Jeannette Rankin - Biography

US representative, born in Missoula, Montana, USA. A graduate of the University of Montana (1902) and of the New York School for Social Work (1909), she fought for women's suffrage and helped obtain it in Montana (1914). Running on a platform that called for prohibition and ‘preparedness that will make for peace’ (1916), she was the first woman elected to the US House of Representatives (Republican, Montana, 1917–19) and became one of only 57 members to vote against US entry into World War 1. After losing a re-election bid, she devoted herself to pacifism and women's and children's causes. Serving again in the House (1941–3), she was the only member of Congress to vote (8 Dec 1941) against US entry into World War 2. She continued to lobby for peace in later years, particularly during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and in 1967 a group of women formed the Jeannette Rankin Brigade to oppose the latter war.

Jeannette Rankin
Born	11 June 1880 Grant Creek, Montana
Died	18 May 1973 Carmel-by-the-Sea, California

Jeannette Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was the first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives and the first female member of Congress. A Republican and a lifelong pacifist, she was the only member of Congress to vote against United States entry into both World War I and World War II.

Biography

Rankin, the daughter of a rancher and a schoolteacher, was born in Grant Creek, Montana.

In 1908, she moved to New York City, where she started a career as a social worker.

On November 7, 1916 she was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana, becoming the first female member of Congress.

In 1918, she ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination to represent Montana in the United States Senate.

In 1918 and again in 1919, she introduced legislation to provide state and federal funds for health clinics, midwife education, and visiting nurse programs in an effort to reduce the nation's infant mortality.

She was founding Vice-President of the American Civil Liberties Union and a founding member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

In 1940, Rankin was again elected to Congress, this time on an anti-war platform. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, she once again voted against entering a World War, the only member of Congress to do so, saying "As a woman, I can't go to war and I refuse to send anyone else. However, she did not vote against declaring war on Germany and Italy following their declaration of war on the U.S. Instead, she merely voted "Present."

Rankin did not run for re-election.

Also a fan of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968, Rankin led more than 5,000 women who called themselves "The Jeannette Rankin Brigade" to the United States Capitol to demonstrate their opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Rankin died in Carmel, California at the age of 92 from natural causes.