[28] was present for the unanimous nominations of William J. Brennan Jr. and Charles Evans Whittaker on March 19, 1957,[29] and voted in favor of the nomination of Potter Stewart on May 5, 1959.[30] She opposed the tactics being used by members of her party, such as Joseph McCarthy, and spoke out saying, "As an American, I condemn a Republican Fascist just as much as I condemn a Democrat Communist. They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves."[31]
Declaration of Conscience and after until 1960
On June 1, 1950, Smith delivered a fifteen-minute speech on the Senate floor, known as the "
In response to her speech, McCarthy referred to Smith and the six other Senators as "Snow White and the Six Dwarfs."[14] He removed her as a member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, giving her seat to Senator Richard Nixon from California.[24] He also helped finance an unsuccessful primary challenger during Smith's re-election campaign in 1954.[13] Smith later observed, "If I am to be remembered in history, it will not be because of legislative accomplishments, but for an act I took as a legislator in the U.S. Senate when on June 1, 1950, I spoke ... in condemnation of McCarthyism, when the junior Senator from Wisconsin had the Senate paralyzed with fear that he would purge any Senator who disagreed with him."[22] She voted for McCarthy's censure in 1954.[10]
On July 17, 1950, Smith was commissioned as a
In the 1952 election, Smith was widely mentioned as a vice-presidential candidate under General Dwight D. Eisenhower.[9] When asked by a reporter what she would do if she woke up one morning and found herself in the White House, she replied: "I'd go straight to Mrs. Truman and apologize. Then I'd go home."[14]
On December 3, 1957, Smith became the first woman in Congress to break the sound barrier, which she did as a passenger in an F-100 Super Sabre piloted by Air Force Major Clyde Good.[37]
Exhibiting the same independent nature in the Senate as she had in the House, Smith opposed President Eisenhower's nomination of Lewis Strauss as Secretary of Commerce in 1959.[13]
1960 re-election
In her successful re-election campaign in 1960, she ran against Democrat
1964 presidential election
On January 27, 1964, Smith announced her candidacy for
Later tenure
During the administration of President John F. Kennedy, Smith argued that the United States should use nuclear weapons against the Soviet Union.[16] This led Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to call Smith "the devil in disguise of a woman" whose position exceeded "all records of savagery."[16] Smith later replied, "Mr. Khrushchev isn't really mad at me. I am not that important. He is angry because American officials have grown more firm since my speech."[14] The morning after Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, she went into the Senate chamber before it convened and laid a rose on the desk Kennedy had occupied as a Senator.[14] A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, she supported the Vietnam War but opposed the deployment of the Sentinel anti-ballistic missile.[40]
Smith was the first (and as yet only) woman to serve as
Smith was present in the Senate when Kennedy's Supreme Court nominations of Byron White and Arthur Goldberg to the U.S. Supreme Court were unanimously confirmed on April 11, 1962, and on September 25, 1962, respectively.[51][52] Smith was present in the Senate when Lyndon Johnson's nomination of Abe Fortas was unanimously confirmed on August 11, 1965,[53] and voted in favor of the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall on August 30, 1967.[54] On June 9, 1969, Smith voted in favor of President Nixon's nomination of Warren E. Burger as Chief Justice of the United States.[55] Smith voted against Nixon's failed Supreme Court nomination of Clement Haynsworth on November 21, 1969,[56] and a few months later, Smith voted against Nixon's failed Supreme Court nomination of Harrold Carswell on April 8, 1970.[57][14] The following month, Smith voted in favor of Nixon's nomination of Harry Blackmun on May 12, 1970.[58] On December 6, 1971, Smith voted in favor of Nixon's nomination of Lewis F. Powell Jr.,[59] and on December 10, Smith was absent when Nixon's nomination of William Rehnquist as Associate Justice was confirmed while Senate Minority Whip Robert P. Griffin announced that Smith would have voted in favor if present.[60]
1972 election
She was defeated for re-election in 1972 by Democrat
Awards and honors
She was elected a Fellow of the
Later life and death
Following her departure from the Senate in January 1973, Smith taught at several colleges and universities as a visiting professor for the
At age 97, Smith died in her native Skowhegan in 1995, after suffering a stroke eight days earlier that had left her in a coma.[14] She was cremated, and her ashes were placed in the residential wing of the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan.[2] She was the last living U.S. senator who had been born in the 19th century.
Legacy
She is the namesake for the Maine State Ferry Service's Islesboro Ferry.
A large framed painting of Smith hangs in the Maine State House in Augusta, Maine.
On February 2, 1952, Smith was the guest on the CBS variety show Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town, in which hostess Faye Emerson visited Washington, D.C., to accent the kinds of music popular in the nation's capital.[63]
On June 14, 1953, she was the "mystery celebrity" guest on "What's My Line?".
