(USNewsReport.org) – It wasn’t that long ago when many of us assumed the United States was going to have its first female president. Though this milestone didn’t come to fruition, it almost did, and many people falsely celebrated Hillary Clinton as the first woman to run for president. Unbeknownst to many, this was not the first time a female had been nominated for the presidency.
George Emery and Carrie Murray Chase had their first-born child, Margaret Madeline Chase, on December 14, 1897, in Skowhegan, ME. Margaret graduated from Skowhegan High School in 1916, after which she held various jobs that included working for a small newspaper, teaching, operating telephone lines, and managing an office. In 1930 she married a local politician by the name of Clyde Harold Smith.
After Clyde Smith was elected to the 75th Congress, House of Representatives, Margaret found herself managing his Washington office, working for the Maine GOP committee, and serving on the board as president of the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Maine. Clyde became ill in the spring of 1940 with a life-threatening condition. By the time of his death that April, Smith had persuaded his wife to run for his Republican seat.
On June 3, with no Democratic challenger, Mrs. Smith won and became the first female member of Congress in Maine. A week later, she won the GOP primary for the full term in the 77th Congress. Margaret would go on to serve in the next three succeeding congresses, always beating her opponent out by 60% or more of the vote.
Smith’s political career led her to serve on many committees: War Claims, Revision of Laws, Invalid Pensions, House Naval Affairs Committee, Education Committee, Post Office, and Post Roads Committee and elections of the President, Vice President and Congressional Representatives. Finally, in 1946, she was assigned to the Armed Services Committee.
June 12, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed into law Margaret’s landmark legislative achievement, the Women’s Armed Forces Integration Act. This law meant Navy and Army nurses would now be granted regular status and receive military benefits, whereas before they were only viewed as volunteers.
Margaret would later become the first female ever to serve in both chambers of the house. She was also the first woman to hold a seat in the Appropriations or Armed Forces Committee. In 1950, she denounced McCarthyism, saying Americans were afraid to speak their minds for fear they would be considered Communist or Fascist. She felt freedom of speech was a thing of the past.
In 1964, at the Republican Convention, Senator Margaret Smith would become the first female nominated for presidency by a major political party. Though she lost the election, it would turn out to be one of America’s symbolic achievements. In 1989, President George H. W. Bush presented her with the Presidential Award of Freedom.
Margaret passed away in 1995, at the age of 97. She left behind her legacy, the Margaret Chase Smith Library, currently housed in her former home in Skowhegan, ME. Serving as a museum, educational center and congressional research library, it contains various articles of memorabilia stemming from her 32-year congressional career.
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