Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Artifacts History Of Women I

From the Suffrage Movement to women attaining full political rights. A nationalive in womens suffrage organization. She helped women get the right to vote, not only in montana but a couple of states west of the mississippi. In 1916. She is elected to mop one of montanas to at large districts. She is a pacifist. Sworn into the house on april 2, 1917. The house has come into special session, extraordinary session because the president delivers a message to congress, asking for a declaration of war against germany as the u. S. Entry into world war i. , rankint vote is held is one of a group of about 50 members who vote against u. S. Intervention in world war i. She served a term in the house. It was on the womens suffrage community. Committee. She was on the public lands committee. That was an important assignment for a woman from montana with so much of the land being held by the federal government. It was an important position. She served only a term in the house and she tries to run for senate of montana. She does not get the republican nomination but she runs as an independent. She gets about a fifth of the vote. Then she goes back to private life and she is involved in womens rights issues. She is a driving force behind the shepherd maternity and infancy act. Inn she is also involved International Peace organizations. Fastforward 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. She is faced with a tremendous vote. This is the day after pearl harbor. Fdr has come to the house. Yesterday, december seventh, thatdate in 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 jeanette ranking is a pacifist. She will vote her conscience. Oral histories of people in the chamber who have recalled members going up to rankin and asking her to vote present, dont vote no. She is the loan vote against u. S. Entry into world war ii. That effectively ended her lyrical career. Lifeoes back into private but she is a force in the Antiwar Movement for another couple of decades. A remarkable career. In 2004, we commissioned a new portrait of jeanette rankin. We wanted to show what it was like to come into congress when women dont even have the right to vote nationally. Whense it is 1916 and 1917 she was elected and entered congress, she does a lot of newspaper coverage of it. Because she is a woman, it is something of a novelty. Theres a lot of coverage of what she was wearing. We know what she was wearing. The portrait shows are in that navy blue dress. She knows we know that she was wearing a big hat. The portrait has her in those clothes, holding the washington post. One of the things most interesting is she is wearing that hat and she is placed in that portrait just outside the chamber doors. If we were to enter into that space with her, she would be just about to turn to her right and enter the chamber. At which point she would take off her hat. Cats were not worn in the chamber. Even though there was much discussion of as a woman, should she wear a hat must and mark formal attire. Of not a woman but a Member Congress . Indeed, it turns out they decide she is a member of congress more than she is her gender. She takes it off. All those things we wanted to put in that portrait, as well as a sense that she was in the house but much more a preacher of her other interests. Pacifism, suffrage. All the issues that were important to her. It was a somewhat lonely spot to be in, to be the only woman and taking a stance of conscious that put her at odds with other people. Somethinge rankin was of an outlier. She comes from an activist background, a separatist background. If you think of the first two decades of women elected. There are about 20 women elected. A good number of these people dont have political background. Held elective office. A large number of them are widows who succeed their late husbands in congress. Later, political scientists would describe this as the widows mandate. That was the route for a lot of the early women into congress. This persisted through the 1960s and even into the 1970s. A large number of women followed their husbands or maybe they had a prominent political father. Real familial connection. That was not rankins experience. Woman that were looking at in this picture. Edithonderful picture of noris rogers. Rogers was a widow. She succeeded her husband, john rogers who was a highranking member of the Foreign Affairs committee. She actually had a lot of experience helping him with administering the committee and administering his personal office. She knew what his slate of agenda was. She knew the rhythms and the contours of life here on capitol hill. One of the things that happened as a Senior Member passes away like that, the house has to have a special election. Laws, thatn state 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 . You have name recognition. Rogers will be on the ballot. The expectation is 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 longestserving woman in the house. She was for a very long time the longestserving woman in congress. She was recently surpassed by Barbara Mikulski of maryland. She has both Health Service 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. 