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.

In Congress, Heckler was generally regarded as a "Rockefeller Republican" who supported moderate to liberal policies favored by voters in her state. Heckler voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. In 1977, she launched and founded the idea of the Congresswoman's Caucus, a bipartisan group of 14 members focused on equality for women in Social Security, tax laws, and related areas. Heckler was also an outspoken advocate for and cosponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment. She opposed abortion but then did not favor a constitutional amendment to ban it. In Massachusetts, she was noted for building an especially-effective network of constituent services that allowed her to breeze through several re-election bids in an overwhelmingly-Democratic state. In the capital, Heckler was noted as a socialite with a penchant for high fashion. In the House, she served on the Banking and Currency Committee as well as ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee (1975–1983). She also served as ranking member of the House Beauty Shop Committee (1971–1979). After Massachusetts lost one House seat following the 1980 Census, Heckler was pitted against freshman Representative Barney Frank. Though she was the early favorite, Frank ultimately won re-election with 59 percent of the vote to Heckler’s 40 percent.

After her defeat, Heckler turned down several government jobs, including as an assistant NASA administrator, before Reagan nominated her to replace retiring Health and Human Services Secretary Richard Schweiker in January 1983. She was confirmed on March 3, 1983 by an 82-3 vote in the Senate. Early on as secretary, Heckler commissioned the Secretarial Task Force to investigate a "sad and significant fact: there was a continuing disparity in the burden of death and illness experienced by Blacks and other minority Americans as compared with our nation's population as a whole," as she put it in her opening letter in The Secretary's Report on Black and Minority Health, also known as the Heckler Report. The report provided the historical foundation for many reports thereafter and is often referenced as a landmark document for health disparity and health equity inquiry. As secretary, Heckler publicly supported the Reagan administration's more conservative views, presided over staffing cuts in the department as part of the administration's spending reductions, and frequently spoke on a wide array of public health issues, including the emerging AIDS crisis. It was very difficult for Heckler to get the topic of AIDS on the Cabinet meeting agendas, and she reportedly never discussed the crisis with Reagan.

Although Heckler stayed on in the Cabinet after Reagan's re-election and was widely regarded as an effective spokesperson, press accounts in late 1985 revealed that some White House and agency insiders regarded her as an ineffective manager. White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan reportedly pushed for Heckler's dismissal, but Reagan told reporters "there has never been any thought in my mind to fire" her. Instead, she was appointed as Ambassador to Ireland, with a $16,000 pay cut that prompted the press to ridicule Reagan's characterization of the situation as a "promotion." She was confirmed as ambassador in December 1985. As ambassador, Heckler played a crucial role in obtaining a US$120 million grant to the International Fund for Ireland, an economic development organization. She was a frequent guest on Irish television programs and was "by all accounts an effective spokesperson for her government's policies on everything from Central America to international trade." In February 1989, Heckler announced her intent to resign to pursue a private career, and her term concluded in August 1989.

Heckler died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia.