Jeannette Rankin

American representative (1917-1919, 1941-1943)

• Born: June 11, 1880
• Birthplace: Near Missoula, Montana
• Died: May 18, 1973
• Place of death: Carmel, California

Rankin devoted her life to women’s rights and advocating peace. She was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress and the only member to vote against the entry of the United States into both world wars.

Early Life

Born in a ranch house near Missoula, Montana, Jeannette Rankin was the eldest of seven children. Her father, John Rankin, the son of Scottish immigrants, moved into Montana in the late 1860’s. After prospecting for gold, he settled in Missoula, became a builder and contractor, and played a central role in the town’s political and economic development. Jeannette’s mother, Olive Pickering, migrated from New Hampshire to Missoula in 1878 and served the town as its schoolteacher until her marriage to John Rankin the following year. John developed a lucrative business and purchased a ranch for cattle raising and farming.

The Rankin family was close-knit and loving but fostered each member’s individuality. Evenings were often spent in lively discussion and hearing stories of gold prospecting and Indian warfare in the Montana Territory. The family was also very religious, and its beliefs formed the values by which Rankin lived her entire life.

Although she loved to read, public school bored Rankin. She found more satisfaction in learning practical skills from her parents. From her mother, she learned sewing, and she became an expert seamstress. She studied carpentry with her father and constructed a sidewalk in downtown Missoula.

Rankin entered Montana State University in 1898, but her college experience was as frustrating as her earlier schooling had been. Because the university was located in Missoula, the change of scenery that she desired was impossible, and because the campus was regional, little opportunity existed to meet students from diverse backgrounds. Moreover, she frequently complained that her classes were uninteresting. She completed her studies, was graduated in 1902, and for a short time taught school.

Looking for something more challenging than teaching, Rankin drifted from one job to another dressmaker, sawmill supervisor, and furniture builder. In 1904, she visited her brother at Harvard College in Boston. She found the city exhilarating but was shocked by the slum conditions and the extent of poverty, overcrowded dwellings, and poor health among working-class residents. Repulsed by what she witnessed, Rankin committed herself to social work.

Life’s Work

In 1908, Rankin enrolled in the New York School of Philanthropy to study social issues and social work. After completing the program in 1910, she secured employment in a Spokane, Washington, children’s home. At that time the state of Washington was considering woman suffrage. Volunteering her services, she distributed leaflets, canvassed voters door-to-door, and delivered speeches in favor of the state suffrage amendment. Washington granted women the right to vote in November, and her participation sparked an enthusiasm that placed Rankin on a crusade for woman suffrage and social reform.

Rankin returned to Montana in December, 1910, for the Christmas holidays and learned that her home state had scheduled debate on a suffrage amendment for January. She quickly organized the Equal Franchise Society, requested and received an invitation from the state assembly to speak on behalf of the amendment, and presented a well-received argument for woman suffrage. Although the amendment was not passed until 1913, Rankin was instrumental in its eventual victory.

Having gained a taste for social reform politics, Rankin became a member of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and joined organizations in several states. By autumn of 1914, she had lobbied and spoken before the legislatures of ten states, marched in rallies in major cities, and petitioned Congress for a national woman suffrage amendment. Rankin was quickly becoming a national personality.

In 1914, war erupted in Europe. Although the United States was not yet involved, Rankin feared that it might be unable to remain neutral. War, she reasoned, would shift the public’s attention from social issues and slow the movement for woman suffrage. While in New York, Rankin helped to form the Women’s Peace Party in January, 1915, and lobbied Congress to stay out of the European conflict. Although she spent the next summer in Montana organizing “good government clubs” designed to eliminate corruption and to increase women’s rights, she devoted most of her time to speaking and writing against American entry into World War I.

In 1916, the likelihood of war led Rankin to take the boldest step of her career. Against the advice of Republican Party leaders, she announced her candidacy for election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Her personal platform reflected her professional goals an amendment to the U.S. Constitution for woman suffrage, child protection laws, social justice, and good government. She was most demanding regarding continued American neutrality. Her antiwar views, which most Montana voters shared, brought her victory in November. Rankin was the only Republican to win office in Montana that year and the first woman in American history to take a seat in the U.S. Congress.

Rankin took the oath of office on April 1, 1917, but the warm welcome she received did not last long. On April 5, the House of Representatives commenced debate on the entry of the United States into the Great War. Special attention was focused on Rankin. She symbolically represented all women in the nation. Her vote for or against war would be interpreted as a woman’s ability to deal with political crises.

The House debated the war resolution throughout the night. Rankin chose to remain silent but listened intently to the heated arguments. Tensions rose as opponents of war were jeered, hissed, and verbally branded as unpatriotic. When the House voted, Jeannette Rankin rose to her feet. “I want to stand by my country,” she said, “but I cannot vote for war. I vote no.” She found herself in the minority. Three hundred seventy-four representatives supported the resolution, while only fifty voted against war. On April 7, President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany.

