Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Artifacts History Of Women In Congress Part 1 20240712

Our nations past. Cspan3 created by americas Cable Television companies as a public service. And brought to you today by your television provider. Each week American History tvs american artifacts visits museums and historic places. Up next we take you inside the u. S. Capitols house wing where historian Matthew Wasniewski and karen Farar Elliott traced the history of women in congress. This is the first of a twopart program. The story of women in Congress Begins with jeannette ranken elected to the house in 1916 from montana. Shes elected to the house four years before women had the right to vote nationally. And in a way shes really a bridge from the Suffrage Movement to women attaining full political rights. She was active in a National Womens suffrage organization. She helped women get the right to vote, not only in montana, but a couple of states west of the mississippi. And she runs in 1916. Shes elected to one of montanas two at large districts. And part of her platform is that shes a pacifist. Well, shes sworn into the house on april 2nd, 1917. And the house has come into special session, extraordinary session, because the president is that night, woodrow wilson, delivers a message to Congress Asking for a declaration of war against germany, the u. S. Entry into world war i and ranken, when that vote is held, is one of a group of about 50 members who votes against u. S. Intervention in world war i. She served a term in the house. She was on the womens suffrage committee. She was on the public lands committee, which was an important assignment for a woman from montana, with so much of the lands being held by the federal government. So it was an important position. She serves only a term in the house. And she tries to run for senate from montana. She doesnt get the republican nomination but she runs as an independent. Its an uphill battle. She gets about a fifth of the votes though. And then she goes back to private life and shes involved in womens rights issues. Shes a driving force behind the shepherd towner maternity and infancy act which the house eventually passes in 1921. And then shes also involved in International Peace organizations. Well, fast forward to 1940 she runs for congress again, and she runs on a platform to keep the u. S. Out of the war in europe. And shes faced on december 8th, 1941, with a tremendous vote. This is the day after pearl harbor, fdr has come to the house chamber. Hes addressed a joint session of congress. Yesterday, december 7th, 1941, a date which will live in inif a my. The senate goes back to its chamber and very quickly unanimously passes a war resolution and the house begins debating and the house members know that Jeannette Rankin is a pacifist and she is going to vote her conscience. So we have some oral histories of people who are in the chamber who recall members going up to rankin and asking her just to vote present, dont vote no. But she votes her conscience in the end and she opposes the war. Shes the lone vote eagainst u. Entry into world war ii with the declaration of war against japan. That ended her political career. She goes back into private life but shes a force in the antiwar movement, really for another couple decades. But a remarkable career. In 2004 we commissioned a new portrait of Jeannette Rankin, she was a person whos so important in the history and expansion of rights and representation in congress. So when we commissioned it we wanted to sort of show we wanted to show what it was like to come into congress as the first woman. When women dont even have the right to vote nationally. And because it was the 20th century, because its 1916 and 1917 when she is elected and enters congress, she theres a lot of newspaper coverage of it and because shes a woman and something of a novelty, theres a lot of newspaper coverage of what shes wearing. So we know exactly what she was wearing. The portrait shows her in that Navy Blue Dress and we know she was wearing a big hat and we know exactly what the Washington Post said that morning. The portrait has her in those clothes holding the Washington Post. And one of the things thats most interesting is that she is wearing that hat and she is placed in that portrait just outside the chamber doors. If we were to enter into that space with her she would just she would about to be just about to turn to her right and enter the chamber, at which point she would take off her hat because hats were not worn in the chamber, even though there was much discussion of, as a woman, should she wear a hat because thats formal attire . Or is she not a woman, but a member of congress . And therefore shouldnt wear it, and indeed, it turns out they decide shes a member of congress, more than she is her gender millinerily. We wanted to put that in the portrait and the sense of the fact that she was in the house but much more a treeture of her other interests as well, pacifism, suffrage. It was a somewhat lonely spot to be in, to be the only woman and also to be taking these stands of conscious that put her at odds with other people. Jeannette rankin was something of an outlier for this first generation of women in congress. She comes from an activist background, a suffrage background. But if you look at the first two decades of women elected, there was roughly about 20 women elected from congress in the 1930s a good number of these people dont have a political background. They havent held elective office. And instead they are a large number of them are widows who succeed their late husbands in congress. And later political scientists would describe this as the widows mandate, which was the