jeannette rankin, the lady from montana, entered the hall. one witness, the wife of a congressman, recorded the proceedings in her journal. she described in great detail rankin's physical appearance as she walked to her seat, escorted by her elderly montana colleague. she wore -- let me go back a couple. she wore a well-made dark blue silk and chiffon suit with open neck and wide white creped collar and cuffs. her skirt was a modest walking length and she walked well and unself-consciously. her hair is a commonplace brown and arranged in a hearth two spreading pomp do remember shadowing her face. she carried a bouquet of yellow an purple flowers given to her at the suffragist breakfast. she didn't look right to left until she reached her seat, far back on the republican side, but before she could sit down she was surrounded by men shaking hands with her. i rejoiced to see that she met each one with a big mouth drank smile and shook hands cordially and unaffectedly. it would have been sickening if she had been masculine, but, no, she was just a

in october of 1916, the montana enterprise declared jeannette rankin candidate on the republican ticket is fiery inte, rare perspective. meanwhile the seattle times made this conclusion. miss rankin is an excellent speaker, attractive in appearance, indeed she had hold her political skills by lobbying politicians all over the country on behalf of the suffrage movement. at this time, montana had two congressional seats. but they were both in the same at large district. in other words, the district encompassed the entire state of montana. rankin found that the at large arrangement gave her another advantage. she had more statewide recognition than her competitors. it meant that she had to travel long distances to reach far flung voted populations. she held rallies in train stations, attended community suppers, and visited countless schools across the state. still in an era of political polling she had no idea that she had the support needed to win one of the two seats. in the end there she easily won the top slot in the primary, out earning the next competitors by seven thousand votes. in

indeed, even after her death at 93 jeannette rankin just cannot stay away from the capital. in 1985, montana sent a statue of rankin to the statue collection. now she stands at attention in the capital center, greeting thousands of schoolchildren as they stream in for tours of the capital. the phrase i cannot -- for war is written across the statue. base when the words for first, uttered they were called week, timid, aside of nervous hysteria. decades later they represent the courage and conviction of jeannette rankin, the first woman elected to congress, and the only member to vote against both world wars. rankin has since inspired countless members of congress to achieve firsts of their, own thousands are likely to look back at her with fondness. they may view her as daring, outspoken, not week and emotional. i will show you a few pictures of notable members of congress, female, not all, just a few influenced by jeannette rankin. the first woman to serve in the house and congress. i could do a whole series of lectures on senator margaret smith. shirley chisholm, the first a