Hannah Josephson stated in her biography Jeannette Rankin, First Lady in Congress (1974) that Rankin was warned before the vote that she might lose reelection because of her antiwar stance. Her opposition to war was far more important to her than her concern for reelection. The public’s response was swift. Rankin was labeled unpatriotic and a disgrace to women nationwide. Even the National-American Woman Suffrage Association claimed that her vote against war would lose supporters for a constitutional suffrage amendment. Rankin later said that her vote against war was the most significant one she ever made. Women, she believed, had to take the lead to end war.

Once the nation was committed to war, Rankin supported American troops, worked in Congress to protect civil liberties, and pushed for social reform. She championed legislation authorizing the government to hire more women workers, to provide financial relief to families of soldiers, to improve conditions for imprisoned women, and to guarantee food, clothing, shelter, and health care for children living in poverty. She participated in congressional debates on a federal amendment for woman suffrage, which Congress finally sent to the states for approval in 1918. As her term in the House of Representatives ended, however, Rankin’s antiwar vote resurfaced and caused her defeat for reelection.

During the twenty years that followed, Rankin toured the nation promoting feminist issues. She worked with the National Consumers’ League, which advocated federal child labor laws, better working conditions, and increased women’s rights. Most of her energy, however, was directed toward achieving international peace.

The horrors of World War I still vivid in her mind, and believing that social justice could never be attained as long as money was spent on defense and warfare, Rankin helped to form the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and volunteered her services to numerous other peace organizations. She campaigned against Reserve Officers Training Corps programs on college campuses. She was a central figure at the Conference on the Cause and Cure for War, participated in the Peace March on Chicago, lobbied congressmen to introduce legislation to outlaw war, and advocated the creation of a National Peace Party to challenge both Republicans and Democrats in state and federal elections. As the 1930’s drew to a close and the prospect for another world war seemed likely, Rankin intensified her efforts.

In November, 1940, at age sixty, Rankin was again elected to Congress on a peace platform. She proposed bills to prevent the sending of U.S. troops abroad and to require a national vote before war could be declared. Neither measure passed, but she persisted throughout 1941. Despite Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, Rankin stood for peace regardless of personal consequences. On December 8, Congress voted for war. This time, Rankin cast the only vote in opposition. As before, Rankin received the brunt of public criticism and was not reelected the following year.

Until her death in 1973, Rankin traveled the world. The extent of global poverty and injustice she witnessed intensified her belief that only in a peaceful world could social problems be resolved. Based on this view, she condemned America’s war in Vietnam throughout the 1960’s. In January, 1968, she participated in an antiwar march on Washington. The Jeannette Rankin Brigade, so named by her admirers, petitioned Congress to end the war and “heal a sick society at home.”

Significance

Rankin pressed her demands for an end to war, the protection of civil liberties, and the direct popular vote on critical national issues. She never realized her dream to end war, but she was responsible, directly or indirectly, for the creation of many laws. Her efforts contributed to voting rights for women, support for dependents of servicemembers, free postage for members of the armed forces, retention of citizenship for women who marry noncitizens, child labor and protection laws, and women’s rights. Throughout her life she spoke on behalf of labor, for child welfare, for social justice and greater democracy, and against racial prejudice. She further advocated multimember congressional districts, a unicameral Congress, direct election of the president, and the restructuring of the U.S. military into a purely defensive force. Her two elections to Congress opened avenues for women nationally in politics and business. Although she was labeled an idealist and was criticized severely for her antiwar position, Rankin possessed the courage to remain true to her convictions and dedicated her life to the betterment of American society and the human race.

Bibliography

Dedication of the Statue of Jeannette Rankin. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1986. This publication includes a biographical sketch of Rankin and speeches given by prominent political figures in remembrance of her advocacy of women’s rights and an end to war. Included is a time line of Rankin’s life and accomplishments.

Josephson, Hannah. Jeannette Rankin, First Lady in Congress. Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1974. Although many prominent and influential women with whom Rankin worked receive limited attention and the broad context in which Rankin operated is somewhat vague, Josephson has presented a complete, well-researched biography. The author’s twenty-year personal relationship with Rankin makes the work most insightful and revealing.

Libby, Frederick J. To End War. Nyack, N.Y.: Fellowship, 1969. Libby surveys the patterns of antiwar thought and peace organizations in twentieth century America.

Lopoch, James L., and Jean A. Luckowski. Jeannette Rankin: A Political Woman. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2005. In this political biography, Lopoch and Luckowski portray Rankin as a talented, driven, and deeply divided person.

Noble, David W. The Progressive Mind, 1890-1917. Rev. ed. Minneapolis, Minn.: Burgess, 1981. This work provides an overview of the intellectual foundations of the Progressive Era and the evolution in thought of Progressives themselves. One chapter devoted exclusively to women of the period adequately highlights the feminist movement.

Smith, Norma. Jeannette Rankin: America’s Conscience. Helena: Montana Historical Society Press, 2002. Smith, a friend of Rankin, wrote this biography based on interviews she conducted with her friend in the 1960’s.