|
Born in Skowhegan, Maine on
December 14, 1897, Margaret Chase Smith was the daughter of Carrie
Murray Chase and George Emery Chase. She displayed early in life the
independence which characterized her political career. During the
1920's, she gained many of the skills which later served her in
Washington through her work with women's organizations, in
particular the Skowhegan Business and Professional Women's Club of
which she was a founder.
 In 1930, she married Clyde H.
Smith, a respected political leader in central Maine. He was elected
to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1936 and served until his
untimely death in 1940. After conducting four campaigns in five
months, Margaret Chase Smith succeeded her husband in representing
Maine's Second District. Following a successful eight years in the
House, Margaret Chase Smith beat the odds when she soundly defeated
the incumbent governor, Horace Hildreth; former governor Sumner
Sewal; and the Reverend Albion Beverage in the Republican primary
and easily won the general election in September for the United
States Senate in 1948. As a result she became the first woman in the
nation's history to serve in both houses of the U.S. Congress and
the first to be elected to the U.S. Senate in her own right.
In 1950, Margaret Chase Smith
was once again brought to national attention when she authored the Declaration
of Conscience, marking the beginning of the end of McCarthyism.
On January 27, 1964, she announced her candidacy for the nation's
highest elective office. At the Cow Palace in San Francisco that
July, Senator Smith became the the first woman to have her name
placed in nomination for the Presidency at a major political party's
national convention.
After retiring from an extremely successful political life in 1972,
Senator Smith launched a second career in education. For more than
three years she toured the nation's colleges and universities as
visiting professor with the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship
Foundation. Throughout her career, Senator Smith received numerous
honors recognizing her contributions to the nation and was the
recipient of ninety-five honorary degrees from educational
institutions across the country. In July, 1989, President George
Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
On May 29, 1995, Margaret Chase Smith passed away due to
complications from a major stroke she suffered. She was 97 years
old.
She expressed in 1953, "My
creed is that public service must be more than doing a job
efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the
people and to the nation with full recognition that every human
being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive
criticism is not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not
only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned but not
bought."
|
