HTML Assignment 4

Jeannette Rankin

Jeannette Rankin is one of the most important women in United States history, but she is also one of the most under appreciated. Though the names of Susan B. Anthony and her fellow suffragettes are known by many people, Jeannette Rankin remains in obscurity.

Rankin's Life

Jeannette Rankin was born on June 11, 1880 in Montana. She grew up in the city of Missoula. In 1916, she was elected to the House of Representatives, and became the first women in the United States (or any other western democracy) to be elected to a national office. Rankin was a devout pacifist. During her first term in Congress, she voted against United States entrance into World War I. Because of this decision, she was not re-elected for a second consecutive term. However, she was relected to the House of Representatives in 1940. During this term, she became the only member of either house of Congress to vote against United States entrance into World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor. She was the only person to vote against entrance into both World Wars.

Rankin's Influence

1. She took the crucial first step in the representation of women in the government by being elected to an all male congress.
2. She showed the entire world that a woman could be as able a legistlator as a man.
3. She inspired woman across the nation to get involved in politics.
4. She showed people how a politician ought to behave by sticking true to her beliefs despite the effect she knew they would have on her career.

Inspirational Words From Rankin

• "You can no more win a war then you can an earthquake."
• "You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go."
• “As a woman, I can’t go to war and I refuse to send anyone else.”
• “I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won’t be the last.”
• “I want to stand by my country, but I cannot vote for war.”
• “I have nothing left but my integrity.”
• “We’re half the people; we should be half the Congress.”
• “There can be no compromise with war; it cannot be reformed or controlled; cannot be disciplined into decency or codified into common sense; for war is the slaughter of human beings, temporarily regarded as enemies, on as large a scale as possible.”
• When she was asked to sit while addressing the Congress at age 88, she said, "No thanks, I fight better standing up."

History's View of Jeannette Rankin

“She remains one of the most controversial and unique women in Montana and American political history.” – Dr. Joan Hoff
“Probably a hundred men in Congress would have liked to do what she did. Not one of them had the courage to do it.” – William Allen White
"It was much more radical to be a peace activist during the era that she was — which was her whole life — than to be a suffragette.” – Gretchen Woelfle
"“Just a remarkable career. Whether you agreed with her or not, she stuck to her guns.” – Matt Wasniewski

Dr. Joan Hoff

In "Peace is a Woman's Job"

William Allen White

Printed in a newspaper the day after her vote against entrance into the second World War

Gretchen Woefle