Women's History Month - Margaret Chase Smith

International Women's Day was Sunday, but a comment on my blog Saturday where I incorrectly indicated that there were no more female candidates in the Democratic race for nomination to run for President reminded me of a woman who made her mark years ago in politics.

She may not be well known today, but for today, which is an important primary day, I want to remember a Senator who was the first woman to run for a major political party's nomination for the candidacy for President of the United States.

But years before her run, she gave a speech considered one of the most important speeches in the United States Senate of the 20th century.  It's called A Declaration of Conscience and was given on June 1, 1950, during the Joseph McCarthy era.  I invite you to read the summaries online - in many ways it is as relevant today as it was back then.

Margaret Chase Smith, Republican Senator from Maine in the mid-20th century, gave that speech, and almost 14 years later announced her candidacy for President of the United States.  Smith was not the first woman to run for President, but was the first to be nominated at a major party convention.

The running for President clip of January 27, 1964 is about 17 minutes long.   No need to listen to all 17 plus minutes if you click the link below, but if you listen to the first few minutes and the last five or so minutes, you will note a lot of one thing:

Laughter.  Lots of laughter.

Was a woman announcing a run for President that funny?  But let's remind ourselves that we listen to this recording with 2020 ears.

Link to Announcement of Margaret Chase Smith's candidacy for President - take note of about 13:00 and onward

Smith did not win any of the Republican primaries she was entered into in 1964, and lost her nomination bid to Barry Goldwater.  But she lived to the age of 97.  At the time of her death, in 1995, she was the last living Senator to be born in the 19th century.

The century where women worked tirelessly to get us the rights we enjoy today.

Hopefully, since 1964, we have come a long way, baby.