Apr 1917.
The year she received her degree, 1902, was the same year that the visionary Jane Addams’ Democracy and Social Ethics was published. Visiting her brother at Harvard in 1904, Rankin witnessed the tenements and slums of a crowded city, and felt appalling. So she never married and did not want endless babies. During her early 20s she had turned down a number of marriage proposals.
Rankin’s heart was in the women's suffrage movement. While living in Washington State, she became active in the drive to amend that state's constitution giving women the right to vote. The measure passed in 1911, and Rankin later returned home to Montana to win the vote for the women of her home state. Indeed, other western states eg Wyoming & Colorado had already approved women’s suffrage, and Rankin’s leadership helped Montana join them in 1914.
In a very close race, Rankin became the first woman in history elected to Congress. Note this was a time when many American women still did not have the vote. [Interestingly, although Antipodean women had long had the vote, there was no female member in our Commonwealth Parliaments until 1933 in New Zealand, and 1943 in Australia].
She pledged to fight for 8-hour workdays for women, child-labour laws and a constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage. One of her first priorities was to fight for laws providing that women be paid the same wages as men for equal work.
After WW2 started, Rankin made a return to politics in 1939. Standing for a seat in the House of Representatives, she won the election partly based on her anti-war position. Ironically, she again won this seat in 1940, just as the U.S.A was about to enter the war. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbour in Dec 1941, Rankin became the only person in the history of Congress to vote against U.S entry into both world wars; even Pearl Harbour could not dissuade Rankin from her pacifist stance. By this time, much of the public's anti-war sentiment had given way to anger and outrage over the attack on U.S soil . This time, the war resolution passed 388 votes to 1 - the principled pacifist from Montana cast the sole dissenting vote amid a chorus of boos such that the rest of her term was made irrelevant.
Leaving office in 1943, Rankin spent her time travelling, especially drawn to India because of Gandhi's teachings on nonviolent protest. She continued to further her pacifist beliefs, speaking out against later U.S military actions in Korea and Vietnam.
At 91 Rankin was interviewed on The Dick Cavett Show in 1972. Cavett asked “Would you say that men have pretty well botched things up, all the years they’ve been in power?” Apparently yes, since Rankin was considering a 3rd run for a House seat that year, to protest the Vietnam War. But she died in 1973 in Calif.
Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) was born on a ranch near Missoula, Montana, the daughter of progressive parents, a rancher and a school teacher. After graduating in biology from Montana Uni in 1902, Rankin followed in her mother's career, working as a teacher and later as a social worker.
The year she received her degree, 1902, was the same year that the visionary Jane Addams’ Democracy and Social Ethics was published. Visiting her brother at Harvard in 1904, Rankin witnessed the tenements and slums of a crowded city, and felt appalling. So she never married and did not want endless babies. During her early 20s she had turned down a number of marriage proposals.
Rankin’s heart was in the women's suffrage movement. While living in Washington State, she became active in the drive to amend that state's constitution giving women the right to vote. The measure passed in 1911, and Rankin later returned home to Montana to win the vote for the women of her home state. Indeed, other western states eg Wyoming & Colorado had already approved women’s suffrage, and Rankin’s leadership helped Montana join them in 1914.
Her years as a social activist and her politically connected brother helped Rankin in her 1916 run for the U.S House of Representatives. [The U.S Congress consists of the lower House of Representatives & the upper house, the Senate]. She stood for one of Montana’s two seats in Congress as a Progressive Republican in 1916. Yes there was strong support from both genders, but a lot men were unhappy.
In a very close race, Rankin became the first woman in history elected to Congress. Note this was a time when many American women still did not have the vote. [Interestingly, although Antipodean women had long had the vote, there was no female member in our Commonwealth Parliaments until 1933 in New Zealand, and 1943 in Australia].
She pledged to fight for 8-hour workdays for women, child-labour laws and a constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage. One of her first priorities was to fight for laws providing that women be paid the same wages as men for equal work.
Jeannette Rankin, centre front
Members of Congress, 1917
Rankin entered the House in time to deal with an extraordinary session called by Pres. Wilson to debate war with Germany. Despite WW1 having started way back in 1914, Rankin was still a fervent pacifist who voted against the U.S entering the war. The war resolution measure was passed by Congress 374 to 50.
During the war, she fought for the rights of women working in the war effort. Rankin also created women's rights legislation and helped pass the 19th Amendment to the U.S Congress, granting women the right to vote. In 1917, Rankin proposed the formation of a Committee on Woman Suffrage, of which she was appointed leader. In 1918 she addressed the House Floor after the committee issued a report for a constitutional amendment on the women's right to vote.
After her two-year term ended that year, Rankin decided to stand for the Senate rather than defend her House seat in 1918, first as a Republican and then as an Independent. It wasn’t women’s suffrage that caused her defeat; it was her vote against WWI. So she focused much of her energy on her pacifism and social welfare. And in 1919 she was a delegate to the Women's International Conference for Peace in Switzerland along with Jane Addams.
