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Jeannette Rankin, America's Conscience
Social worker, suffragist, first woman elected to the United States Congress, a lifelong peace activist, and a tireless advocate for political reform, Jeannette Rankin is often remembered as the woman who voted "No." Elected to Congress from Montana on the eve of the United States' entry into World War I, Rankin cast her first voteÑthe first vote cast in the House of Representatives by any womanÑagainst the declaration of war against Germany. Reelected to Congress in 1940, she repeated her vote, becoming the only member of Congress to vote against the United States' involvement in World War II.
Born in Montana in 1880, Jeannette Rankin's life of activism spanned much of the twentieth century. A "first-wave" feminist who campaigned for women's suffrage, she became a heroine to "second-wave" feminists in the 1960s and a living testament to the achievements of their foremothers. A peace advocate during and after World War I, she lead the Jeannette Rankin Brigade during the March on Washington in 1968 to protest the Vietnam War.
A woman who lived her conscience, Jeannette Rankin became America's conscience through her unflagging campaigns for children's protective legislation, women's rights, election reform, and most of all, peace. Rankin's determined voice shines in this biography, written by her friend, Norma Smith, who paints a convincing portrait of a complicated activist based on interviews with Rankin in the 1960s.
Born in Montana in 1880, Jeannette Rankin's life of activism spanned much of the twentieth century. A "first-wave" feminist who campaigned for women's suffrage, she became a heroine to "second-wave" feminists in the 1960s and a living testament to the achievements of their foremothers. A peace advocate during and after World War I, she lead the Jeannette Rankin Brigade during the March on Washington in 1968 to protest the Vietnam War.
A woman who lived her conscience, Jeannette Rankin became America's conscience through her unflagging campaigns for children's protective legislation, women's rights, election reform, and most of all, peace. Rankin's determined voice shines in this biography, written by her friend, Norma Smith, who paints a convincing portrait of a complicated activist based on interviews with Rankin in the 1960s.
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 14, 2024
As the first woman ever elected to the United States Congress, Jeannette Rankin has been the subject of numerous books, ranging from contemporary profiles by her friends to academic studies by scholars. Norma Smith’s biography offers a curious hybrid of both. A journalist with a master’s degree in history, Smith befriended Rankin in the early 1960s and conducted over a dozen interviews with her between 1963 and 1971. These Smith combined with archival research and interviews with Rankin’s friends and family to produce a work that provides a readable overview of the span of Rankin’s long and eventful life.
That life began on the American frontier. The daughter of a Scotch-Canadian rancher and his wife, a member of a storied New Hampshire family, Rankin grew up in Montana as it transitioned from territorial status into statehood. From an early age she demonstrated the willfulness and compassion that were hallmarks of her public career, coupled with the sense of responsibility that came with being the eldest of five children. After college, she worked for a period of time as a teacher and then as a dressmaker in a Missoula department store before quitting to care for her ailing father. His death in 1904 left Rankin adrift and restless, in search of personal fulfillment.
Rankin soon found this in activism. Visits to various cities had introduced her to the problems of the slums, sparking a lifelong interest in the plight of impoverished women and children. To address it, Rankin enrolled in the New York School of Philanthropy and worked briefly as a social worker in Missoula and Spokane before shifting her focus to activism. Moving to Seattle, she took classes at the University of Washington to prepare for her new career as a public speaker and organizer, during which time she embraced a new cause: women’s suffrage. Smith sees Rankin’s participation in the suffrage movement as a key turning point in her life, with her involvement in the successful campaign to pass a statewide referendum in Washington granting women the right to vote starting a decade-long engagement with an issue that would propel her to public office.
It was after Montana approved their own suffrage referendum in 1914 that Rankin began thinking of running for Congress. Despite discouragement from national suffrage leaders who discounted her chances, she won the nomination of the nonpartisan Good Government League and ran as a Republican for one of the state’s two at-large seats in the House of Representatives. Campaigning on social issues, she won thanks to a combination of a well-managed campaign and the votes of thousands of enfranchised women. Yet her plans to focus on passing a suffrage amendment through Congress were frustrated by events, as within months of her election she was called into a special session along with the other members of Congress to vote on Woodrow Wilson’s request for a declaration of war against imperial Germany. Though she was one of 50 Representatives who voted against the war, Rankin’s uniqueness ensured that she was singled out for criticism, both by supporters of the war and by members of the suffrage movement.
