Margaret Chase Smith
Member of the United States Senate from Maine
Died when: 97 years 166 days (1169 months)Star Sign: Sagittarius
Margaret Madeline Smith (née Chase;December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995) 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.
She was the first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress, and the first woman to represent Maine in either.
A moderate Republican, she was among the first to criticize the tactics of Joseph McCarthy in her 1950 speech, "Declaration of Conscience".
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.
Upon leaving office, she was the longest-serving female senator in history, a distinction that was not surpassed until January 5, 2011, when Senator Barbara Mikulski from Maryland was sworn in for a fifth term.
Smith was ranked as the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate, 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.