Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, R-Maine, was elected to the Senate on this day in history, Sept. 13, 1948, becoming the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.
Born Margaret Madeline Chase on Dec. 14, 1897, in the central Maine town of Skowhegan, Smith was the oldest of George Emery and Carrie Murray Chase’s six children, according to her congressional biography.
Following her graduation from Skowhegan High School, Smith worked a series of jobs before marrying Clyde H. Smith in 1930.
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Clyde Smith was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1936 and reelected in 1938.
In 1940, however, he was diagnosed with a heart condition — and “realizing that he could not survive the rigors of an election campaign, he persuaded his wife to run for his seat in the general election the following November,” said her biography.
Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, R-Maine, was elected to the Senate on this day in history, Sep. 13, 1948. She served for 24 years in the Senate and was the first woman elected to both houses of Congress. (Getty Images)
“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 or my unfinished work for the district,” Rep. Smith told Maine voters prior to his death on April 8, 1940.
Barely a month after her husband’s death, Smith handily won a special Republican primary election to fill her husband’s vacant congressional seat for the remainder of that term.
She ran unopposed in the June 3, 1940, special election and was sworn in on June 10.
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A week later, on June 17, Smith won the GOP primary for the 1940 general election, and was elected to a full term in the House of Representatives that November.
Smith was reelected to the House of Representatives in 1942, 1944 and 1946.
She was known for her willingness to vote across party lines.
During her time in the House of Representatives, she was known for her willingness to vote across party lines.
In 1947, Senate Majority Leader Wallace Humphrey White Jr., R-Maine, announced he was retiring.
Sen. Margaret Chase Smith won a special election to Congress less than two months after the death of her husband. (PhotoQuest/Getty Images)
Smith entered the Republican Senate primary, and was not supported by the state GOP, noted her biography.
Despite the opposition from the state party, Smith won the primary in a landslide — garnering more votes than her three opponents combined.
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Her electoral winning streak continued, and on Sept. 13, 1948, Smith received 71% of the vote in the general election.
Her election was the first time a woman was elected to the Senate who was not either the widow of a recently deceased senator or appointed to replace a deceased senator.
Smith would go on to serve three more terms in the Senate.
She was defeated in the 1972 general election by William Dodd Hathaway, a Democrat, who would serve one term in the Senate.
In 1950, Sen. Smith was named the “Best Tailored Woman in Government” by the Custom Tailors Guild of America. She typically wore a rose on her lapel and campaigned to make the rose the official flower of the United States. (Getty Images)
With 24 years of service, Smith was the longest-serving female senator until 2011, when Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland, was sworn in for her fifth term.
Smith is the second-longest-serving female Republican senator, behind incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
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During her tenure in the Senate, Smith had a national profile.
Perhaps most notable for her opposition to “McCarthyism,” Smith delivered a speech titled a “Declaration of Conscience” on June 1, 1950.
“Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others.”
“The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as ‘communists’ or ‘fascists’ by their opponents,” said Smith in the speech.
“Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others.”
In 1952, she was considered to be a plausible running mate for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. (He eventually chose Richard Nixon as his running mate.)
Sen. Smith unsuccessfully ran for president in 1964, but she was the first woman to have her name put forward for the presidental nomination of a major political party. (Paul DeMaria/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
When asked at the time by the press what she would do if she were to wake up in the White House, Smith famously quipped back with, “I’d go straight to Mrs. Truman and apologize. Then I’d go home.”
She did, however, run for president in 1964.
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In her announcement she stated, “I have few illusions and no money, but I’m staying for the finish. When people keep telling you [that] you can’t do a thing, you kind of like to try.”
While Smith did not win any primaries, she placed fifth in the initial balloting at the 1964 Republican National Convention.
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Smith was the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for a major political party’s presidential nominee, notes her congressional biography.
In 1995, at the age of 97, Smith died in her hometown of Skowhegan.