In 1924 she bought a small Georgian farm without electricity or plumbing and founded the pacifist organisation, The Georgia Peace Society. From 1929-39 she was a lobbyist and speaker for the National Council for the Prevention of War and later became an active member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, serving in several key positions.
In 1924 she bought a small Georgian farm without electricity or plumbing and founded the pacifist organisation, The Georgia Peace Society. From 1929-39 she was a lobbyist and speaker for the National Council for the Prevention of War and later became an active member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, serving in several key positions.
After WW2 started, Rankin made a return to politics in 1939. Standing for a seat in the House of Representatives, she won the election partly based on her anti-war position. Ironically, she again won this seat in 1940, just as the U.S.A was about to enter the war. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbour in Dec 1941, Rankin became the only person in the history of Congress to vote against U.S entry into both world wars; even Pearl Harbour could not dissuade Rankin from her pacifist stance. By this time, much of the public's anti-war sentiment had given way to anger and outrage over the attack on U.S soil . This time, the war resolution passed 388 votes to 1 - the principled pacifist from Montana cast the sole dissenting vote amid a chorus of boos such that the rest of her term was made irrelevant.
Leaving office in 1943, Rankin spent her time travelling, especially drawn to India because of Gandhi's teachings on nonviolent protest. She continued to further her pacifist beliefs, speaking out against later U.S military actions in Korea and Vietnam.
At 91 Rankin was interviewed on The Dick Cavett Show in 1972. Cavett asked “Would you say that men have pretty well botched things up, all the years they’ve been in power?” Apparently yes, since Rankin was considering a 3rd run for a House seat that year, to protest the Vietnam War. But she died in 1973 in Calif.
12 comments:
Rankin was brave, coming back years later. But now that Trump is talking about coming back years later, I am rethinking whether bravery was actually obsession.
Oh dear LMK
Jeannette Rankin dedicated her entire adult life to protecting working children, creating equal suffrage rights, retaining or regaining peace in wars and establishing equal salaries for all workers. Whether going into the House of Reps a second time was wise or not, Rankin did not have a selfish, self aggrandising bone in her body.
Remarkable events come to mind reading this charming essay. Precisely in Georgia, Jo Jorgensen--the woman candidate of the Libertarian Anti-Aggression party--just earned 6 times the difference in vote count tallied between the two looter party candidates. This tipped the scales toward the Democratic party, which recently deleted prohibitionist cruelty from its platform and retained the Libertarian-drafted protection of individual rights for women which the Supreme Court adopted the year Ms Rankin died.
Was she successful in obtaining equal pay for women at that early time? That would have been remarkable because we don't really have it today in the UK!
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Hank
I think women were always going to struggle in Congress, in whichever decade they exercised power and in whichever party they represented. I say that because I knew a lot about the first women in Parliament in Britain, Australia and New Zealand, but I didn't know Rankin's name and I have never heard of Jorgensen.
bazza
Rankin wasn't there long enough to make any changes in her own name. Even her most famous success, granting women the right to vote via the 19th Amendment, actually failed while she was still in the House. Women's rights legislation was only passed after she lost her seat.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was the first legislation aimed at abolishing the gender pay gap, signed by Kennedy years after Rankin left office!
Whether she actually achieved much while in office is moot point I suppose. It seems she achieved quite a lot during her life. What has happened to Progressive Republicans in the intervening years? They all died and weren't replaced. I am not sure when women here received legislated equal pay, but certainly when female tram and bus conductors were employed during WWII they were paid equally to men. It would be absurd to argue that they shouldn't be.
Andrew
The Republican Party did indeed include a progressive wing that advocated using government to improve the problems of modern society. We only have to think about Theodore Roosevelt, who wanted to control corporations, protect consumers and conserve natural resources. After Roosevelt's 1912 defeat, the progressive wing of the party was not as strong as it had been, but Rankin still found a great spot in the party then. But note that the Progressive Republicans in the U.S House of Representatives only lasted until Dec 1923.
Jeannette Rankin had a huge influence in her long life, both inside Congress and particularly at her many years outside Congress. She was the bravest, most travelled woman I have heard of.
Boa noite Hels. As fotos são maravilhosos e obrigado pela aula de história.
It would have been interesting to get her view of dealing with Hitler with pacifist methods !!!!I am glad there are pacifists around because they act as a breaking system and a pause as we rush into conflict , However , it seems to me that every war or potential war has its individual "atmosphere" What is absolutely necessary is that the pros and cons are properly debated in the parliament in full public view before we do go into war but then sometimes time is of the essence . I feel VERY angry that we ever went to Iraq. That was a very cynical move by the American Hawks who made a mint out of absolute misery . I will never forgive Howard for that piece of very bad judgement.
Luiz
I only wish one of the photos was published in the side column (My Favourite Bloggers). If you have 200 blogs one under another, the texts just run into each other and blur. Photos are what make our blogs special.
mem
it is a toughie. On one hand you have to admire Rankin's dedication to her key moral principle all her long life. On the other hand, some regimes are so diabolical, every moral nation must defend itself and its allies.
The trouble for me was Vietnam - to conscript young men and send them off to a war they didn't believe in was an obscenity in its own right. And gaol was an immoral sentence.
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