In 1958, Folkways Records released the album An Interview with Margaret Chase Smith, in which she spoke of women in local and national politics, and addressed the youth of the nation.
In 1961, Smith published her favorite family recipe, Maine Clam Chowder, in support of the Gold Star Wives of America military family support organization.[64]
Patricia Neal dramatized Senator Smith's Declaration of Conscience speech in the 1978 television movie Tail Gunner Joe.
In 1965, she was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from Whittier College.[65]
In 1970, the twin Margaret Chase Smith bridges opened in Smith's hometown of Skowhegan, Maine, connecting Skowhegan Island to either side of the Kennebec River.[66]
In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Smith's name and picture.[67]
Janis Benson portrayed Senator Smith in the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.
On June 13, 2007, the United States Postal Service issued a 58¢ postage stamp in its Distinguished Americans series to honor her.
In 2010, the United States political action committee Maggie's List was founded, named after Smith; it works to "raise awareness and funds to increase the number of conservative women elected to federal public office."[68][69]
On June 8, 2022, a room in the United States Capitol was named after Smith (the Margaret Chase Smith room). It is one of the first two rooms in the Capitol to be named after women who were senators, the other being the Barbara Mikulski room, which was named on the same day.[70][71]
See also
References
- ^ "Margaret Chase Smith Library – Biography". Archived from the original on 2000-09-14. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Smith, Margaret Chase, (1897–1995)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- ^ a b "Senator Margaret Chase Smith (1897–1995)". University of Maine.
- ^ a b "June 1, 1950: A Declaration of Conscience". United States Senate.
- ^ a b "Margaret Chase Smith, Republican of Maine". Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. Archived from the original on 2014-03-09.
- ^ "Women in the Senate – Interactive Graph". The New York Times. March 21, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
- ^ Cochrane, Emily (November 27, 2020). "Empowered by an Odds-Defying Win, Susan Collins is Ready to Deal". The New York Times.
- ^ "Collins sworn in for historic fifth term in U.S. Senate". January 3, 2021.
- ^ H.W. Wilson Company. 1971.
- ^ a b c d e f Gutgold, Nichola D. (2006). Paving the Way for Madam President. Lexington Books.
- ^ a b c Wallace, Patricia Ward (1995). Politics of Conscience: A Biography of Margaret Chase Smith. Praegar Publishers.
- ^ a b c d e Hutchison, Kay Bailey (2004). American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country. HarperCollins.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Smith, Margaret Chase". Women in Congress.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Severo, Richard (1995-05-30). "Margaret Chase Smith Is Dead at 97; Maine Republican Made History Twice". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Sleeper, Frank H. (1996). Margaret Chase Smith's Skowhegan. Arcadia Publishing.
- ^ a b c d e "Margaret Chase Smith". Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ a b "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 5, 1940" (PDF). Clerk of the United States House of Representatives.
- ^ a b "First Woman Elected to Both Houses of Congress". Senate Stories.
- ^ a b "Senator Margaret Chase Smith". University of Maine at Augusta. Archived from the original on 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
- ^ "Margaret Chase Smith Library – Frequently Asked Questions". Archived from the original on April 15, 2013.
- ^ a b "September 13, 1948: First Woman Elected to Both Houses of Congress". United States Senate.
- ^ a b c d "The First Woman to Serve in the U.S. House and Senate, Margaret Chase Smith". History Things. March 18, 2017.
- ^ "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 1948" (PDF). Clerk of the United States House of Representatives.
- ^ a b "Margaret Chase Smith: A Declaration of Conscience". United States Senate.
- ^ "Senate – August 18, 1949" (PDF). Congressional Record. 95 (9). U.S. Government Printing Office: 11730. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – October 4, 1949" (PDF). Congressional Record. 95 (10). U.S. Government Printing Office: 13806. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – March 1, 1954" (PDF). Congressional Record. 100 (2). U.S. Government Printing Office: 2381. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – March 16, 1955" (PDF). Congressional Record. 101 (3). U.S. Government Printing Office: 3036. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – March 19, 1957" (PDF). Congressional Record. 103 (3). U.S. Government Printing Office: 3946. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – May 5, 1959" (PDF). Congressional Record. 105 (6). U.S. Government Printing Office: 7472. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ Richardson, Heather Cox, On the anniversary of June 1, 1950 speech by Margaret Chase Smith, Letters from an American, Substack, June 1, 2022
- ^ a b Smith, Margaret Chase (1950-06-01). "Declaration of Conscience" (PDF). United States Senate. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
- ^ "Margaret Chase Smith: A Featured Biography". United States Senate.