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 veteran Affairs Committee in the 80th congress and again in the 83rd congress when the control flipflopped back and forth. She was a republican. Her experience, and you see a couple of pictures. In this one, she is having a radio date 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 when she came up to politics in jersey city, new jersey. Her mentor was frank i am the law hague. He promoted her career. As she comes into the house in 1925, the same year as edith noures rogers. The interesting thing about her is that she, like rogers and other women from this generation, really pursued a strategy of gaining power in the house by assimilating. They did not push womens issues per se. They really try 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 and nearly 1950s. And 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 workweek, outlaw child labor and set the minimum wage. She later said, i am prouder of getting that bill to the house of any than anything ive ever done. She was a nononsense legislator. Early on in her career, maybe the year this picture was snapped, she was on the house floor and a bill was being debated. A male member turned to her and said, i yield to the gentlelady from new jersey but she cut him off and said, i am no lady. I am a member of congress. And im going to proceed on that basis she did. Her career was a marvelous example of moving up to the ranks through seniority. One of my favorite things about edith noures rogers was how she used her persona up a should begins right from the getgo. This is early 1926. When she debates mary norton. A radio debate, but clearly they know they are going to be photographed. Mary norton is wearing her fantastic fur santa claus coat. And edith noures rogers is in widows weed. Still officially mourning her husband. But it is politically savvy. She is 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. Inside it says some wonderful stuff. Knows the ropes, gives prompt, efficient service. She talks were about what she has done for veterans. She is still mrs. John jacob rogers. This is the primary season in september. She is very much very wise in the ways of doing this. Later, after she has been reelected a few times, she often is photographed doing things that will be visually interesting and also very much related to the issues important to her. Here she and other members of congress are testing out a really riding lawnmowerlooking tank. Right outside the capitol. She often would do that. She also was photographed. She was called the most airminded female member of congress to she would fly black and forth to places in open airplanes. There are photographs of her with aviator goggles headed off into the sky. She did some wonderful things, but as matt said, she also was an assimilationist in the way of that first generation of women in congress. Here is a photo of some of the early women of congress at the start of the 71st congress. There are lots of them. You can see that they are very businesslike in their attire. Wearing furs. It looks like Edith Nourse Rogers has some flowers. This represents not all the women in congress but lots of them. They are being photograph and being treated by the press as an entity. How that is 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 the women were elected to congress. On the front row is Pearl Oldfield who succeeded her husband who passed away. Then Edith Nourse Rogers then ruth pratt who represented the Silk Stocking district in new york city. Then on the far side here is ruth Hannah Mccormack of illinois. Her father was marcus hannah, the republican kingmaker in the early part of the 20th century. And constantly butted heads with William Jennings bryan. His daughter is on the side of the picture. We have a press account when these two ruths came down the center aisle together arm in arm. And wowed the members and the press because here are two daughters of about political enemies. If we go back into the picture this is mary norton. This is another one of the interesting characters. Florence kahn of california, who represented a large portion of San Francisco. And she is another widow who followed her husband to congress. Her husband julius was the chairman of the like Edith Nourse Rogers, she was another woman very involved in her husbands political career. When he passed away, she was asked to run for the seat, she was decided she was going to stay on. She stayed on for more of a decade. She is the first jewish woman elected to congress and she is also the first woman to be appointed to the prestigious appropriations committee. And she is responsible for steering a lot of funds into the bay area to develop things like the bay bridge connecting San Francisco and oakland. Then also the Alameda Naval air station. She sat on the military affairs panel. We have a wonderful portrait of her. She is standing in her district. And right near where she lives in what is now parkland. Behind her, the view that you would see if you are standing there today, is of the golden gate bridge. 