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RANKIN, JEANNETTE. (1880-1973). American politician and first woman elected to Congress. TLS. (“Jeanette Rankin”). 1p. 8vo. Washington, July 23, 1917. On her House of Representatives letterhead. To Pittsburgh Gazette Times journalist and friend of Willa Cather, George Seibel.

Your card and the clipping have been received and I wish to assure you that I am most grateful to you for your thoughtfulness. In deep appreciation of your kindness, I am cordially…

Rankin grew up on a ranch in Montana before becoming a social worker and an associate of Jane Addams. Her interest in the living conditions of America’s poor drew her into the women’s suffrage movement. In 1914, She successfully earned women the right to vote in her home state when Montana passed women’s suffrage. Two years later she was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives. She was the first woman to join that body and did so before most American women obtained the right to vote. The 19^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting suffrage passed in 1920, after the end of Rankin’s first term. Losing a subsequent bid for a seat in the Senate, Rankin worked as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill for many years but returned to the House of Representatives from 1941 to 1943. It is notable that, as a pacifist, Rankin voted against the United States’ entry into both world wars and was the only member of Congress to vote against war after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The unpopularity of the latter vote ended her political career. After leaving Washington, Rankin became a student of Gandhi and was an outspoken anti-war activist, campaigning against the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Our letter, written just three months after the United States declared war on Germany, is folded and in fine condition.

Item #16912

Price: $200