History in congress. The story begins with Jennette Rankin who is elected to the house in 1916 from montana shes elected to the house four years before women had the right to vote nationally. And in a way shes really a bridge from the sufferage movement to women attaining full political rights. She was active in a National Womens suffrage organization. She helped women get the right to vote not only in montana but a couple states west of the mississippi and she runs in 1916. Shes elected to one of montanas two atlarge districts. Part of her platform shes a passivist. Shes sworn into the house on april 2nd, 1917, and the house has come in to special session, extraordinary session because the president that night, woodrow wilson, delivers a message to Congress Asking for a declaration of war against germany. This is the u. S. Entry into world war i. And rankin, when that vote is held, is one of a group of about 50 members who votes against u. S. Intervention in world war i. She served a term in the house. She was on the womens suffrage committee. She was on the public lands committee, which was an important assignment for a woman from montana with much of the lands being held by the federal government, so it was an important position. She serves only a term in the house, and she tries to run for senate for montana. She doesnt get the republican nomination, but she runs as an independent. Its an uphill battle. She gets a fifth of the votes, though. Then she goes back to private life. Shes involved in womens rights issues. Shes a driving force behind the shepherd turner maternity and infancy act. Which the house eventually passes in 1921. Then shes also involved in International Peace organizations. Fast forward to 1940, she runs for congress again and she runs on a platform to keep the u. S. Out of the war in europe. Shes faced on december 8th, 1941, with a tremendous vote. This is the day after pearl harbor. Fdr has come to the house chamber, hes addressed a joint session of congress. Yesterday, december 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. The senate goes back to its chamber and very quickly, unanimously passes a war resolution and the house begins debating and the house members know that Jennette Rankin is a passivist and she is going to vote her conscience, so we have some oral histories of people who are in the chamber who recall members going up to rankin and asking her to just vote present, dont vote no, but she votes her conscience in the end and opposes the war. Shes the lone vote against u. S. Entry into world war ii with the declaration of war against japan. That effectively ended her political career. Shows goes back into private life, but shes a force in the Antiwar Movement for another couple decades. But a remarkable career. In 2004, we commissioned a new portrait of jeannette rankin. She was a person who is so important in the history and expansion of rights and representation in congress. So when we commissioned it, we wanted to sort of show we wanted to show what it was like to come into congress as the first woman. When women dont even have the right to vote nationally. Because it was the 20th century, its 1916 and 1917, when she is elected and enters congress, theres a lot of newspaper coverage of it. And because shes a woman and something of a novelty, theres a lot of newspaper coverage of what shes wearing. So we know exactly what she was wearing. So the portrait shows her in that navy blue dress. We know she was wearing a big hat. And we know exactly what the Washington Post said. So the portrait has her holding the Washington Post. One of the things most interesting she is wearing that house and placed in that portrait just outside the chamber doors. If we were to enter into that space with her, she would just she was about to turn to her right and enter the chamber at which point she would take off her hat. Because hats were not worn in the chamber even though there was much discussion of as a woman should she wear a hat because thats formal attire or is she not a woman but a member of congress and therefore shouldnt wear it and, indeed, it turns out they decide shes a member of congress more than she is her gender, so she takes it off. All of the things we wanted to put in the portrait as well as a sense of the fact that she was in the house, but much more a preacher of her other interests as well passivism, suffrage, all the issues important to her. It was a lonely spot to be the only woman and taking these stands of conscience that put her at odds with other people. Jeannette rankin was somewhat of an outlier for the first women generation in congress. She comes from an activist background, suffrage background. If you look at the first two decades of women who were elected, a good number of these people dont have political backgrounds. They havent held elective office. Instead, they are, a large number of them, are widows who succeed their late husbands in congress and later political scientists would describe this as the widows mandate, the route for a lot of early women into congress. This persisted up through the 1960s even into the 1970s, a large number of women followed their husbands or maybe they had a prominent political father they followed into congress. There was a real kind of familial connection. That wasnt rankins experience. It was for this woman here who were looking at in this pict e this picture, this wonderful picture of edith Norris Rogers. Rogers was a widow from shes from massachusetts, represented a district from northern massachusetts and she succeeded her husband