Our nations past. Cspan3 created by americas Cable Television companies as a public service. And brought to you today by your television provider. Each week American History tvs american artifacts visits museums and historic places. Up next we take you inside the u. S. Capitols house wing where historian Matthew Wasniewski and karen Farar Elliott traced the history of women in congress. This is the first of a twopart program. The story of women in Congress Begins with jeannette ranken 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 Suffrage 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 of states west of the mississippi. And she runs in 1916. Shes elected to one of montanas two at large districts. And part of her platform is that s
Years before women had the right to vote fashlly and in a way shes really a bridge from the suffrage movement, to women attaining full political rights. She was active in a National Womens suffrage organization, and she helped women get the right to vote not only in montana, but a couple of states west of the mississippi and she runs in 1916. Shes elected to one of montanas two at large districts and part of her platform is that shes a pacifist. Well, shes sworn into the house on april 2, 1917, and the house has come into a special session, extraordinary session because the president that night, Woodrow Wilson delivers a message to Congress Asking for a declaration of war against germany. Its 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 assi
Corner. President truman continues his swing around the circuit. The chief executive get a president. He writes to the home of his own his old friend cactus aand its a war record warm welcome on route to. He visits the alamo. The historic shrine of texas independence. In austin, a big crowd to greet the president as he continues his campaign for the lone star states 23 electoral votes. On his tour, the president spoke and visited with sam rayburn, former soup e. Deweys Campaign Manager and the confidence they had early on. Take a look. Champagne flows freely. Victory is in the air. The first returns had truman in the lead, but republicans are not worried. And then he brings good news secured we now know that governor do we will carry new york state by 50,000. Dewey represented that. Opposed to that were the conservatives, but westerners, many of them isolationists who rallied around bob rttaft. He had precipitated the split. That never really healed. When republicans took congress,s ca
Senator frank church who is investigating irregular layerties in the cia and fbi. This is in 1975 and 1976. There are major hearings held here for that. Parts vrt executive branch are operating without congressional oversight and that you need to have regular committee investigations. We dont see it as dramatically as what the Church Committee was doing at that time. After that, in 1983, the hard building opens up. Because the staff is happening at a very rapid pace. As late as the mid 1960s, there were less than a thousand employees. They were paid in cash. They stood in line to get an envelope full of cash. The legislative branch didnt feel it could trust the executive branch as much. Before that, they would be relying on executive agencies and now they needed their own staff to evaluate what was happening. And so they increased the size of the senate house staff considerably and the senate staff went about a thousand to close to 7,000. And so eventually they built the heart building
Speak about a year ago. At the time, she said that she was doing research on what happened after women got the vote. And i thought that sounds like a really interesting program. Its clear from your response that you all do too. Give a warm welcome to robin muncy. Thanks for being here. [ applause ] thank you so much. For that introduction and the invitation to come back. That didnt go too badly. And thank you to everybody at the Smithsonian Associates who made this possible. People who worked on publicity and taken care of the logistics. Okay. Let me make sure i got this. Good. So the 19th amendment of course the womans suffrage amendment to the u. S. Constitution. Finally made it through congress in june of 1919. And it was ratified by three quarters of the states in august of 1920. After that, no state could deny the vote on the basis of sex. Tonight our job is to explore some of the meanings of the 19th amendment immediately in the aftermath of its passage. Before we drill down on t