Rankin left Congress after just one term, with a promising political career seemingly behind her. After the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, though, Rankin focused her efforts an even greater cause – the cause of peace. Dividing her time between Montana and a primitive farmhouse in Georgia, Rankin worked as a lobbyist and undertook nationwide speaking tours for the Women’s Peace Union and the National Council for the Prevention of War (NCPW). While her efforts brought down upon her some of the most vicious attacks she ever faced, including allegations of communist sympathies, it was personality disagreements that led Rankin to quit the NCPW in 1937, just as Americans began to confront the prospect of a new world war.
Free from the demands of a larger organization, Rankin moved to Montana in order to pursue a return to public office. Campaigning tirelessly on a platform opposing intervention in the war in Europe, she defeated first the incumbent congressman in the Republican primary, then his Democratic predecessor in the 1940 general election. Though Rankin was a vocal critic of Franklin Roosevelt’s foreign policies and preparedness campaigns during her second term, Smith’s coverage of this is oddly cursory, glossing over much of it in order to skip to her lonely vote against the declaration of war with Japan. While she was roundly condemned for it both in Montana and nationally, Rankin resisted pressure to reverse her vote and served out the remainder of her term quietly, a discredited voice in a nation largely united in support of the war effort.
After leaving Congress, Rankin spent her remaining decades traveling and spending time with her extended family. In her final years she reemerged as an iconic critic of the Vietnam War, inspiring a new generation with her staunch advocacy of pacifism. That the chapter covering this climactic period of Rankin’s life is among the best in the book is likely a reflection of the author’s firsthand observations during this period. The relationship she built with Rankin is reflected on nearly every page, from the use of the familiar “Jeannette” when referring to her subject to the admiring, almost adulatory tone of the descriptions of Rankin and her activities. While the intimacy Smith enjoyed with Rankin undermines the critical analysis that her subject demands, it does inform many of the insights she offers in her book, which for all its’ flaws is the best biography available of this remarkable figure.
That life began on the American frontier. The daughter of a Scotch-Canadian rancher and his wife, a member of a storied New Hampshire family, Rankin grew up in Montana as it transitioned from territorial status into statehood. From an early age she demonstrated the willfulness and compassion that were hallmarks of her public career, coupled with the sense of responsibility that came with being the eldest of five children. After college, she worked for a period of time as a teacher and then as a dressmaker in a Missoula department store before quitting to care for her ailing father. His death in 1904 left Rankin adrift and restless, in search of personal fulfillment.
Rankin soon found this in activism. Visits to various cities had introduced her to the problems of the slums, sparking a lifelong interest in the plight of impoverished women and children. To address it, Rankin enrolled in the New York School of Philanthropy and worked briefly as a social worker in Missoula and Spokane before shifting her focus to activism. Moving to Seattle, she took classes at the University of Washington to prepare for her new career as a public speaker and organizer, during which time she embraced a new cause: women’s suffrage. Smith sees Rankin’s participation in the suffrage movement as a key turning point in her life, with her involvement in the successful campaign to pass a statewide referendum in Washington granting women the right to vote starting a decade-long engagement with an issue that would propel her to public office.
It was after Montana approved their own suffrage referendum in 1914 that Rankin began thinking of running for Congress. Despite discouragement from national suffrage leaders who discounted her chances, she won the nomination of the nonpartisan Good Government League and ran as a Republican for one of the state’s two at-large seats in the House of Representatives. Campaigning on social issues, she won thanks to a combination of a well-managed campaign and the votes of thousands of enfranchised women. Yet her plans to focus on passing a suffrage amendment through Congress were frustrated by events, as within months of her election she was called into a special session along with the other members of Congress to vote on Woodrow Wilson’s request for a declaration of war against imperial Germany. Though she was one of 50 Representatives who voted against the war, Rankin’s uniqueness ensured that she was singled out for criticism, both by supporters of the war and by members of the suffrage movement.
Rankin left Congress after just one term, with a promising political career seemingly behind her. After the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, though, Rankin focused her efforts an even greater cause – the cause of peace. Dividing her time between Montana and a primitive farmhouse in Georgia, Rankin worked as a lobbyist and undertook nationwide speaking tours for the Women’s Peace Union and the National Council for the Prevention of War (NCPW). While her efforts brought down upon her some of the most vicious attacks she ever faced, including allegations of communist sympathies, it was personality disagreements that led Rankin to quit the NCPW in 1937, just as Americans began to confront the prospect of a new world war.
