Who was the first woman to hold federal office in the United States?
Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was an American politician and women's rights advocate, and the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916, and again in 1940.
Each of Rankin's Congressional terms coincided with initiation of U.S. military intervention in the two World Wars. A lifelong pacifist, she was one of 50 House members who opposed the declaration of war on Germany in 1917. In 1941, she was the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
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2 Comments
Robin Heckler
An amazing woman who made great changes in America for women, children and the American workers.This is the trivia we all need to hear about. People today complain about liberal politicians. She was as liberal as they come in her time, yet try to imagine our world without the changes she helped make in child labor, women voting or workplace safety.
Pat Wells
I would like to see more questions like this one. Never heard of her, thanks to HIStory, but she definitely a trailblazer.