Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Chase Smith | |
|---|---|
| Chair of the Senate Republican Conference | |
| In office January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1973 | |
| Leader | Everett Dirksen Hugh Scott |
| Preceded by | Leverett Saltonstall |
| Succeeded by | Norris Cotton |
| United States Senator from Maine | |
| In office January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1973 | |
| Preceded by | 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 (aged 97) Skowhegan, Maine, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Clyde H. Smith
(m. 1930; died 1940) |
| 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.[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]
- ^ "Margaret Chase Smith Library – Biography". Archived from the original on 2000-09-14. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
- ^ a b "Smith, Margaret Chase, (1897–1995)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- ^ "Senator Margaret Chase Smith (1897–1995)". University of Maine.
- ^ "June 1, 1950: A Declaration of Conscience". United States Senate.
- ^ "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.