STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-SIX
_____
JOINT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE LIFE AND
ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE LATE UNITED STATES
SENATOR MARGARET CHASE SMITH
WHEREAS, in 1940, Margaret Chase Smith won a special election to the United States
House of Representatives following the death of her husband, Representative Clyde Smith.
She went on to win the general election in her own right just 3 months later and was re-elected
for 3 additional terms over the next 8 years; and
WHEREAS, in 1947, Representative Smith played a key role in getting the Nurse Corps
Bill passed through Congress, granting women the opportunity to have permanent status in the
United States military for the first time; and
WHEREAS, Margaret Chase Smith was sworn into the United States Senate on January
3, 1949, becoming the first woman to be elected to both houses of Congress; and
WHEREAS, in her Declaration of Conscience speech made on June 1, 1950, Senator
Smith spoke out against the cruelty of McCarthyism and the "national feeling of fear and
frustration" and called on her fellow Legislators to avoid hatred and character assassination and
to honor the right to criticize, the right to hold unpopular beliefs, the right to protest and the
right of independent thought; and
WHEREAS, in 1954 and 1955, Senator Smith took a world tour at her own expense and
not as a representative of the United States government, visiting numerous European, African
and Asian countries and interviewing over 20 world leaders. Many of the interviews were
recorded and sent back to the United States to be broadcast on Edward R. Murrow's program
"See It Now" on CBS. The Overseas Press Club of America later honored the "See It Now"
segments with the Best Presentation on Foreign Affairs award. Senator Smith accepted the
award on behalf of CBS and officially became an award-winning foreign correspondent; and
WHEREAS, Senator Smith debated former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on "Face the
Nation" in 1956, a few days before the 1956 Presidential election. They were the first female
guests on this news show and debated the 1956 Israeli-Egyptian war over the Suez Canal, the
Soviet invasion of Hungary and civil rights; and
WHEREAS, in 1964, after being told that the White House was not ready for a female
chief executive, Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman to be placed in nomination for
the presidency by a major political party, ultimately losing the nomination to Barry Goldwater;
and
WHEREAS, in 1982, Margaret Chase Smith opened the library that houses her papers for
researchers of all ages. Upon her death in 1995, her Skowhegan home was turned into a
museum open to the public so that we might continue to learn from the example of civility and
leadership her life evinced; now, therefore, be it
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 RESOLVED: That We, the Members of the One Hundred and Thirty-second Legislature
now assembled in the Second Regular Session, on behalf of the people we represent, take this
opportunity to recognize the life of Margaret Chase Smith, her accomplishments in Congress,
her fight against injustice and her extensive contributions to the civil rights and equal rights
movements.
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