Margaret Chase Smith: Grand Woman of the Republican Party

At the 1964 Republican Convention in San Francisco, political history was made when Vermont Senator George Aiken placed in nomination the Senior Senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith. This represented the first time that a woman had been nominated for the presidency by a major political party. Although Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater won the nomination, it was a victory for women. In her first 18 years in the Senate, Smith had been the only female in an all-male club.

 

The Early Years in the Pine Tree State

 

Margaret Chase Smith was born and raised in Skowhegan, Maine. As a young teenager, she began working part-time jobs to help her family that included six siblings. After completing high school, she worked as a teacher, telephone operator, newspaper writer, and office manager. In 1930 she married Clyde Smith, politically connected and soon to enter Congress as Maine’s 2^nd District representative.

 

Margaret Chase Smith in the House of Representatives

 

Clyde Smith died from a heart attack in 1940, related to a diagnosis of tertiary syphilis. Margaret had pledged to enter the Maine primary election in place of her husband – at his request. In January 1941, Congresswoman Smith became one of a select minority to sit in the Congress; few women had been elected to the national legislature up to that point.

 

Margaret Chase Smith refused to be identified on the basis of gender; she saw herself as the representative from Maine’s 2^nd district, although she championed women’s rights and equality. She supported the ERA and as a member of the House Naval Affairs Committee, worked to equalize the status of women in the military. According to Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator Smith “favored a completely gender-blind society.”

 

Serving in the U.S. Senate for Four Terms

 

When Margaret Chase Smith lost her bid for reelection in 1972, she had served the people of Maine for 24 years in the U.S. Senate. She was first elected in 1948, the 100^th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention where Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered the Declaration of Sentiments, that advocated, among other things, a woman’s right to vote. Senator Smith would deliver a declaration of her own in 1950, but the issue would be the tactics of Wisconsin’s junior senator, Joseph McCarthy.

 

On June 1, 1950, Margaret Chase Smith rose in the Senate to deliver her Declaration of Conscience. She was the first senator to challenge McCarthy’s hearings on alleged Communist sympathizers in government departments. Of the six senators that supported her, only Oregon’s Wayne Morse stood by her. Her courage cost her committee assignments but she never regretted her actions. After the Eisenhower victory in 1952, Smith would serve on both the Appropriations and Armed Service committees.

 

A Democrat in the White House

 

John F. Kennedy won the 1960 election but, as historians have pointed out, was unable to see many of his ideas approved by Congress. As a senator, Kennedy had been less than industrious, often shunning important committee work. Senator Smith recalled that Kennedy had missed the 1954 censure vote of Joseph McCarthy and believed the young president was not forceful enough in combating Nikita Khrushchev.

 

Yet following the assassination of JFK in November 1963, it was Senator Smith who delivered the most poignant eulogy and tribute: removing the red rose from her lapel – a trademark for the indomitable senator, and placing the flower on the desk once occupied by Kennedy. A year later she thrust herself into the Republican primaries, taking on Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller.

 

The Break-Through Senator Returns to Maine

 

Senator Smith’s first priority was to be an effective and transparent legislator, although her public life and successes made her a “break through” woman. Senator Hutchison writes that, “Despite the press’s tendency to treat women legislators as novelties…Margaret managed to convince the voters that she was an effective presence on Capitol Hill.” This was the great legacy of Margaret Chase Smith.

 

References:

 

Lewis L. Gould, The Most Exclusive Club (Basic Books, 2005)

Kay Bailey Hutchison, American Heroines (Harper, 2006)

Margaret Chase Smith, Declaration of Conscience (Doubleday & Company, 1972) edited by William C. Lewis, Jr

Published 3/24/2010 in Suite101 by M.Streich, copyright in force