Rankin, Jeannette, 1880-1973
Name Entries
person
Rankin, Jeannette, 1880-1973
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Surname :
Rankin
Forename :
Jeannette
Date :
1880-1973
eng
Latn
authorizedForm
rda
Rankin, Jeanette, 1880-1973
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Surname :
Rankin
Forename :
Jeanette
Date :
1880-1973
eng
Latn
alternativeForm
rda
Rankin, Jeannette Pickering, 1880-1973
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Surname :
Rankin
Forename :
Jeannette Pickering
Date :
1880-1973
eng
Latn
alternativeForm
rda
Genders
Female
Exist Dates
Biographical History
Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was an American politician and women's rights advocate, and the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916, and again in 1940.
Rankin graduated from the University of Montana in 1902. She subsequently attended the New York School of Philanthropy (later the New York, then the Columbia, School of Social Work) before embarking on a career of social work in Seattle, Washington, in 1909. Caught up in the rising tide of sentiment for woman suffrage, she campaigned effectively for the next five years in Washington, California, and Montana on behalf of the cause. In 1914 she became legislative secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and in that same year she led a successful campaign for woman suffrage in her native Montana.
In 1916 she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, thus becoming the first woman to hold a seat in either chamber. In office she introduced the first bill that would have allowed women citizenship independent of their husbands and also supported government-sponsored hygiene instruction in maternity and infancy. Reflecting a deep-seated pacifism, she became an outspoken isolationist and was one of 49 members of Congress to vote against declaring war on Germany in 1917. This unpopular stand cost her the Republican Senate nomination in 1918; she ran as an independent and lost. After the war she became a lobbyist and later returned to social work.
Running on an antiwar platform in 1940, Rankin once again won election to the House. She created a furor as the only legislator to vote against the declaration of war on Japan after the raid on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), effectively terminating her political career with this vote. She did not seek reelection but continued to lecture on various aspects of social reform. She was active in the National Consumers League, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and other reform organizations. Her militant feminism remained unabated as late as the 1960s, when she founded a self-sufficient women’s “cooperative homestead” in Georgia. She also became active again in the peace movement, urging women to demand a halt to the U.S. intervention in Vietnam. On January 15, 1968, at the age of 87, she led 5,000 women, calling themselves the “Jeannette Rankin Brigade,” to the foot of Capitol Hill to demonstrate opposition to the hostilities in Indochina.
eng
Latn
External Related CPF
https://viaf.org/viaf/50364569
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n80076207
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n80076207
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q232407
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10570287
Other Entity IDs (Same As)
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Languages Used
eng
Latn
Subjects
Political campaigns
Children
Draft
Droughts
Electoral college
European War, 1914-1918
Farmers
Politics and government
Legislators
Montana
Pacifism
Pacifists
Peace
Peace movements
Peace movements
Preferential ballot
Presidents
Probate record
Prohibition
Suffragists
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
World War, 1914-1918
World War, 1914-1918
World War, 1914-1918
World War, 1914-1918
Women
Women
Women
Women and peace
Women and peace
Women and war
Women in politics
Women legislators
Women's rights
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945
Nationalities
Americans
Activities
Occupations
Feminists
Lecturers
Legislators
Pacifists
Politicians
Ranchers
Representatives, U.S. Congress
Seamstresses
Social workers
Suffragists
Legal Statuses
Places
San Francisco
CA, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Seattle
WA, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Watkinsville
GA, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Carmel
CA, US
AssociatedPlace
Death
Missoula County
MT, US
AssociatedPlace
Birth
Broadwater County
MT, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Spokane
WA, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
New York City
NY, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Convention Declarations
<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>