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Jeannette Pickering Rankin was an American politician and women's rights advocate who became 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 for one term, then was elected again in 1940. Rankin remains the only woman ever elected to Congress from Montana.
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politics · First woman elected to U.S. Congress (1880–1973) · politician · social worker · pacifist · women's rights activist · peace activist · suffragist · feminist · also Jeannette Rankin, Jeannette P. Rankin, Jeannette Pickering Rankin, Rankin
Born 11 June 1880 · Died 18 May 1973 · Q232407
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“Are you going to deny them [white women] the equipment with which to help you effectively simply because the enfranchisement of a child-race 50 years ago brought you a problem you were powerless to handle?”
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The Missoulian: Peace Park: Jeannette Rankin Peace Center looks to add pavers to hillside sanctuary
Yahoo: First major biography of Jeannette Rankin in two decades releases Election Day
NBC Montana: Preview of Jeannette Rankin musical to be performed in 1-night event
Missoulian: Jeannette Rankin Peace Center to honor Peacemaker of the year
PBS: Jeannette Rankin: The First Woman Member of U.S. Congress
Billings Gazette: Woman portrays Jeannette Rankin at Western Heritage Center: 'Her words still ring true'
The Kalispell Brewing Company commissioned a mural on the side of its building in Kalispell, Montana, featuring a Rankin caricature and quotation
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Awarded Georgia Women of Achievement (2005).
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Peace activist Jeanmarie Simpson produced and starred in the one-woman play A Single Woman, based on the life of Rankin, to benefit peace organizations
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Awarded National Women's Hall of Fame (1993).
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Rankin was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame
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Died 1973-05-18.
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Rankin—by then in her nineties—considered mounting a third House campaign to gain a wider audience for her opposition to the Vietnam War, but longstanding throat and heart ailments forced her to abandon that final projec
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“If I am remembered for no other act,”
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Won War Resisters League Peace Award (1958).
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Galvanized the country and silenced virtually all opposition
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Was the sole member of Congress to vote against the declaration of war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor
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Career landmark: United States representative (1941–1943).
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Rankin opposed President Franklin Roosevelt's proposals to intervene on the British side against Germany and its allies, arguing that both sides wished to avoid a second European war and would pursue a diplomatic solutio
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Founded the Georgia Peace Society, which served as headquarters for her pacifism campaign until its dissolution in 1941, on the eve of the U
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Rankin bought a small farm near Athens, Georgia
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But repealed eight years later, though many of its key provisions were incorporated into the Social Security Act of 1935
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Rankin helped found the American Civil Liberties Union and served as a vice president
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Helped found the American Civil Liberties Union and served as a vice president
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The Speculator Mine disaster in Butte left 168 miners dead
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President Woodrow Wilson, addressing a joint session, asked Congress to "make the world safe for democracy" by declaring war on Germany
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Career landmark: United States representative (1917–1919).
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For one term, then was elected again in 1940
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Studied at Columbia University School of Social Work (1908–1909).
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Rankin took on the responsibility of caring for her younger siblings
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Studied at University of Montana, Bachelor of Science (1902).
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Received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology
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Born 1880-06-11.
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Near Missoula in Montana Territory, nine years before the territory became a state, to school teacher Olive (née Pickering) and Scottish-Canadian immigrant John Rankin, a wealthy mill owner
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