Apr 1917.
The year she received her degree, 1902, was the same year that the visionary Jane Addams’ Democracy and Social Ethics was published. Visiting her brother at Harvard in 1904, Rankin witnessed the tenements and slums of a crowded city, and felt appalling. So she never married and did not want endless babies. During her early 20s she had turned down a number of marriage proposals.
Rankin’s heart was in the women's suffrage movement. While living in Washington State, she became active in the drive to amend that state's constitution giving women the right to vote. The measure passed in 1911, and Rankin later returned home to Montana to win the vote for the women of her home state. Indeed, other western states eg Wyoming & Colorado had already approved women’s suffrage, and Rankin’s leadership helped Montana join them in 1914.
In a very close race, Rankin became the first woman in history elected to Congress. Note this was a time when many American women still did not have the vote. [Interestingly, although Antipodean women had long had the vote, there was no female member in our Commonwealth Parliaments until 1933 in New Zealand, and 1943 in Australia].
She pledged to fight for 8-hour workdays for women, child-labour laws and a constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage. One of her first priorities was to fight for laws providing that women be paid the same wages as men for equal work.
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After WW2 started, Rankin made a return to politics in 1939. Standing for a seat in the House of Representatives, she won the election partly based on her anti-war position. Ironically, she again won this seat in 1940, just as the U.S.A was about to enter the war. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbour in Dec 1941, Rankin became the only person in the history of Congress to vote against U.S entry into both world wars; even Pearl Harbour could not dissuade Rankin from her pacifist stance. By this time, much of the public's anti-war sentiment had given way to anger and outrage over the attack on U.S soil . This time, the war resolution passed 388 votes to 1 - the principled pacifist from Montana cast the sole dissenting vote amid a chorus of boos such that the rest of her term was made irrelevant.
Leaving office in 1943, Rankin spent her time travelling, especially drawn to India because of Gandhi's teachings on nonviolent protest. She continued to further her pacifist beliefs, speaking out against later U.S military actions in Korea and Vietnam.
At 91 Rankin was interviewed on The Dick Cavett Show in 1972. Cavett asked “Would you say that men have pretty well botched things up, all the years they’ve been in power?” Apparently yes, since Rankin was considering a 3rd run for a House seat that year, to protest the Vietnam War. But she died in 1973 in Calif.
Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) was born on a ranch near Missoula, Montana, the daughter of progressive parents, a rancher and a school teacher. After graduating in biology from Montana Uni in 1902, Rankin followed in her mother's career, working as a teacher and later as a social worker.
The year she received her degree, 1902, was the same year that the visionary Jane Addams’ Democracy and Social Ethics was published. Visiting her brother at Harvard in 1904, Rankin witnessed the tenements and slums of a crowded city, and felt appalling. So she never married and did not want endless babies. During her early 20s she had turned down a number of marriage proposals.
Rankin’s heart was in the women's suffrage movement. While living in Washington State, she became active in the drive to amend that state's constitution giving women the right to vote. The measure passed in 1911, and Rankin later returned home to Montana to win the vote for the women of her home state. Indeed, other western states eg Wyoming & Colorado had already approved women’s suffrage, and Rankin’s leadership helped Montana join them in 1914.
Her years as a social activist and her politically connected brother helped Rankin in her 1916 run for the U.S House of Representatives. [The U.S Congress consists of the lower House of Representatives & the upper house, the Senate]. She stood for one of Montana’s two seats in Congress as a Progressive Republican in 1916. Yes there was strong support from both genders, but a lot men were unhappy.
In a very close race, Rankin became the first woman in history elected to Congress. Note this was a time when many American women still did not have the vote. [Interestingly, although Antipodean women had long had the vote, there was no female member in our Commonwealth Parliaments until 1933 in New Zealand, and 1943 in Australia].
She pledged to fight for 8-hour workdays for women, child-labour laws and a constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage. One of her first priorities was to fight for laws providing that women be paid the same wages as men for equal work.
Jeannette Rankin, centre front
Members of Congress, 1917
Rankin entered the House in time to deal with an extraordinary session called by Pres. Wilson to debate war with Germany. Despite WW1 having started way back in 1914, Rankin was still a fervent pacifist who voted against the U.S entering the war. The war resolution measure was passed by Congress 374 to 50.
During the war, she fought for the rights of women working in the war effort. Rankin also created women's rights legislation and helped pass the 19th Amendment to the U.S Congress, granting women the right to vote. In 1917, Rankin proposed the formation of a Committee on Woman Suffrage, of which she was appointed leader. In 1918 she addressed the House Floor after the committee issued a report for a constitutional amendment on the women's right to vote.
After her two-year term ended that year, Rankin decided to stand for the Senate rather than defend her House seat in 1918, first as a Republican and then as an Independent. It wasn’t women’s suffrage that caused her defeat; it was her vote against WWI. So she focused much of her energy on her pacifism and social welfare. And in 1919 she was a delegate to the Women's International Conference for Peace in Switzerland along with Jane Addams.
In 1924 she bought a small Georgian farm without electricity or plumbing and founded the pacifist organisation, The Georgia Peace Society. From 1929-39 she was a lobbyist and speaker for the National Council for the Prevention of War and later became an active member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, serving in several key positions.
In 1924 she bought a small Georgian farm without electricity or plumbing and founded the pacifist organisation, The Georgia Peace Society. From 1929-39 she was a lobbyist and speaker for the National Council for the Prevention of War and later became an active member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, serving in several key positions.
After WW2 started, Rankin made a return to politics in 1939. Standing for a seat in the House of Representatives, she won the election partly based on her anti-war position. Ironically, she again won this seat in 1940, just as the U.S.A was about to enter the war. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbour in Dec 1941, Rankin became the only person in the history of Congress to vote against U.S entry into both world wars; even Pearl Harbour could not dissuade Rankin from her pacifist stance. By this time, much of the public's anti-war sentiment had given way to anger and outrage over the attack on U.S soil . This time, the war resolution passed 388 votes to 1 - the principled pacifist from Montana cast the sole dissenting vote amid a chorus of boos such that the rest of her term was made irrelevant.
Leaving office in 1943, Rankin spent her time travelling, especially drawn to India because of Gandhi's teachings on nonviolent protest. She continued to further her pacifist beliefs, speaking out against later U.S military actions in Korea and Vietnam.
At 91 Rankin was interviewed on The Dick Cavett Show in 1972. Cavett asked “Would you say that men have pretty well botched things up, all the years they’ve been in power?” Apparently yes, since Rankin was considering a 3rd run for a House seat that year, to protest the Vietnam War. But she died in 1973 in Calif.