Jeannette Rankin

From dKosopedia

Jeanette Rankin was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of Montana. She became the first woman ever elected to Congress in 1916. She served for one term, then in 1918 she unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. She was elected to the House a second time in 1940, again stepping down after one term.

Rankin has the unusual distinction of being the only representative to vote against both World War I and World War II. She said "As a woman, I can't go to war and I refuse to send anyone else. I vote 'NO'. "

Rankin devoted her entire life to womem's suffrage, international peace and social justice issues. She was a founding member of the ACLU and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

She was born on June 11, 1880, and died on May 18, 1973.

External Links

Congressional bioguide

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This page was last modified 14:51, 12 June 2007 by dKosopedia user Corncam. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.