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. So, theres a lot in there. One of the things that is most interesting is i have not mentioned anything about her figure. Her figure is very accurate. That is exactly how she dressed and how she presented herself. She had this matronly look. But she was so good with the press. One line quips. A reporter once asked her, how have you had so much legislative success getting onto these committees . And without missing a beat, she said, sex appeal. When she first came into the house, leadership did not 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 onto the indian Affairs Committee. She represented San Francisco, urban district. So, she were now been told the press, she said, the only indians i have are in front of cigar shops. She went after the leadership. Very publicly. Very shortly they came after her and put her on to the Committee Assignments she wanted. One of the artifacts we have related to Florence Kahn im fond of is a letter from j edgar hoover. The important part of this is not what he is writing. What is important is, dear morther kahn. It is an odd phrasing for j edgar hoover. But she was known as the mother of the fbi. So, that was often how he referred to her. This is a fascinating piece of lobbying. And playing up that affiliation and that close tie they had. By the time we get to the late 1930s, early 1940s, we begin to see a different from that Pioneer Group of women coming to congress. World war ii reshapes the role of women in society. Women hold a lot of jobs that men previously held as men go off to fight in the service. And women who come into congress during that era begin to advocate more of a role for women outside the home. Mary norton was constantly urging women to be involved in politics, to be involved outside the home. Even when the war ended, she feared that my contract again and women would be forced back into a domesticated role. One of the prominent people who serves in the 1940s is Helen Gahagan douglas. We have a picture of her here. And douglas was wellknown. She represented a district that encompassed a part of los angeles, california. But she was known nationally for her she was a star of the stage. She was married to melvyn douglas, the actor. 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 of the 1940s. She wasnt really a legislator. She was not introducing a lot of bills. She was not what we would call a legislative entrepreneur. She would often come onto the floor and talk about improving housing, africanamerican civil rights. So, she was known as a great speech maker. So, heres a campaign bill or poster which advertises speaking engagement that douglas made in 1948. It happens in oakland which is far from her district. Get the sense that 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. And she goes to the primary. The democratic primary. And the candidate, one of the candidates she ran against tarred her as being a sympathizer, a red sympathizer which was a very potent attack in the early 1950s in the era of mccarthy. But she wins that nomination. In the general election, she 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 speech she labeled nixon as tricky dick. Which is a name that stuck with him for the rest of his political career. But that campaign tactic, tying her to the red scare and communist sympathies, was potent because nixon won. She leaves politics. This is a 1941 magazine. Coronet, which hasnt survived into the 21st century. You can see it is a magazine aimed at women. There is a woman posing in a wedding dress. There is something called the bachelor life. An expose of bachelor days and nights. But inside, theres an article on women in congress onen of the and one of the things i love about this is that this is a great example of how the press did not know where to have women in congress. These women are all business. Jessie sumner here. Lots of the women that we know, Edith Nourse Rogers. All of these folks are here. They are described as fabulously wealthy or 53, or tiny brunette, things like that that are placing them still it is a tricky position for them to figure out. In this transitional generation, 1941, it is going to continue to be a little bit complicated to figure out. Once the war ends, it will get more complicated. In this case, it is kind of an interesting contrast. Jessie sumner is on the phone taking care of business. Over here, we have Margaret Chase smith, who is tending flowers. And she has a wonderful fascinating, long career. This is 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. This is a transitional time. Margaret chase smith embodies that. Women in congress in the 1940s and 1950s, as a group they are serving in apprenticeship. An apprenticeship. They are slowly working their way into positions of influence and seniority. They are Getting Better Committee Assignments. They are serving longer careers. By the end of this period, some of them are moving into leadership positions or at least further up the leadership rung. So, Suffrage Movement<\/a> to women attaining full political rights. A nationalive in womens suffrage organization. She helped women get the right to vote, not only in montana but a couple of states west of the mississippi. In 1916. She is elected to mop one of montanas to at large districts. She is a pacifist. Sworn into the house on april 2, 1917. The house has come into special session, extraordinary session because the president delivers a message to congress, asking for a declaration of war against germany as the u. S. Entry into world war i. , rankint vote is held is one of a group of about 50 members who vote against u. S. Intervention in world war i. She served a term in the house. It was on the womens suffrage community. Committee. She was on the public lands committee. That was an important assignment for a woman from montana with so much of the land being held by the federal government. It was an important position. She served only a term in the house and she tries to run for senate of montana. She does not get the republican nomination but she runs as an independent. She gets about a fifth of the vote. Then she goes back to private life and she is involved in womens rights issues. She is a driving force behind the shepherd maternity and infancy act. Inn she is also involved International