route for a lot of the early women into congress and this really persisted up through the 1960s and even into the 1970s. A large number of women followed their husbands or maybe they had a prominent political father who they followed into congress. So there was a real kind of familial connection. That wasnt rankins experience. It was for this woman here, who were looking at in this picture on the rostrum. This wonderful picture of edith Norris Rogers. Rogers was a widow from she was from massachusetts, represented a district from northern massachusetts and she succeeded her husband john rogers who was a high Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs committee. The ranking republican. And she actually had a lot of experience helping him with administering the committee and administering his personal office. And so she knew what his legislative agenda was. She kind of knew the rhythms and the contours of life here on capitol hill. And one of the things that happens when a Senior Member passes away like that, the house has to have a special election. No one can be appointed to the house. And depending on state laws that election has to happen in a fairly short amount of time. So what would happen is, is local Party Leaders would often turn to the widow and say, will you run for the partial term . Because you have name recognition. Rogers is going to be on the ballot. And the expectation was is that the wife would serve out this term, and then she would retire, and the Party Leaders would find a suitable male candidate to succeed her. Well rogers had different ideas. She actually ends up staying in the house for 35 years. She is still the longest serving woman in the house. And she was for a very long time the longest serving woman in congress. She was recently surpassed by barbara mccullski of maryland who has house and senate service. She was very influential in terms of Veterans Affairs. Prior to her experience in the house she also had volunteered for the red cross. Shed become an advocate for servicemen returning from world war i. And when republicans in the 1940s briefly regained the majority in the 80th congress she becomes one of the very first women to chair a major congressional committee. She chairs the Veterans Affairs committee in the 80th congress and then again in the 83rd when control flipflopped back and forth between democrats and republicans. Shes a republican. Her experience, and you see a couple pictures here with her, in this one shes having a radio debate with mary norton of new jersey. This is in 1926. And these two really become, in many respects, the deans of women in congress. For several decades. Mary norton is a democrat and she came up through politics in jersey city, new jersey. Her mentor was frank i am the law hag who was a machine politician. And he promoted her career. And she comes into the house in 1925, the same year as edith Norris Rogers. The interesting thing about her is that she, like rogers and other women from this early generation, really pursue a strategy of gaining power in the house by assimilating. They didnt push womens issues, per se. They really tried to minimize gender differences. And norton was extremely successful moving up the Committee Leadership ladder. She chaired four congressional committees by the time she retired from the house in the early 1950s. And one of them was the Labor Committee during the new deal, which was a major committee. And her signal piece of legislation was the fair labor standards act of 1938 which set a 40hour workweek, outlawed child labor, set a minimum wage and she later said that was just the crowning moment of my house experience. Im prouder of getting that bill through the house than anything else ive ever done but she was a no nonsense legislator. Very early on in her career, maybe even the year that this picture was snapped she was on the house floor and a bill was being debated and a male member turned to her and said i yield to the gentle lady from new jersey and she cut him off and she said im no lady, im a member of congress and im going to proceed on that basis. And she did. Her career was a marvelous example of moving up through the ranks through seniority. One of my favorite things about edith Norris Rogers is how she used her public persona. She begins right from the get go. This is early 1926 when she debates mary norton and its a radio debate, but clearly they know theyre going to be photographed and its going to be a big deal. So mary norton is wearing her fantastic fur santa claus coat and edith Norris Rogers is in widows weeds, shes wearing a black veil, shes still officially mourning her husband. But its politically very savvy on her part and shes always very good at that. This is a leaflet from her first general election. And in here she says over and over again things like always on the job, reelect mrs. Rogers on ore own record of achievements. Inside it says some wonderful stuff, knows the ropes, gives prompt, efficient service. And she talks a lot about what shes done for veterans. And shes not above also saying shes still mrs. John jacob rogers, its the primary season in september. Shes very much shes very wise in the ways of doing this. And a little later after shes been reelected a few times she often is photographed doing things that will be visually interesting. And also very much related to the issues that are important to her. Here, she and other members of congress are testing out a really weird riding lawn mower looking tank. Right outside the capitol. And she often would do that. She also was photographed she was very she was called the most air minded female member of congress. She often would fly back and forth to places in open airplanes. She