Heckler, Margaret, 1931-2018

Margaret Mary Heckler (née O'Shaughnessy; June 21, 1931 – August 6, 2018) was an American Republican Party politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983 and served as Secretary of Health and Human Services and Ambassador to Ireland under President Ronald Reagan.

Born in Flushing, Queens, New York, she earned a B.A. degree from Albertus Magnus College and an LL.B. from Boston College School of Law. After graduation, Heckler formed a law office with her fellow graduates. Shortly afterward, she began volunteering in local Republican campaigns, and in 1958 she became a member of the Republican committee for Wellesley, Massachusetts, a position she held for eight years. Heckler’s first elected office was to the eight-person governor’s council (an advisory body mandated by the state constitution) in 1962, serving two terms. In 1966, she narrowly defeated Joseph W. Martin, Jr., former Speaker of the House, for the Republican nomination for Massachusetts's 10th congressional district seat. Heckler went on to win the general election against labor lawyer Patrick H. Harrington Jr., with 51 percent of the vote, to become the first woman from Massachusetts elected to Congress without succeeding her husband.

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