Free from the demands of a larger organization, Rankin moved to Montana in order to pursue a return to public office. Campaigning tirelessly on a platform opposing intervention in the war in Europe, she defeated first the incumbent congressman in the Republican primary, then his Democratic predecessor in the 1940 general election. Though Rankin was a vocal critic of Franklin Roosevelt’s foreign policies and preparedness campaigns during her second term, Smith’s coverage of this is oddly cursory, glossing over much of it in order to skip to her lonely vote against the declaration of war with Japan. While she was roundly condemned for it both in Montana and nationally, Rankin resisted pressure to reverse her vote and served out the remainder of her term quietly, a discredited voice in a nation largely united in support of the war effort.
After leaving Congress, Rankin spent her remaining decades traveling and spending time with her extended family. In her final years she reemerged as an iconic critic of the Vietnam War, inspiring a new generation with her staunch advocacy of pacifism. That the chapter covering this climactic period of Rankin’s life is among the best in the book is likely a reflection of the author’s firsthand observations during this period. The relationship she built with Rankin is reflected on nearly every page, from the use of the familiar “Jeannette” when referring to her subject to the admiring, almost adulatory tone of the descriptions of Rankin and her activities. While the intimacy Smith enjoyed with Rankin undermines the critical analysis that her subject demands, it does inform many of the insights she offers in her book, which for all its’ flaws is the best biography available of this remarkable figure.
October 4, 2015
A very readable account of Jeannette Rankin life and works. The introduction and blbiographical essay are also of interest, as they provide resources for additional reading and also illuminate the issues and complexities of writing a biography, working with sources, and potential biases of the author.
February 16, 2011
Here's what I know about Jeannette Rankin (before reading this book):
- She was the first woman congressperson
- She was a pacifist voted against both World War I and World War II (in the latter case the only vote against the war)
- Those two terms in Congress were her only two--a very strange coincidence of timing
- She was born on June 11 (my birthday!)
All this had made her my political hero for years, but it remains all I know about the woman. I'll report back once I finish this book.
Update after finishing:
This book does an excellent job of reporting the facts of Rankin's life: her enormous efforts in the fight for women's suffrage, her political career and concern for the poor and homeless, her pacifism, etc. Unfortunately, it is very light on analysis - I would have liked to see a little more effort put into discussing why she believed what she did, and (more importantly) how her life fits into the broader perspective of women's rights, pacifism, and American politics. Nevertheless, a fascinating read.
- She was the first woman congressperson
- She was a pacifist voted against both World War I and World War II (in the latter case the only vote against the war)
- Those two terms in Congress were her only two--a very strange coincidence of timing
- She was born on June 11 (my birthday!)
All this had made her my political hero for years, but it remains all I know about the woman. I'll report back once I finish this book.
Update after finishing:
This book does an excellent job of reporting the facts of Rankin's life: her enormous efforts in the fight for women's suffrage, her political career and concern for the poor and homeless, her pacifism, etc. Unfortunately, it is very light on analysis - I would have liked to see a little more effort put into discussing why she believed what she did, and (more importantly) how her life fits into the broader perspective of women's rights, pacifism, and American politics. Nevertheless, a fascinating read.
November 16, 2008
What an amazing life! Love this woman.
May 29, 2018
Probably rating this a little higher than I should because I was so excited to find this book. Researching women's history, even with notable figures, it's hard to find books that aren't either collective biographies of a group of women or written for children. If you want to learn about the story of the first woman elected to Congress, this is where to start. It's mostly based off of interviews with Rankin in the 60s and 70s.
November 18, 2019
I don’t know whether to be excited to read about the origins of so many ideas about improving government and society, or discouraged that so many of the progressive goals have still not been met. Probably a little of each. Rankin was a pioneer and champion.
February 12, 2023
Very easy to read book. What an amazing woman Jeannette Rankin was!
February 23, 2009
I knew almost nothing about Rankin other than she was first and voted against the war. This history teaches lots about differences between Western and Eastern suffragists and about the intricacies of Montana politics.
February 8, 2018
Fascinating subject, written by a personal friend. A must read for the Rankin scholar. An inspiration for Peace activists.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews