System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Margaret Chase Smith
1897 - 1995
Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman elected to both houses of the U.S. Congress, died May 29, 1995. She was 97.
Smith was born on December 14, 1897 in Showhegan, Maine. Smith married Clyde Smith in 1930. She was 33, her husband 54. When he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine in 1936, his wife served as his secretary. They had no children.
When her husband died in office in 1940, Smith was appointed to fill out his unexpired term. She won a full term in the general election and served four terms when she decided to run for the Senate in 1948. She won, and became the first woman to be elected to both houses of Congress.
Smith came to national attention in 1950 when she denounced the tactics of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. His crusade to expose what he called card-carrying communists in America sparked heated debate nationwide. Smith gave a speech outlining her conscientious objections to McCarthy.
As result, political observers thought she was laying a foundation to run as a vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket in 1952. She didn't, but in 1964 she did wage an active campaign to become the party's presidential nominee. Although Barry Goldwater got the nod that year, Smith finished second in convention balloting.
Smith went on to serve four terms in the Senate. In 1972, she lost her bid for reelection to William Hathaway. After 32 years as Congresswoman and Senator, Smith retired to her Maine home in Showhegan.
After her retirement, Smith channeled her energies into promoting education. She traveled the country as a visiting professor, and was instrumental in creating the Northwood University Margaret Chase Smith Library in Michigan in 1982.
She helped direct the library's activities over the next 13 years. She died at her Showhegan home on May 29, 1995. Her remains were cremated and placed in her residence.
