The Active Historian

Did you know only one person voted against both World Wars in the United States Congress? That person was Jeanette Rankin – the first woman elected to Congress in 1916. She was a Republican from Montana who believed in national women’s suffrage in the United States, child welfare, tariff revisions, prohibition for states and the nation, and greater publicity in congressional records.

Jeanette Rankin was born in Missoula, Montana, and was the oldest of seven children. She attended the public schools and then graduated from the University of Montana at Missoula.

She actively served in the woman’s suffrage movement in Montana, Washington state, and California. Montana became the 10th state to grant women suffrage on November 3, 1914.

She was the first woman elected to the 65th Congress in 1916. This was before all women even had the right to vote in the United States. She was the only member of Congress to vote against the US entrance into WWI and WWII. Rankin stated, “As a woman I can’t go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else.” This was a rather unpopular opinion at the time. She did not run for re-election in 1942.

During her second term in Congress, she served alongside six other women whom she had broke the trail for.

After her term was up, she went back to ranching and lecturing. She lectured on women’s rights and was a lobbyist for world peace. She was against the wars and had made her position known.

The Jeanette Rankin Brigade took place on January 15, 1968, and was an anti-Vietnam War protest. At 87 years old she led the 5,000 person march in Washington, D.C. She presented a peace petition to John W. McCormack, the House Speaker.

The House celebrated her 90th birthday in 1970 with a reception and dinner. In 1972, the National Organization for Women (NOW) named her the “World’s outstanding living feminist.”

Jeanette Rankin passed away on May 18, 1973, in Carmel, California.

The Jeanette Ranking Foundation was founded in 1976 with funds from her Georgia estate.

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Sources

Secondary Sources

Websites

“History of Jeanette Rankin.” Jeanette Rankin Foundation.

“Jeanette Rankin.” United States Senate.

“RANKIN, Jeanette.” History, Art & Archives. United States House of Representatives.

“Montana and the 19th Amendment.” National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior.

Primary Sources

Newspapers

“Hon. Jeanette Rankin, The Lady from Montana.” The Kearney Morning Times (Kearney, Nebraska), November 19, 1916.

“First Congresswoman, Reared on Ranch, Makes Own Clothes, Aims to Help Lowly.” The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, Ohio), November 30, 1916.

“First Woman To Sit In Congress.” Casper Star-Tribune (Casper, Wyoming), December 6, 1916.

“Miss Jeanette Rankin, Woman Member Congress, Argues Suffrage At Fair.” The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 18, 1917.

“Jeanette Rankin Candidate Again.” The Kingfisher Times (Kingfisher, Oklahoma), June 20, 1940.

“Woman Suffrage Leaders Will Convene For Review Of Progress, Future Plans.” The Evening Independent (Massillon, Ohio), November 25, 1940.

“Women-In-Congress Have Minds Of Their Own.” Anderson Herald (Anderson, Indiana), November 28, 1940.

“Congresswoman Rankin Still Stands on Her “No” of 1917.” M’Alester News-Capital (McAlester, Oklahoma), July 2, 1941.

“Jeanette Rankin 90 Today.” The Daily Inter Lake (Kalispell, Montana), June 11, 1970.

“Women In Congress Wield Considerable Power.” Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, California), November 19, 1971.

*All newspaper clippings in this blog post were pulled from newspapers.com. I am not affiliated with this website. I just wanted to let you know where I found my digitized sources.