|
|
|
Not much is known about Jeanette Rankin's childhood, but there are many hardships that she faced while she was a congresswoman. First, no woman had ever been elected to the United States Congress. She had to put even more effort into her campaign to get on the public's "good side." Once she was elected to Congress, she had to make many decisions concerning war. Since she was a pacifist, she did not believe in fighting. She was among forty-nine other Representatives who voted against the war against Germany. Because of her disapproval for World War I, her popularity among the public disintegrated, and she lost the Republican's support in the election. Even though she was defeated that year, she was elected into the House of Representatives in 1940 on an anti-war program.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
She maintained that position all that year, and in December, she had the opportunity to vote on war again. This time it was the vote on whether the U.S. should declare war on Japan. Jeanette Rankin was the only Representative to vote against the war. She had claimed that President Roosevelt had provoked the Japanese attack and said that the United States should just remain out of war. Just being a pacifist lowered her popularity even more. She did not run for a seat the next year.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
All through her life, she stood up for what she believed, even when others criticized her every move. Up until the day she died, she organized many anti-war groups across the country. Even though almost the entire U.S. was against her, she never gave in. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