- ^ Hope Stoddard, Famous American Women, 1970, p. 394
- ^ Josephine Ripley, Christian Science Monitor, The Surprising Mrs. Smith, November 10, 1950
- ^ Chicago Tribune, Military Men Numerous on Capitol Hill, December 3, 1962
- ^ "U.S. Senate: Mach-Buster Maggie: The Supersonic Senator from Maine". www.senate.gov.
- ^ "November/December 2016 – Madam President: The Struggle to Break the Last Glass Ceiling by Cyndy Bittinger". www.vermontwoman.com.
- ^ "Senator Margaret Chase (Goldwater, 1964)". The Living Room Candidate. Archived from the original on 2013-10-20.
- ^ Hodgson, Godfrey (1995-06-03). "Obituaries: Margaret Chase Smith". The Independent.
- ^ a b "Margaret Chase Smith". United States Senate.
- ^ To Pass H.R. 6675, The Social Security Amendments of 1965
- ^ "Senate – August 7, 1957" (PDF). Congressional Record. 103 (10). U.S. Government Printing Office: 13900. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – August 29, 1957" (PDF). Congressional Record. 103 (12). U.S. Government Printing Office: 16478. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – April 8, 1960" (PDF). Congressional Record. 106 (6). U.S. Government Printing Office: 7810–7811. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – June 19, 1964" (PDF). Congressional Record. 110 (11). U.S. Government Printing Office: 14511. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – March 11, 1968" (PDF). Congressional Record. 114 (5). U.S. Government Printing Office: 5992. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – March 27, 1962" (PDF). Congressional Record. 108 (4). U.S. Government Printing Office: 5105. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – May 26, 1965" (PDF). Congressional Record. 111 (2). U.S. Government Printing Office: 11752. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – August 4, 1965" (PDF). Congressional Record. 111 (14). U.S. Government Printing Office: 19378. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – April 11, 1962" (PDF). Congressional Record. 108 (5). U.S. Government Printing Office: 6332. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – September 25, 1962" (PDF). Congressional Record. 108 (15). U.S. Government Printing Office: 20667. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – August 11, 1965" (PDF). Congressional Record. 111 (15). U.S. Government Printing Office: 20079. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – August 30, 1967" (PDF). Congressional Record. 113 (18). U.S. Government Printing Office: 24656. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – June 9, 1969" (PDF). Congressional Record. 115 (11). U.S. Government Printing Office: 15195–15196. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – November 21, 1969" (PDF). Congressional Record. 115 (26). U.S. Government Printing Office: 35396. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – April 8, 1970" (PDF). Congressional Record. 116 (8). U.S. Government Printing Office: 10769. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – May 12, 1970" (PDF). Congressional Record. 116 (11). U.S. Government Printing Office: 15117. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – December 6, 1971" (PDF). Congressional Record. 117 (34). U.S. Government Printing Office: 44857. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – December 10, 1971" (PDF). Congressional Record. 117 (35). U.S. Government Printing Office: 46197. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter S" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
- ^ "Smith, Margaret Chase". National Women’s Hall of Fame.
- ^ "Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town". Classic Television Archives. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
- ^ "Who's Who in the Kitchen – 1961". Archived from the original on 2017-09-19. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
- ^ "Honorary Degrees | Whittier College". www.whittier.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
- ^ Hodgdon, Kate; Clarke, Scott; Hoy, Gus. "The Skowhegan Island". Maine Memory Network. Maine Historical Society. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
In 1970, the Margaret Chase Smith bridges were erected and are still the two bridges used on the island today.
- ^ Wulf, Steve (2015-03-23). "Supersisters: Original Roster". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
- ^ "Maggie's List. Women's Political Action Committee. Who we are and what we do". Maggieslist.org. Archived from the original on 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2015-06-13.
- ^ "Spotlight: Conservative Maggie's List aids candidates". Dnj.com. 2015-03-27. Retrieved 2015-06-13.
- ^ "Out of 540 U.S. Capitol rooms, two now are named for female senators. One of them is Maryland's Barbara Mikulski". Baltimore Sun.
- ^ "She couldn't even use the Senate gym. Now she has a room of her own". Roll Call. June 8, 2022.
Further reading
- Fitzpatrick, Ellen (2016). The Highest Glass Ceiling: Women's Quest for the American Presidency. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. LCCN 2015045620.
- Gallant, Gregory P. Hope and Fear in Margaret Chase Smith's America: A Continuous Tangle (Lexington, 2014) [ISBN missing]
- Sherman, Janann. No place for a woman: A life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith (Rutgers University Press, 2000) [ISBN missing]
- Sherman, Janann. "'They Either Need These Women or They Do Not': Margaret Chase Smith and the Fight for Regular Status for Women in the Military." Journal of Military History 54#1 (1990): 47–78.