Peace<\/a> organizations. Fastforward 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. She is faced with a tremendous vote. This is the day after pearl harbor. Fdr has come to the house. Yesterday, december seventh, thatdate in 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 jeanette ranking is a pacifist. She will vote her conscience. Oral histories of people in the chamber who have recalled members going up to rankin and asking her to vote present, dont vote no. She is the loan vote against u. S. Entry into world war ii. That effectively ended her lyrical career. Lifeoes back into private but she is a force in the Antiwar Movement<\/a> for another couple of decades. A remarkable career. In 2004, we commissioned a new portrait of jeanette rankin. We wanted to show what it was like to come into congress when women dont even have the right to vote nationally. Whense it is 1916 and 1917 she was elected and entered congress, she does a lot of newspaper coverage of it. Because she is a woman, it is something of a novelty. Theres a lot of coverage of what she was wearing. We know what she was wearing. The portrait shows are in that navy blue dress. She knows we know that she was wearing a big hat. The portrait has her in those clothes, holding the washington post. One of the things most interesting is she is wearing that hat and she is placed in that portrait just outside the chamber doors. If we were to enter into that space with her, she would be just about to turn to her right and enter the chamber. At which point she would take off her hat. Cats were not worn in the chamber. Even though there was much discussion of as a woman, should she wear a hat must and mark formal attire. Of not a woman but a Member Congress<\/a> . Indeed, it turns out they decide she is a member of congress more than she is her gender. She takes it off. All those things we wanted to put in that portrait, as well as a sense that she was in the house but much more a preacher of her other interests. Pacifism, suffrage. All the issues that were important to her. It was a somewhat lonely spot to be in, to be the only woman and taking a stance of conscious that put her at odds with other people. Somethinge rankin was of an outlier. She comes from an activist background, a separatist background. If you think of the first two decades of women elected. There are about 20 women elected. A good number of these people dont have political background. Held elective office. A large number of them are widows who succeed their late husbands in congress. Later, political scientists would describe this as the widows mandate. That was the route for a lot of the early women into congress. This persisted through the 1960s and even into the 1970s. A large number of women followed their husbands or maybe they had a prominent political father. Real familial connection. That was not rankins experience. Woman that were looking at in this picture. Edithonderful picture of noris rogers. Rogers was a widow. She succeeded her husband, john rogers who was a highranking member of the Foreign Affairs<\/a> committee. She actually had a lot of experience helping him with administering the committee and administering his personal office. She knew what his slate of agenda was. She knew the rhythms and the contours of life here on capitol hill. One of the things that happened as a Senior Member<\/a> passes away like that, the house has to have a special election. Laws, thatn state election has to happen in a fairly short amount of time. What would happen is local Party Leaders<\/a> would often turn to the widow and say, will you run for the partial term . You have name recognition. Rogers will be on the ballot. The expectation is the wife would serve out this term and then she would retire and the Party Leaders<\/a> 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 longestserving woman in the house. She was for a very long time the longestserving woman in congress. She was recently surpassed by Barbara Mikulski<\/a> of maryland. She has both Health Service<\/a> 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. 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 veteran Affairs Committee<\/a> in the 80th congress and again in the 83rd congress when the control flipflopped back and forth. She was a republican. Her experience, and you see a couple of pictures. In this one, she is having a radio date 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 when she came up to politics in jersey city, new jersey. Her mentor was frank i am the law hague. He promoted her career. As she comes into the house in 1925, the same year as edith noures rogers. The interesting thing about her is that she, like rogers and other women from this generation, really pursued a strategy of gaining power in the house by assimilating. They did not push womens issues per se. They really try to minimize gender differences. And norton was extremely successful moving up the Committee Leadership<\/a> ladder. She chaired four congressional committees by the time she retired from the house and nearly 1950s. And one of them was the Labor Committee<\/a> 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 workweek, outlaw child labor and set the minimum wage. She later said, i am prouder of getting that bill to the house of any than anything ive ever done. She was a nononsense legislator. Early on in her career, maybe the year this picture was snapped, she was on the house floor and a bill was being debated. A male member turned to her and said, i yield to the gentlelady from new jersey but she cut