said she found them very convenient and she enjoyed it. So theres there are photographs of her, you know, with aviator cap and goggles, headed off into the sky. So she did some wonderful, wonderful things. But she she was very much an assimilationist in that generation of women in congress. Heres a photo of some of the women in congress at the start of the 71st congress. There are lots of them. You can see that they are theyre very businesslike in their attire, but its but nonetheless wearing furs and it looks like edith Norris Rogers has some flowers with her but this represents not all the women who were in congress that congress but lots of them and you can see they are, nonetheless, being photographed and treated by the press as an entity and how thats going to get played out would change. And over the next couple of decades as people tried to figure out what do we talk about when we talk about women in congress . This is an interesting photo because it points out, you can go through this and look at the way the women were elected to congress. On the front row, far left, is Pearl Oldfield who had succeeded her husband, who was a Senior Member who passed away. Then edith Norris Rogers. Then ruth pratt, who was elected in her own right, not with any kind of familial election, she represented the Silk Stocking district in new york city. And then on the far side here is Ruth Hannah Mccormick of illinois. Her father was Marcus Hannah who was the republican kingmaker in the early part of the 20th century. And constantly butted heads with William Jennings brian, which is interesting because William Jennings brian, his daughter ruth brian owen is on this side of the picture. We have a press account when these two ruths were sworn into the house in 1929 that they came down the center aisle together arm in arm and wowed the members in the press because here are two daughters of avowed political enemies. If we go back into the picture just to finish out, this is mary norton of new jersey. And then this woman here is another one of the interesting characters in this time period, Florence Kahn of california who represented a large portion of San Francisco. And shes another widow who followed her husband to congress. Her husband julius was the chairman of the military Affairs Committee and like edith Norris Rogers she was another woman who was very involved in her husbands political career. So when he passed away she was asked to run for the seat in the special election and she decided she was going to stay on. She stayed on for more than a decade. And shes the first jewish woman elected to congress. Shes also the first woman to be appointed to the prestigious appropriations committee. And shes responsible for a lot of funds into the bay area to develop things like the bay bridge, connecting San Francisco and oakland. And then also the Alameda Naval air station. She sat on the military Affairs Committee panel too. We have a portrait of her in the collection as well. We do, we have a wonderful portrait of her. Shes standing in her district. And but and actually right near where she lived in what is now parkland. And behind her, the view that you would see if you were standing there today, is of the Golden Gate Bridge and the marin headlands. And theres a little bitty, in the painting, but enormous in real life, ship coming through there that was part of the Naval Air Station that was there so theres very theres a lot in there. But one of the things thats most interesting about her is i havent mentioned anything about her figure there. Its all about whats around her. Her figure is dark, its black, but its very accurate. That is exactly how she dressed and exactly how she presented herself. She had kind of this grandmotherly matronly look but she was so good with the press. At one line quips, there was no one who was better. A reporter once asked her, how have you had so much legislative success getting onto these committees, getting legislation passed . And without missing a beat, she said sex appeal. When she first came into the house leadership didnt want to put her on the committees that her husband was on. She did not get the military Affairs Committee assignment right away. Instead she was put onto the indian Affairs Committee. Now, she represented San Francisco, urban district. So she went out and told the press, she said the only indians i have in my district are in front of cigar shops. And she went after the leadership very publicly. Well, very shortly they came around and put her onto the Committee Assignments that she wanted. One of the artifacts that we have related to Florence Kahn that im particularly fond of is this one, its a letter from Jay Edgar Hoover to congresswoman kahn and the important part of this isnt actually what hes writing. Whats important is, dear mother kahn. And its an odd phrasing, for Jay Edgar Hoover but she was known very much as the mother of the fbi so that was often how he referred to her. This is a fascinating piece of a little sort of lobbying. And playing up that affiliation, that close tie they had. By the time we get to the late 1930s, early 1940s, were beginning to see a Different Group from that Pioneer Group of women come into congress. World war ii kind of reshapes the role of women in society generally. Women hold a lot of jobs that men previously held as men go off to fight in the service. And women who come into congress during that era begin to advocate more of a role for women outside the home. Mary norton was one of them. She was constantly urging women to be involved in politics, to be involved outside 2 t home. Even when the war ended. She feared that that might contract again, and women would kind of be forced back into a domesticated