Smith, Margaret Chase (1897–1995)

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Smith, Margaret Chase (1897–1995)

U.S. congressional representative and four-term senator, known as the "conscience of the Senate," who was the first senator to publicly oppose Joseph McCarthy and the first woman candidate for a major party nomination for the U.S. presidency. Born Margaret Madeline Chase on December 14, 1897, in Skowhegan, Maine; died of a stroke in Skowhegan on May 29, 1995; daughter of George Emery Chase (a barber) and Carrie Matilda (Murray) Chase (of Scottish and French-Canadian background and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution); attended elementary and high school in Skowhegan, graduating from Skowhegan High School in 1916; married Clyde Harold Smith, on May 14, 1930 (died 1940); no children.

Raised entirely in Skowhegan, Maine, where she completed high school; worked briefly as a teacher, then had a series of positions in local businesses and for the Skowhegan Independent Reporter; active in local Republican politics, especially following her marriage to Clyde Smith; served as her husband's secretary during his two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives; elected to House of Representatives to succeed her husband (1940), and for three more terms; elected to the U.S. Senate (1948), and for three more terms, becoming the first woman to serve more than two Senate terms; specialized in issues related to the armed forces and defense, as well as labor; was noted for an "independent" voting record, often supporting Democratic as well as Republican measures in Congress; elected to the Senate by the widest margins in Maine's history; became the first woman candidate for a major party's presidential nomination (1964); served in the Senate until her retirement (1973). Held many honorary college degrees and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Freedom Award for Americanism from the Freedoms Foundation (1950), the Veterans of Foreign Wars medal for Americanism(1954), and the Distinguished Service Award on National Defense from the Reserve Officers Association (1955); was voted "Woman of the Year" several times and rated by the Gallop Poll three times as one of the ten most admired women in the world.

Writings:

(collection of speeches, with William C. Lewis, Jr.) Declaration of Conscience (1972).

As the woman with the longest service in the history of the U.S. Senate, and the first woman candidate for the presidential nomination of one of the two major parties, Margaret Chase Smith carved a unique position in the history of American politics. Known as a "Woman of Courage"—the title of her major biography—and an "independent" Republican unafraid to oppose or support ideas of either party, Senator Smith was respected as an effective practicing politician as well as a pioneer for women in 20th-century American politics. Her story also reveals some of the major issues of the political climate of the United States in the pre- and post-World War II eras.

Margaret Madeline Chase was born into the cold climate of Maine on December 14, 1897, in the small community of Skowhegan, which was to be her lifelong home. Her immediate family was not prosperous during her childhood. Her great-grandfather had owned land south of Skowhegan, and her grandfather, John Wesley Chase, was a Civil War veteran and Methodist minister. Her father George Chase suffered from severe headaches which limited his prospects and achievements; he ran a small local barbershop. Her mother Carrie Murray Chase was of Scotch and French-Canadian descent, and with her father's Irish-English ancestry, Margaret's ethnic heritage mirrored that of Maine as a whole. Margaret was the eldest of six children, two of whom died in childhood; a brother Wilbur remained in Skowhegan, as did one sister Laura, while another sister Evelyn lived in Chevy Chase, Maryland, near Margaret's home while she served in Congress.

As a small girl, Margaret would wander into her father's barber shop, located near the family home, and listen to the talk of the community among her father's customers. The living was sparse, and Smith remembered the struggle to keep the family together. "Mother always got my clothes too big so I could grow into them," she said. And, "Mother always felt that if she kept us busy we'd be the better for it." The children were involved in as many activities as the family could support, with Margaret being interested in a number of things, including basketball and playing the piano. The family also took regular summer excursions in the outdoors. They would picnic and occasionally be able to afford a night at nearby lake resorts. These outings, and the general attitude of remaining positive and pulling together as a family, were critical experiences for the young Margaret.

