Margaret Chase Smith was born in Skowhegan, Maine, in 1897. She was a member of the Republican State Committee for Maine from 1930 to 1936. In 1940 Chase succeeded to her husband’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after his death. Eight years later she was elected to the U.S. Senate, making Smith the first woman to be elected to both houses of Congress. She was re-elected to the Senate in 1954, 1960, and 1966. Smith was one of the first Republicans to condemn the actions of anticommunist Senator Joseph McCarthy. She was also the author of the book Gallant Women, which examined the tradition of independent women in American public life. In 1989 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