him off and said, i am no lady. I am a member of congress. And im going to proceed on that basis she did. Her career was a marvelous example of moving up to the ranks through seniority. One of my favorite things about edith noures rogers was how she used her persona up a should begins right from the getgo. This is early 1926. When she debates mary norton. A radio debate, but clearly they know they are going to be photographed. Mary norton is wearing her fantastic fur santa claus coat. And edith noures rogers is in widows weed. Still officially mourning her husband. But it is politically savvy. She is 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. Inside it says some wonderful stuff. Knows the ropes, gives prompt, efficient service. She talks were about what she has done for veterans. She is still mrs. John jacob rogers. This is the primary season in september. She is very much very wise in the ways of doing this. Later, after she has been reelected a few times, she often is photographed doing things that will be visually interesting and also very much related to the issues important to her. Here she and other members of congress are testing out a really riding lawnmowerlooking tank. Right outside the capitol. She often would do that. She also was photographed. She was called the most airminded female member of congress to she would fly black and forth to places in open airplanes. There are photographs of her with aviator goggles headed off into the sky. She did some wonderful things, but as matt said, she also was an assimilationist in the way of that first generation of women in congress. Here is a photo of some of the early women of congress at the start of the 71st congress. There are lots of them. You can see that they are very businesslike in their attire. Wearing furs. It looks like Edith Nourse Rogers<\/a> has some flowers. This represents not all the women in congress but lots of them. They are being photograph and being treated by the press as an entity. How that is 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 the women were elected to congress. On the front row is Pearl Oldfield<\/a> who succeeded her husband who passed away. Then Edith Nourse Rogers<\/a> then ruth pratt who represented the Silk Stocking<\/a> district in new york city. Then on the far side here is ruth Hannah Mccormack<\/a> of illinois. Her father was marcus hannah, the republican kingmaker in the early part of the 20th century. And constantly butted heads with William Jennings<\/a> bryan. His daughter is on the side of the picture. We have a press account when these two ruths came down the center aisle together arm in arm. And wowed the members and the press because here are two daughters of about political enemies. If we go back into the picture this is mary norton. This is another one of the interesting characters. Florence kahn of california, who represented a large portion of San Francisco<\/a>. And she is another widow who followed her husband to congress. Her husband julius was the chairman of the like Edith Nourse Rogers<\/a>, she was another woman very involved in her husbands political career. When he passed away, she was asked to run for the seat, she was decided she was going to stay on. She stayed on for more of a decade. She is the first jewish woman elected to congress and she is also the first woman to be appointed to the prestigious appropriations committee. And she is responsible for steering a lot of funds into the bay area to develop things like the bay bridge connecting San Francisco<\/a> and oakland. Then also the Alameda Naval<\/a> air station. She sat on the military affairs panel. We have a wonderful portrait of her. She is standing in her district. And right near where she lives in what is now parkland. Behind her, the view that you would see if you are standing there today, is of the golden gate bridge. 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. So, theres a lot in there. One of the things that is most interesting is i have not mentioned anything about her figure. Her figure is very accurate. That is exactly how she dressed and how she presented herself. She had this matronly look. But she was so good with the press. One line quips. A reporter once asked her, how have you had so much legislative success getting onto these committees . And without missing a beat, she said, sex appeal. When she first came into the house, leadership did not want to put her on the committees that her husband was on. She did not get the military Affairs Committee<\/a> assignment right away. Instead, she was put onto the indian Affairs Committee<\/a>. She represented San Francisco<\/a>, urban district. So, she were now been told the press, she said, the only indians i have are in front of cigar shops. She went after the leadership. Very publicly. Very shortly they came after her and put her on to the Committee Assignments<\/a> she wanted. One of the artifacts we have related to Florence Kahn<\/a> im fond of is a letter from j edgar hoover. The important part of this is not what he is writing. What is important is, dear morther kahn. It is an odd phrasing for j edgar hoover. But she was known as the mother of the fbi. So, that was often how he referred to her. This is a fascinating piece of lobbying. And playing up that affiliation and that close tie they had. By the time we get to the late 1930s, early 1940s, we begin to see a different from that Pioneer Group<\/a> of women coming to congress. World war ii reshapes the role of women in society. Women hold a lot of jobs that men previously held as men