During young girlhood, Smith also developed patterns of independence and hard work which were obvious in her later political career, and important to her success. At only 13, she began to supplement the family income by working at the Green Brothers' five-and-ten, where her mother also worked from time to time. Smith pursued a commercial course in high school, and was known as a hardworking student, respected by her teachers and classmates. When Smith was at the height of her career, her former English teacher, Dorothy Elliott , noted, "At seventeen she was the same person she is today. Her essential qualities have matured. They haven't changed." Graduating from high school, she was a confident and competent young woman, sensitized to the conditions of working people through her own experiences and the experiences of her family.

In the years following, Smith pursued a variety of commercial positions. She worked briefly as a teacher in a one-room school, but decided that type of work was not for her. Subsequently, she was employed as a switchboard operator for the local telephone company, and later an executive with the commercial department. Although she had wanted to attend a college or professional school, she was financially unable to do so. In 1919, she began work as a circulation manager of a weekly newspaper, the Skowhegan Independent Reporter; she also worked in the advertising and editorial departments. From 1928 to 1930, she was office manager of a woolen mill in Skowhegan and also treasurer of the New England Waste Process Company in Fairfield, Maine. By 1928, recognized as a promising professional woman in her area, she was serving as president of the Maine Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. These years introduced her to many key business and professional leaders of her community. Indeed, her work at the newspaper led to her marriage, in 1930, to Clyde Harold Smith.

Clyde Smith was one of the preeminent politicians and leaders of his community. Seeking office 48 times, he was never once defeated. "Mostly we went campaigning," Margaret once said of her courtship. "Anyone who ever spent any time with him ended up going campaigning." A Skowhegan businessman and co-owner of the Independent Reporter, Clyde was prominent in state as well as local politics. He was a hard-fighting, daring politician whose career culminated with election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1936. Prior to this election, Margaret shared his campaigning in Maine, and also served as Republican State Committeewoman. During her husband's two terms in the House, Smith worked as his secretary and assistant, further developing her own political skills and reputation. Thus, it was really her marriage to Clyde Smith that led to her career in politics, a common pattern for women who served in U.S. political office in the mid-20th century.

In 1940, Clyde suffered a second, stronger heart attack—an earlier one having occurred in 1937—and decided he should not seek re-election; he persuaded Margaret to pursue the House seat in his stead. Shortly after this plan was announced publicly, he died. Margaret Chase Smith thus faced her first major campaign for national office on her own. The odds against her were tremendous. By 1940, there had been a number of women in Congress, but most of these were appointed to fill unexpired terms (usually of their husbands) rather than being elected in their own right. Many in the U.S. still believed that politics

was too "dirty" a profession for women, or that women lacked the necessary competencies to serve well in public office.

At this time, Smith drew upon her skills, her stamina, and her own personal network in Maine as well as her husband's. She faced, and won, four elections in a seven-month period in 1940: a special primary for candidates for Clyde Smith's seat, a runoff primary election, a special election to the unexpired term in May, and the regularly scheduled general election in November. She was swept to victory by impressive margins in all of these contests, and in 1941 was seated as one of only 7 women among the 435 members of the House. She set out to carve a position for herself in this body, and to promote the interests of the working people she considered her primary constituents.

As an American, I condemn a Republican "Fascist" just as much as I condemn a Democrat "Communist." I condemn a Democrat "Fascist" just as much as I condemn a Republican "Communist." They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves.
—Margaret Chase Smith,"Declaration of Conscience" (June 1, 1950)

