On this day, November 7, 1916, Janet Bering Ranklin was elected to Congress, becoming the first woman to become a member of the US Congress.
Janet Bering Rankin was born on June 11, 1880 in the town of Missoula, Montana, and in 1902 received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Montana.
Janet Bering Rankin became the first woman elected to the US Congress when she was elected to the Republican Party of Montana on November 7, 1916. She became a member of the US Congress on April 2, 1917, three years before women were granted the right to vote in the United States. Women were given the right to vote in the United States under the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1920.
Only four days after she took office, on April 6, Janet Rankin entered history in another way. She voted against the United States entering World War I and announced that she wanted to stand by her country, but she could not vote for war.
Janet Bering Rankin was the founding vice president of the American Civil Liberties Union and a founding member of the International Women's Association for Peace and Freedom. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the US Congress voted to declare war against Japan and Janet Rankin again voted "No" to the war. To war, I refuse to send anyone else to it. "
Ronklin was condemned by newspapers for being the only ones to vote against the war decision.
In 1968, Janet Bering Rankin led a demonstration of more than 5,000 women to demand the United States withdraw from Vietnam.
Janet Bering Rankin died on May 8, 1973 in California.