More Books About Unsung Women in American Political History
Pioneering women who blazed a trail in U.S. politics. Part 2 of 2.
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Also see Part One of “Books About Unsung Women in American Political History.”
As I noted in my first post on books about unsung women, there are numerous stories of American women who impacted national politics in their own time and in their own unique way but whose names don’t ring out quite so loudly today. It was while researching my own book, “Quest for the Presidency,” that I came across many of their stories. Each one of them helped blaze the trail that other women later followed, from Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Condoleezza Rice to Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.
These other women were hardly unrecognized in their own time, but today they stand as fascinating figures whose stories have begun fading from memory with the passing years. So here are four more biographies about some extraordinary but now unsung women in American political history.
Franklin Roosevelt was the president responsible for the New Deal, but the driving force behind the ideas for many New Deal programs was Frances Perkins. The first woman ever appointed to a cabinet position in the United States, Perkins served as Secretary of Labor for all 12-plus years of FDR’s presidency.
As Kirstin Downey details in this biography, Perkins advocated for Social Security, unemployment insurance and a minimum wage, as well as for a public works program during the Great Depression, a 40-hour work week, the abolition of child labor, and universal health insurance. Except for health insurance, every one of these other initiatives was implemented. It’s not an understatement to say that without Perkins much of what we know as the New Deal may never have been coaxed into existence.
“Jeannette Rankin: America's Conscience,” by Norma Smith
Jeannette Rankin started her career as a social worker and then, in 1916 as a progressive Republican from Montana, became the first woman elected to Congress. This was four years before the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote nationwide, though in Montana women gained voting rights in 1914. She served one term in Congress in 1917-18 and then was elected to another term more than two decades later, in 1940.
Rankin was active in the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and in Congress she was an advocate for women’s rights and for political and labor reform. Above all, though, Rankin became known as “America’s Conscience” because of her dedication to peace issues. A lifelong pacifist, her first vote in Congress in 1917 was opposed to the declaration of war against Germany that brought the U.S. into World War I. Twenty four years later, when she entered Congress for the second time in 1941, she similarly voted against a declaration of war against Japan. And in the 1960s, when she was well into her 80s, she helped create the Jeannette Rankin Brigade of activists opposed to the Vietnam War and participated in the the March on Washington in 1968.
This biography was written by Norma Smith, who was a friend of Rankin’s, and is based on interviews conducted in the 1960s.
“Politics of Conscience: A Biography of Margaret Chase Smith,” by Patricia Ward Wallace
When Victoria Woodhull and Belva Lockwood ran for president, they did so under the banner of a third party that was pushing for equal rights for women. But when Margaret Chase Smith made a presidential bid of her own as a Republican in 1964, she was the first woman to run for the nomination of one of America’s two major political parties.
A Republican from Maine, Smith was also the first woman to serve in both the House and Senate during 32 years in Congress. But Patricia Ward Wallace’s biography is the second one in this group with the word “conscience” in the title for a good reason. That’s because, of all Smith’s milestones, she is most remembered for her “Declaration of Conscience” in 1950, regarded as one of the classic speeches of U.S. political history.
In this address, she criticized the bullying tactics used by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in searching for alleged communists in the U.S. government, and she declared that bedrock American principles included the right to criticize, protest, hold unpopular beliefs, and have independent thought.
“Unbought and Unbossed,” by Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm’s “Unbought and Unbossed” is the only memoir on this list. Chisholm published the book in 1970, after becoming the first Black woman elected to Congress. It’s an intimate account of her life, from some childhood years spent living with her grandmother in Barbados through her election to the House of Representatives from New York.
“Unbought and Unbossed” is an appropriate title for the memoir of a woman who was a passionate and outspoken advocate for the needs of women, minorities, and the poor. Two years after publishing her story, Chisholm became the first Black to mount a campaign for a presidential nomination.
“My presence before you symbolizes a new era in American political history,” she said in announcing her 1972 candidacy. She stood little chance of winning that year, but she did gain the support of 152 delegates at the party convention and helped pave the way for future female and minority candidates.