Although she was denied her first choice of committee assignment, the House Labor Committee, she used her assignment on the House Military Affairs Committee (later the Armed Services Committee) to inform herself on defense matters, which would be an important area of her expertise over the subsequent years, and to see that Maine got its share of federal industrial contracts. This, in turn, served the working constituency to which she was most loyal. She also became known as the "Mother of the Waves," because she waged a long and early struggle for women's rights within the military, and introduced the legislation which first allowed WAVES (Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergence Service) to serve in hospitals and offices overseas during World War II. In 1944, she also led a fight against the Tabor Amendment, which would have cut in half the funds for community services and harmed the interests of many children whose parents were busily engaged in the war effort. She later supported the European Recovery Plan after World War II, developing a reputation for understanding foreign policy as well as defenserelated issues. On these issues, she at times opposed members of her own party and was criticized by them, developing the image of an "independent" Republican. "I don't really vote against my party that often," she once said, "but I've gotten the reputation of being a liberal because I cast those votes on some very dramatic issues." However, her voting record in the House reveals that she did vote against the majority of her party about one-third of the time.

While serving in the House, Smith developed a quiet, dignified image that was to persist throughout her career. She became recognizable by the fresh rose she wore or placed on her desk each day. Respected for her grasp of military and foreign policy issues, very important at this time, she was also considered unusual for focusing on issues not usually pursued by women. She served her district skillfully, but was also seen as a national stateswoman. Aware of the value of publicity, she used it well in her own behalf as well as for the betterment of the Republican Party, which was very much a minority party during the 1940s.

Encouraged by her success in the House and the national reputation she was developing, Margaret Chase Smith in 1947 made another major leap in her political career, with the decision to seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by popular Maine Senator Wallace H. White. Odds against her success in this campaign were even greater than in her House races; by this time, six women had served in the U.S. Senate, but none had initially won a regular election. She announced her candidacy very early, hoping to overcome her lack of financial backing. Two popular Republican former governors of Maine were formidable opponents in the primary campaign, and her candidacy was also opposed by many major corporations in the state. She organized and conducted an impressive grass-roots campaign to offset these initial disadvantages, and won both the primary and general elections in 1948 by landslides. Her margin of victory in the general election was the greatest in Maine's history and clearly established Smith as a formidable campaigner.

Spanning four terms, her Senate service continued many of the policy interests and the hardworking style of her House years. One of the most dramatic moments occurred in her first major speech, in 1950. Smith issued a ringing "Declaration of Conscience" in which she expressed alarm at the activities of fellow Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy. In the preceding years, McCarthy had been conducting a well-publicized series of investigations into alleged Communist activities of numerous prominent Americans. Many senators were privately appalled at the "witch-hunting" aspects of these proceedings, and the damage they were doing to individuals. However, no senators had had the courage to publicly oppose McCarthy's actions. Lawmakers feared attack on the Senate floor and worried that they too might be added to the list of Communist sympathizers. It was not a minor concern. Two Republican senators who had incurred McCarthy's wrath had been defeated in subsequent elections, having been charged with Communist leanings. As well, some victory-starved Republicans, including senior senator Robert Taft, were encouraging McCarthy, while opposition from the Democrats was dismissed as partisan politics. At this time, Smith was only a freshman senator; freshmen senators did not make waves, much less speeches in their first few months in office. But Smith approached six other Republicans for backing and returned home to write a speech. On June 1, with rumors of what was to come and a crowded gallery, with most of the senators at their desks and Joseph McCarthy sitting directly behind her, she took the floor. "I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition," she began:

The United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the greatest deliberative body in the world. But recently that deliberative character has too often been de-based to a forum of hate and character assassination, sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity. It is ironic that we senators can in debate in the Senate impute to any American who is not a senator any conduct unworthy or unbecoming an American—and without that nonsenator American having any legal redress against us. Yet if we say the same thing in the Senate about our colleagues, we can be stopped on grounds of being out of order.
I speak as a Republican. I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States Senator. I speak as an American. I think it is high time that we remember that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. I think it is high time that we remember that the Constitution as amended speaks not only of freedom of speech but also of trial by jury, not trial by accusation. Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who by our own words and acts ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism:
The right to criticize,
The right to hold unpopular belief,
The right to protest,
The right to independent thought….
I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny—fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear.