john rogers who was a highranking member of the Foreign Affairs committee, the ranking republican, and she actually had a lot of experience helping him with administering the committee and administering his personal office and so she knew what his legislative agenda was. She kind of knew the rhythms and contours of life here on capitol hill. One of the things that happens when a Senior Member passes away like that, the house has to have a special election. No one can be appointd to the house. Depending on state laws that election has to happen in a fairly short amount of time. What would happen is local Party Leaders would often turn to the widow and say, will you run for the partial term because you have name recognition. Rogers is going to be on the ballot. And the expectation was is that the wife would serve out this term and then she would retire and the Party Leaders would find a suitable male candidate to succeed her. Rogers had different ideas. She actually ends up staying in the house for 35 years. She is still the longest serving woman in the house, and she was for a very long time the longest serving woman in congress. She was recently surpassed by barbara mcculskey of maryland who has both house and senate service. She not only had longevity, she was very influential in terms of Veterans Affairs. Prior to her experience in the house, she also had volunteered for the red cross. She had become an advocate for servicemen returning from world war i, and when republicans in the 1940s briefly regained the majority in the 80th congress, she becomes one of the very first women to chair a major congressional committee. She chairs the Veterans Affairs committee in the 80th congress and 83rd when control flipflopped back and forth between democrats and republicans. Shes a republican. Her experience, and you see a couple of pictures here with her, in this one shes having a radio debate with mary norton of new jersey. This is in 1926. And these two really become in many respects the deans of women in congress for several decades. Mary norton is a democrat and she came up through politics in jersey city, new jersey. Her mentor was frank i am the law hague who was a machine politician. He promoted her career. She comes into the house in 1925, the same year as edith Norris Rogers. The interesting thing about her is that she, like rogers and other women from this early generation, really pursue a strategy of gaining power in the house by assimilating. They didnt push womens issues per se. She really tried to minimize gender differences and norton was extremely successful moving up the Committee Leadership ladder. She chaired four congressional committees by the time she retired from the house in the early 1950s. One of them was the Labor Committee during the new deal, which was a Major Committee and her signal piece of legislation was the fair labor standards act of 1938 which set a 40hour work week, outlawed child labor, set a minimum wage, and she later said that was the just the crowning moment of my house experience. Im prouder of getting that bill through the house than anything else ive ever done. But she was a nononsense legislator. Very early on in her career, maybe the year this picture was snapped, she was on the house floor and a bill was being demated and a male member turned to her and said i yield to the gentle lady from new jersey. She cut him off, she said im no lady, im a member of congress and im going to proceed on that basis. She did. Her career was a marvelous example of moving up through the ranks through seniority. One of my favorite things about edith Norris Rogers, how she used her public persona. She begins from the getgo, early 1926, when she debates mary norton. Its a radio debate, but clearly they know theyre going to be photographed and its going to be a big deal. So mary norton is wearing her fantastic fur santa claus coat. And edith Norris Rogers is in widows weave, in a black veil, still officially mourning her husband. Its politically savvy on her part. Shes always very good at that. This is a leaflet from her first general election. In here she says over and over again things like, always on the job, reelect mrs. Rogers on her own record of achievements. Inside it says some wonderful stuff, knows the ropes, gives prompt, efficient service, and talks a lot about what shes done for veterans and shes not above also saying shes still mrs. John jacob rogers. This is the primary season in september. Shes very wise in the ways of doing this. A little later, after she has been reelected a few times, she often is photographed doing things that would be visually interesting and also very much related to the issues that are important to her. Here she and other members of congress are testing out a really weird riding lawn mower looking tank right outside the capitol. She often would do that. She was photographed she was called the most airminded female member of congress. She often would fly back and forth to places in open airplanes. She said she found them very convenient and she enjoyed it. So there are photographs of her with aviator goggles headed off into the sky. She did some wonderful, wonderful things, but she, as matt has said, she also was very much an assimilationist in the way of that first generation of women in congress. Heres a photo of some of the early women of congress at the start of the 71st congress. There are lots of them. And you can see they are very business like in their attire, but nonetheless, in furs and looks like edith Norris Rogers has some flowers with her. This represents not all the