Margaret Chase Smith

Margaret Chase Smith
Chair of the Senate Republican Conference
In office January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1973
Leader	Everett Dirksen Hugh Scott
Preceded by	Leverett Saltonstall
Succeeded by	Norris Cotton
United States Senator from Maine
In office January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1973
Preceded by	Wallace H. White Jr.
Succeeded by	William Hathaway
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 2nd district
In office June 3, 1940 – January 3, 1949
Preceded by	Clyde H. Smith
Succeeded by	Charles P. Nelson
Personal details
Born	Margaret Madeline Chase (1897-12-14)December 14, 1897 Skowhegan, Maine, U.S.
Died	May 29, 1995(1995-05-29) (aged 97) Skowhegan, Maine, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Clyde H. Smith ​ ​ (m. 1930; died 1940)​
Signature

Margaret Madeline Chase Smith (née Chase; December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995)^[1] was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S. representative (1940–1949) and a U.S. senator (1949–1973) from Maine.^[2] She was the first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress, and the first woman to represent Maine in either.^[3] A Republican, she was among the first to criticize the tactics of Joseph McCarthy in her 1950 speech, "Declaration of Conscience".^[4]

Smith was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1964 election; she was the first woman to be placed in nomination for the presidency at a major party's convention.^[2] Upon leaving office, she was the longest-serving female senator in history, a distinction that was not surpassed until January 4, 2011, when Senator Barbara Mikulski from Maryland exceeded her record.^[5] Smith was ranked as the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate,^[6] a distinction that was not surpassed until January 3, 2021, when Susan Collins, who holds the same Senate seat she previously held, was sworn in for a fifth term.^[7][8]