At this point, "Republican senators began walking out in droves," wrote Margaret Truman in Women of Courage. "Soon, almost the only Republicans on the floor were the six senators who had pledged to support her Declaration of Conscience. The departing Republicans were joined, I regret to report, by a number of Democrats. But Senator McCarthy did not move from his seat. He sat there, glowering ominously at Senator Smith's back." McCarthy would later denounce Smith as a friend of Communists and persuade an oil-rich native of Maine to run against her in the Republican primary. Though Mc-Carthy knew his crony might not win, he was hoping a tough primary would deplete her treasure chest for the election campaign and ensure her defeat. But Smith was a canny politician, who spent little on her campaigns. Already prominent as a woman in the Senate, Smith became even better known after her stand. Reaction was generally positive, enhancing her reputation with all but the staunch supporters of McCarthy.

In the Senate, Smith continued to develop her expertise on national defense, security, and foreign policy. Traveling abroad, she became known as a key voice for these issues during the Cold War era. She also continued to support some of Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, such as extension of Social Security, federal aid to education, and civil-rights laws. Her backing of these measures continued her reputation as an independent Republican.

In 1952, Smith was widely mentioned as a potential vice-presidential candidate. Asked by a radio announcer what she would do if she woke up one morning in the White House, she replied, "I'd go straight to Mrs. Truman and apologize. Then I'd go home." She served on the Senate Republican Policy Committee—despite her independent voting record—and the Appropriations, Armed Services, Space, and Rules committees. Her toughest re-election challenge was surmounted in 1954, when she defeated a protégé of Senator McCarthy's by a margin of five-to-one, setting yet another record for the total number of votes in a contested primary. She won re-election two more times, in 1960 and 1966, and served longer in the Senate than any other woman.

Smith's Senate performance is well represented by an incident that occurred in 1963, when she cast what she called "a very troubled vote" against the Limited Test Ban Treaty negotiated by the Kennedy Administration. Despite her desire for peace, she viewed the world, as her biographer Frank Graham, Jr., puts it, "more with the eyes of a general than with those of a diplomat. America's security preoccupied her." Thus, fearing that the treaty might adversely affect the nation's security, she reluctantly opposed it. She had illustrated, once again, her fierce independence in Congress.

In 1964, Margaret Chase Smith announced her candidacy for the presidency of the United States, the first woman to seek the nomination of one of the two major parties. The Republican primary contests were dominated by the candidacy of the eventual nominee, conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, and those of his more liberal opponents, such as governors William Scranton (Pennsylvania), Nelson Rockefeller (New York), and George Romney (Michigan). Justifying her candidacy, Smith pointed out that she actually had more national government experience than any of the other contenders, particularly in the foreign policy area, which was true. Nonetheless, her opponents maintained that her candidacy would "confuse" the results of the important New Hampshire primary. Smith's best primary showing was in Illinois, where she polled 23% of the popular vote. Probably reflecting the climate against women seeking major office at the time, however, she received the votes of very few delegates at the Republican National convention. Her candidacy was nonetheless important, establishing the right of well-qualified women to run for any office in the country.

Smith continued her Senate service through the tumultuous years of the 1960s. She persisted in her advocacy of strong foreign and defense policies, the championing of the rights of women (particularly in the military), and her support of critical domestic policies of vital interest to working Americans. Her reputation for hard work, integrity of position, and independence characterized her Senate service until her retirement from public life in 1972, at age 75. Her outstanding political service, her expertise in policy areas often dominated by men, and her pioneering in both senatorial and presidential politics ensure her lasting contribution to American history. "Throughout her career in Congress, Margaret Chase Smith had her own highly personal style," wrote Truman. "She tended to be taciturn, like most down-easters. She never ran off at the mouth and she was not especially fond of people who had this tendency. She preferred to work behind the scenes, on the committees where the real business of Congress is done, and let others do the orating on the House or Senate floor. When she made a speech, it was to say something important."