women who were in congress, but lots of them. You can see they are nonetheless being photographed and treated by the press as an entity and how thats going to get played out would change and over the next couple of decades as people try to figure out what do we talk about when we talk about women in congress. This is an interesting photo because it points out, you can go through this and look at the way women were elected to congress. On the front row, far left is pearl oldfield, who had succeeded her husband, who was a Senior Member who passed away. Then edith nourse rogers. Then ruth pratt, who was elected in her own right. Not with any kind of familial connection. She represented the Silk Stocking district in new york city. And then on the far side here is Ruth Hanna Mccormick of illinois. Her father was marcus hanna, the republican kingmaker in the early part of the 20th century. And constantly butted heads with William Jennings brian. Which is interesting because William Jennings brian, his daughter Ruth Ryan Owen ruth brian owen is on this side. When both ruths were sworn in, in 1929, they came down the center aisle together arm and arm and wowed the members and the press because here are two daughters of avowed political enemies. If we go back into the picture just to finish out, this is mary norton of new jersey, and then this woman here is another one of the interesting characters from this time period. Florence kahn of california, who represented a large portion of San Francisco, and shes another widow who followed her husband to congress. Her husband julius was the chairman of the military Affairs Committee, and like edith Norris Rogers, she was another woman who was very involved in her husbands political career. When he passed away she was asked to run for the seat in the special election, and she decided that she was going to stay on. She stayed on for more than a decade. And shes the first jewish woman elected to congress. And shes also the first woman to be appointed to the prestigious appropriations committee. And shes responsible for steering a lot of funds into the bay area to develop things like the bay bridge connecting San Francisco and oakland. And then also the Alameda Naval air station. She sat on the military Affairs Committee too. We have a portrait of her in the collection as well. We do. We have a wonderful portrait of her. Shes standing in her district. Actually right near where she lived in what is now parkland, and behind her, the view that you would see if you were standing there today is the Golden Gate Bridge and the marin headlands. And theres a little bitty in the painting but enormous in real life, ship coming through there that was part of the Naval Air Station that was there. Theres a lot in there. One of the things thats most interesting about her, i havent mentioned anything about her figure there. Its all about whats around her. Her figure is dark, and black and very accurate and thats how she dressed and presented herself. She had this grandmotherly matronly look, but she was so good with the press. One line quips, there was no one who was better. A reporter once asked her, how have you had so much legislative success getting on to these committees and getting legislation passed and without missing a beat, she is said sex appeal. When she first came into the house, leadership didnt want to put her on the committees that her husband was on. She did not get the military Affairs Committee assignment right away. Instead, she was put on to the indian Affairs Committee. She represented San Francisco, urban district, so she went out and told the press, she said, the only indians i have in my district are in front of cigar shops and she went after the leadership very publicly. Well, very shortly they came around and put her on to the Committee Assignments that she wanted. One of the artifacts we have related related to florence that im fond of is a letter from j. Edgar hoover. Whats important is dear mother kann. Its an odd phrasing for j. Edgar hoover. But she was very known as the mother of the fbi. So that was often how we refused to her. This is a fascinating piece of lobbying. And playing up that affiliation and the close tie they had. By the time we get to the late 1930s, early 1940s were beginning to see a Different Group from that Pioneer Group come into congress. World war ii reshapes the role of women in society generally, women hold a lot of jobs that men previously held as men go off to fight in the service. Women who come into congress during that era begin to advocate more of a role for women outside the home. Mary norton was one of them. She was constantly urging women to be involved in politics, to be involved outside the home, even when the war ended she feared that might contract again and women would kind of be forced back into a domesticated role. One of the prominent people who serves in the 1940s is helen douglas. We have a picture of her here from that time period. Douglas was wellknown to constituents. She represented a district in that encompassed a part of los angeles, california. She was known nationally. She was a star of the stage. She was married to melvin douglas, the actor, and she became involved in california politics and was a progressive and began to speak a lot on behalf of Democratic Candidates. She won election to the house for a couple of terms in the 1940s. She wasnt really a legislator, per se. She wasnt introducing a lot of bills. She wasnt a legislative entrepreneur. But she was a spokesperson for progressivist issues. She would often come on to the