Jeannette Rankin: Political Pioneer

Jeannette Rankin, born on the Montana frontier in 1880, lived long enough to speak her mind on national television in the 1970s. As the oldest of seven children, she learned to take charge early. She spoke up in the 1910s to persuade men to give women the vote. In 1916 she ran for the U.S. Congress and won—the first congresswoman in history. She said yes to peace when most people wanted war. She said yes to social justice for workers, families, and children when most lawmakers said no.

When she left Congress in 1943, people forgot about her, but she continued to work for what she believed. “Rediscovered” in the 1960s, Rankin became a heroine for feminists and Vietnam peace activists. At age eighty-seven she marched at the head of the five-thousand-women Jeannette Rankin Peace Parade in Washington, D.C.

The times had caught up with Jeannette Rankin, political pioneer. Gretchen Woelfle has collected photographs, newspaper clippings, campaign materials, and even hate mail to tell the remarkable story of a woman who played a dramatic part in many historic moments of twentieth-century American history.

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