Audio
And Nothing Less Extras: Jeanette Rankin
Transcript
RD: You know we’re having a lot of conversations about this as women’s history. But, I can’t get over the fact that ultimately it was men who had much of the power to control the 19th Amendment’s destiny.
Women campaigned and organized, and some even exercised the right to vote depending on where they lived. But men were mostly in charge at the state and federal level, and would have the final say-so on the amendment.
R: But there was one exception. We need to talk about Jeanette Rankin. She was the one and only woman to ever cast a ballot as a legislator in support of the 19th Amendment.
RD: That’s right. In 1917 she was a Congresswoman representing Montana in the House. And listen to what she said, “If I am remembered for no other act, I want to be remembered as the only woman who ever voted to give women the right to vote.” What a badass.
But she should be remembered for more.
R: Jeanette Rankin was born in Montana before it became a state and initially thought she’d study biology. But while traveling east, she saw how women and children were living in urban slums. And her life’s mission changed.
RD: She ended up studying at what would later become Columbia University’s School of Social Work. And she traveled even further west, to Washington state, to work at an orphanage. But Rankin was frustrated by working on one case at a time. She wanted bigger change.
R: The suffrage movement offered her answers. Votes for women meant social reform. It meant laws to improve the lives of children and families. And while Rankin was living in Washington, it became the fifth state in which women won the right to vote.
RD: Rankin returned to Montana inspired and ready to work. And pretty soon a group called the Equal Franchise Society asked her to address the Montana legislature. Now -- this was a big deal -- a woman in the State Capitol!! So they needed to get their act together.
R: Like put their adult magazines away, or what?
RD: You’re not far off. The legislators were told that day they couldn’t use foul language. Smoking was banned, and spittoons were removed from the room. Rankin was welcomed with a bouquet of violets.
R: I don’t actually hate that part.
RD: But despite being so accommodating to Rankin, and despite her passionate speech, Montana women didn’t win the right to vote for another 3 years.
[music]
But, that paved the way for Rankin’s successful run for Congress. And while she was in office she not only got to vote for the 19th Amendment. She stood behind her pacifist beliefs and voted against World War One. She did this again over twenty years later when she was back in Congress and voted against World War Two. She was the only representative to cast a “nay” vote against both World War One and World War Two.
As she later told a friend, “I have nothing left except my integrity.”
Description
Learn about the only woman who voted for women's right to vote.
Duration
3 minutes, 8 seconds
Credit
PRX, WSCC, NPS
Date Created
09/16/2020
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