floor and talk about improving housing, africanamerican civil rights, so she was known as a great speech maker. Heres a campaign bill or a poster which advertises a speaking engagement douglas made in 1940, it happens in oakland far from her district, so you get the sense she was on the speaking circuit a lot speaking for Democratic Candidates and democratic issues. She serves a couple terms in the house and in the early 1950s she decides to run for the u. S. Senate. She goes through the primary, the democratic primary, and the candidate one of the candidates she ran against described her as being a sympathizer, a red sympathizer, which was a potent attack in the early 1950s in the era of mccarthy. But she wins that nomination, and in the general election runs against richard nixon, who uses a lot of the same tactics that have been employed against her in the primary and accuses her of being pink, right down to her underwear. She returned fire because in one Campaign Speech she labeled nixon as tricky dick which is a name that stuck with him through his career. That Campaign Tactic tying her to the red scare and communist sympathies was potent because nixon won in a land slide and she leaves politics. This is a 1941 magazine coronet, which hasnt survived into the 21st century. You can see its a magazine aimed at women. There is a woman posing in a Wedding Dress and something called the bachelor life on the cover. An expose of bachelor days and nights. Inside theres an article on women in congress, and one of the things that i love about this is that this is sort of a great example of how the press didnt really know where to have women in congress. These women are in some cases all business, jesse sumner here, and lots of the women we know from service, edith Norris Rogers, all these folks are here and theyre very business like but often described as sort of fabulously wealthy or 53 or, you know, tiny brew neownette, s still placing them in this sort of tricky position for them to figure out. In this transitional generation, 1941, its going to continue to be a little complicated to figure out and once the war ends its probably going to get a little more complicated. In this case its an interesting contrast here. Jesse sumner is on the phone taking care of business but over here Margaret Chase smith, tending some flowers and she has a wonderful, fascinating long career. This is a visitor pass, a gallery pass, signed by Margaret Chase smith in 1941. Gallery passes were often collected as souvenirs of trips to the capitol and this was perhaps someone from maine visiting and would have been signed by one of the few women in congress at the time. Farar mentioned this is a transitional time period and Margaret Chase smith really kind of embodies that. Women in congress in the 1940s and 1950s, as a group, theyre really kind of serving an apprenticeship. They are slowly working their way into positions of influence and seniority, Getting BetterCommittee Assignments, serving longer careers. Some of them are moving into leadership positions or at least further up the leadership rung. Margaret chase smith, she comes into the house vee at widows mandate and succeeds her husband clyde who passes away in 1940 and theres a special election thats held. She serves in the house for about nine years and has a very influential career. She manages to get on the naval Affairs Committee, which was a plum assignment. Prior to the reorganization of the armed forces in the late 19 wh 40s the house had a naval Affairs Committee and military committee. Naval affairs, if youre from maine with the big shipyards up in bath, was one of the assignments you would look out for and it gave her really a position of influence and allowed her to speak on the topic of women and military service. In 1948, shes a prime mover behind a bill that helps integrate the armed forces and give women a permanent role in the uniformed forces. She leaves the house the following year to serve in the u. S. Senate and runs for the senate and wins election. Shes probably best known in the public mind as one of the very few brave senators who opposed mccarthy, joe mccarthy, and his tactics very early on. She gave a speech called the declaration of conscience in june 1950, where she opposed his tactics very eloquently. She goes on to serve a very long career to the early 1970s. But shes one of the women who is pushing the story of women in congress into a new era. If youre interested in this topic you can learn more going tos. If youre interested in this topic learn more on our website and the women in Congress Publication along with objects and artifacts that we dont have on the table today is on the site. This was the first of a two part program. You can view this and all other american artifacts programs on our website cspan. Org history. Youre watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan 3 explore our nations past. Cspan 3, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Weeknights this month were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan 3. Tonight a look at civil war objects. Historians held a series of online talks this summer about artifacts featured in their joint publication, the civil war in 50 objects. In the first of four of these programs they discuss objects related to soldiers uniforms. Watch tonight beginning at 8 00 eastern. American artifacts visits museums and Historic Places and up next we take you inside the house wing of the u. S. Capitol to learn about the history of women in congress. We toin the story beginning in the 1940s with republican