role. One of the prominent people who serves in the 1940s is helen gahagen douglas. We have a picture of her here from that time period. And douglas was wellknown to constituents. She represented a district in that encompassed a part of los angeles, california. But she was known nationally. She was a star of the stage. She was married to melvin douglas, the actor. And she became involved in california politics and was a progressive and began to speak a lot on behalf of Democratic Candidates and she won election to the house for a couple of terms in the 1940s. She wasnt really a legislator, per se, she wasnt wasnt introducing a lot of bills. She wasnt what we would call a legislative entrepreneur but she was a spokesperson for progressive issues. She would often come onto the floor and talk about improving housing, africanamerican civil rights. So she was known as a great speechmaker. So heres a campaign bill, or a poster which advertises speaking engagement that douglas made in 1948. It happens in oakland, which is far from her district. So you get the sense that she was on the speaking circuit a lot, speaking for Democratic Candidates and democratic issues. She serves a couple terms in the house. And in the early 1950s she decides to run for the u. S. Senate. And she goes through the primary, the democratic primary and the candidate one of the candidates she ran against tarred her as being a sympathizer, a red sympathizer, which was a very potent attack in the early 1950s, the era of mccarthy. But she wins that nomination, and in the general election runs against Richard Nixon who uses a lot of the same tactics that have been employed against her in the primary and accuses her of being pink, right down to her underwear. Well, she returned fire because in one Campaign Speech she labeled nixon as tricky dick which is a name that stuck with him the rest of his political career. That Campaign Tactic kind of tying her to the red scare and communist sympathies was potent because nixon won in a landslide and she leaves politics. This is a 1941 magazine coronet, which hasnt survived into the 21st century. But you could see its a magazine aimed at women. Theres a woman posing in a wedding dress. And theres something called the bachelor life on the cover, a rollicking expose of bachelor days and nights. But inside theres an article on women in congress. And one of the things that i love about this is that this is sort a great example of how the press didnt really know where to have women in congress. These women are in some cases all business, jesse sum near here, and lots of the women that we know from long service, edith Norris Rogers, all these folks are here, and theyre very businesslike. But often theyre described as, you know, sort of fabulously wealthy, or 53, or, you know, tiny brunette. Things like that, that are really sort of placing them still in this sort of its a tricky position for them to figure out. And in this transitional generation, this is 1941, its going to continue to be a little bit complicated to figure out, and once the war ends its probably going to get a little more complicated. And in this case its kind of an interesting contrast here. Jesse sumner is on the phone and taking care of business but over here we have Margaret Chase smith who is tending some flowers. And she has a wonderful, fascinating long career. This is a visitor pass, a gallery pass thats signed by Margaret Chase smith in 1941. And gallery passes were often collected as souvenirs, of trips to the capitol. And this was perhaps someone from maine visiting and would have been signed by one of the few women in congress at the time. This is a transitional time period and Margaret Chase smith really kind of embodies that. Women in congress in the 1940s and 1950s, as a group, theyre really kind of serving an apprenticeship. They are slowly working their way into positions of influence and seniority. Theyre Getting Better Committee Assignments. Theyre serving longer careers. By the end of this period some of them are moving into leadership positions, or at least further up the leadership rung. Margaret chase smith comes into the house via the wide dose mandate, succeeds her husband clyde who passes away in 1940 and theres a special election thats held and she serves in the house for about nine years. And she has a very influential career. She manages to get on the naval Affairs Committee, which was a plum assignment. Prior to the reorganization of the armed forces in the late 1940s the house had a naval Affairs Committee and a military Affairs Committee. Naval affairs, if youre from maine, with the big shipyards up in bath, was one of a one of the assignments that you would really look out for. And it gave her really a position of influence and allowed her to speak on the topic of women and military service. In 1948 shes a prime mover behind a bill that helps integrate the armed forces and give women a permanent role in the uniforms forces. She leaves the house the following year to serve in the u. S. Senate, runs for the senate, wins election, shes probably best known in the public mind as one of the very few brave senators who oppose mccarthy, joe mccarthy and his tactics very early on. She gave a speech called the declaration of conscience in june 19 50 where she opposed his tactics very eloquently. So she and she goes on to serve a very long career to the early 1970s. Shes one of the women who kind of is pushing the story of women in congress into a new era. If youre interested in this topic, learn more by going to our website, which is history. House. Gov. The women in congress publication, along with objects and artifacts that we dont have here on the table today is available on the site