Suffragist Jeannette Rankin's Birthday

Jeannette Rankin

Courageous pacifist and suffragist Jeannette Pickering Rankin (1880 - 1973) was born on June 11 in Missoula, Montana. Rankin opened the way for women in politics and for the movement for peace.

Jeannette Rankin was a woman ahead of her time. The first woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1916, she was Montana's representative in Congress. She was the first woman in the House of Representatives before women in other states even had the right to vote.

"What one decides to do in crisis depends on one's philosophy of life, and that philosophy cannot be changed by an incident. If one hasn't any philosophy in crises, others make the decision." ~Jeanette Rankin

Rankin was the only member to vote against declaring war on Japan in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

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Image Jeannette Pickering Rankin By U.S. Congress [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Edited 6/22/16