December 14: Birthday of Margaret Chase Smith (1897)
Prayer Idea
In the words of Margaret Chase Smith, pray that Americans would “do some real soul searching and weigh our consciences as to the manner in which we are performing our duty.”
History Note
Margaret Chase was born in Skowhegan, Maine, on December 14, 1897. She played basketball in high school and later coached the high school team. She met her future husband, Clyde Smith, as a young woman. Margaret worked for his newspaper as the circulation manager and co-founded the local chapter of the Business and Professional Women’s Club.
After a long courtship, Margaret and Clyde married in 1930. Clyde Smith, who had served in local and state offices in Maine, was elected to Congress in 1936. Margaret went to Washington, D.C., as his secretary.
Clyde suffered a heart attack and died in 1940 during his second term. Clyde had told his constituents before his death, “I know of no one else who has the full knowledge of my ideas and plans or is as well qualified as she is, to carry on these ideas or my unfinished work for the district.” The voters of the district chose Margaret to fill his seat.
Maine voters reelected Margaret Smith to the House four more times. She ran for and won election to the U.S. Senate in 1948. Though she was a member of the Republican Party, she had an independent mind and often voted against party leaders.
In February 1950, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy began his campaign of making accusations against government officials and other Americans of being Communists or Soviet sympathizers. McCarthy was unable to back up his claims with evidence, and Senator Smith was one of many who grew frustrated with his tactics.
On June 1, Smith met McCarthy on the Senate subway system. McCarthy said, “Margaret, you look very serious. Are you going to make a speech?” Smith replied: “Yes, and you will not like it!”
Smith proceeded to deliver a speech on the Senate floor. Though she did not refer to McCarthy by name, she condemned the atmosphere of intimidation that tends to suppress free thought and free speech. Six other senators joined Senator Smith in a Declaration of Conscience with five principles. This was the fifth principle:
It is high time that we stopped thinking politically as Republicans and Democrats about elections and started thinking patriotically as Americans about national security based on individual freedom. It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.
Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman elected to both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. She served in Congress from 1940 to 1973. After losing her 1972 campaign, she retired to her hometown of Skowhegan. There she established the Margaret Chase Smith Library. It is an archive, museum, educational facility, and public policy center.
Smith died in 1995 at the age of 97.
Margaret Chase in Washington, D.C., on her high school senior class trip in 1916. Photo courtesy the Margaret Chase Smith Library.
Learn More
Watch a video about Margaret Chase Smith and her 1950 “Declaration of Conscience” speech.
Find more resources at Homeschool History.
