Margaret Chase Smith | |
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Chair of the Senate Republican Conference | |
In office January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1973 | |
Leader | Everett Dirksen Hugh Scott |
Preceded by | Leverett Saltonstall |
Succeeded by | Norris Cotton |
United States Senator from Maine | |
In office January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1973 | |
Preceded by | Wallace H. White Jr. |
Succeeded by | William Hathaway |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 2nd district | |
In office June 3, 1940 – January 3, 1949 | |
Preceded by | Clyde H. Smith |
Succeeded by | Charles P. Nelson |
Personal details | |
Born | Margaret Madeline Chase December 14, 1897 Skowhegan, Maine, U.S. |
Died | May 29, 1995 Skowhegan, Maine, U.S. | (aged 97)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | |
Signature | ![]() |
Margaret Madeline Chase Smith (née Chase; December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995)[1] was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S. representative (1940–1949) and a U.S. senator (1949–1973) from Maine.[2] She was the first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress, and the first woman to represent Maine in either.[3] A Republican, she was among the first to criticize the tactics of Joseph McCarthy in her 1950 speech, "Declaration of Conscience".[4]
Smith was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1964 election; she was the first woman to be placed in nomination for the presidency at a major party's convention.[2] Upon leaving office, she was the longest-serving female senator in history, a distinction that was not surpassed until January 4, 2011, when Senator Barbara Mikulski from Maryland exceeded her record.[5] Smith was ranked as the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate,[6] a distinction that was not surpassed until January 3, 2021, when Susan Collins, who holds the same Senate seat she previously held, was sworn in for a fifth term.[7][8]