go off to fight in the service. And women who come into congress during that era begin to advocate more of a role for women outside the home. Mary norton was constantly urging women to be involved in politics, to be involved outside the home. Even when the war ended, she feared that my contract again and women would be forced back into a domesticated role. One of the prominent people who serves in the 1940s is Helen Gahagan<\/a> douglas. We have a picture of her here. And douglas was wellknown. She represented a district that encompassed a part of los angeles, california. But she was known nationally for her she was a star of the stage. She was married to melvyn douglas, the actor. She became involved in california politics and was a progressive and began to speak a lot on behalf of Democratic Candidates<\/a>. She won election to the house for a couple of terms of the 1940s. She wasnt really a legislator. She was not introducing a lot of bills. She was not what we would call a legislative entrepreneur. She would often come onto the floor and talk about improving housing, africanamerican civil rights. So, she was known as a great speech maker. So, heres a campaign bill or poster which advertises speaking engagement that douglas made in 1948. It happens in oakland which is far from her district. Get the sense that she was on the speaking circuit a lot, speaking for Democratic Candidates<\/a> 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. And she goes to the primary. The democratic primary. And the candidate, one of the candidates she ran against tarred her as being a sympathizer, a red sympathizer which was a very potent attack in the early 1950s in the era of mccarthy. But she wins that nomination. In the general election, she 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 speech she labeled nixon as tricky dick. Which is a name that stuck with him for the rest of his political career. But that campaign tactic, tying her to the red scare and communist sympathies, was potent because nixon won. She leaves politics. This is a 1941 magazine. Coronet, which hasnt survived into the 21st century. You can see it is a magazine aimed at women. There is a woman posing in a wedding dress. There is something called the bachelor life. An expose of bachelor days and nights. But inside, theres an article on women in congress onen of the and one of the things i love about this is that this is a great example of how the press did not know where to have women in congress. These women are all business. Jessie sumner here. Lots of the women that we know, Edith Nourse Rogers<\/a>. All of these folks are here. They are described as fabulously wealthy or 53, or tiny brunette, things like that that are placing them still it is a tricky position for them to figure out. In this transitional generation, 1941, it is going to continue to be a little bit complicated to figure out. Once the war ends, it will get more complicated. In this case, it is kind of an interesting contrast. Jessie sumner is on the phone taking care of business. Over here, we have Margaret Chase<\/a> smith, who is tending flowers. And she has a wonderful fascinating, long career. This is a gallery pass signed by Margaret Chase<\/a> 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. This is a transitional time. Margaret chase smith embodies that. Women in congress in the 1940s and 1950s, as a group they are serving in apprenticeship. An apprenticeship. They are slowly working their way into positions of influence and seniority. They are Getting Better<\/a> Committee Assignments<\/a>. They are serving longer careers. By the end of this period, some of them are moving into leadership positions or at least further up the leadership rung. So, Margaret Chase<\/a> smith, she comes into the house, she succeeds her husband who passes away in the 1940s. She serves in the house for about nine years. She has a very influential career. She manages to get on the naval Affairs Committee<\/a>, which was a plum assignment. Prior to the reorganization of the armed forces in the late 1940s, the house had a naval Affairs Committee<\/a>, a military Affairs Committee<\/a>. Naval affairs, if you are from maine with the shipyards in bath was one of the assignments you would look out for. It gave her a position of influence and allowed her to speak on the topic of women in military service. In 1948, she is a prime mover behind the 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, runs for the senate, wins election for she is probably best known in the public mind as one of the very few, brave senators who opposed mccarthy, joe mccarthy, and his tactics early on. She gave a speech called the declaration of conscious in june, 1950, where she opposed his tactics. So, and she goes on to serve a very long career to the early 1970s. But she is one of the women who kind of is pushing the story of women of congress. If youre interested in this topic, you can learn more by going to our website which is history. House. Gov. The women in Congress Publication<\/a> along with the artifacts we do not have on the table today is available on the site. This was the first of a twopart program. You can view this and all other american artifact programs on our website, cspan. Org history. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] this is in the second of a twopart program, we continued the story into the 1940s with republican congresswoman clare booth luce. I am sarah elliott. I am the curator for the house of representatives. 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