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There are few people that have influenced American
politics as much as one spirited woman from Maine-
Margaret Chase Smith. An honest leader, an
inspirational speaker, a nation’s conscience, and a
true Mainer, Senator Smith paved the way for women
politicians of today. Her legacy continues to
reverberate through the halls of Congress and now,
with the recent acquisition of her portrait to hang
in the Capitol, she will remain forever watchful
over the politicians and visitors to this great
institution. Margaret Chase Smith of Skowhegan,
Maine rose from the most humble of beginnings to the
highest corridors of power. She was a teacher, a
telephone operator, a newspaper woman, an office
manager, a secretary, a wife, a Congresswoman for 8
years, and a United States Senator for 24 years.
But she was also a leader, an inspiration, a
nation’s conscience, a visionary, and a woman of
endless “firsts”.
She was the first woman to be elected to both the
House and the Senate, the first to be elected to the
Senate on her own, the first to be nominated for the
Presidency by a major party, the first woman to
serve on the Armed Services Committee where she
secured a permanent role for women in the military,
the first to serve as ranking member of a
Congressional Committee, the first to serve in
Leadership, and even the first woman to break the
sound barrier in an F-100F Super Sabre Air Force
jet!
Senator Smith inspired millions of young girls
and became a role model for women across America who
never before thought they could aspire to any kind
of public office. Cited as one of the top 10
most admired women in the world in a Gallup Poll of
that time, Margaret Chase Smith, through her
talents, abilities and energies, was a living
testimony to the possibilities that exist for women
in America.
I well remember the sense of awe I felt when I
first met Senator Smith, visiting Washington, D.C.,
as a senior in college and sitting across the desk
from her. Little could I have realized that,
because of the doors she opened, she would make it
possible for me to one day sit at her very desk on
the floor of the United States Senate.
In April of 1997, I began talking with the Senate
Curator to explore the possibility of obtaining a
bust or portrait of Senator Margaret Chase Smith to
be displayed in the Capitol Complex. In
November of 1999, Senators Trent Lott (R-MS) and Tom
Daschle (D-SD) agreed to my request to commission
the portrait. In June of 2000, I met with an
Advisory Group, which included two members of
Senator Smith’s family and was put together by the
Senate Curator to review artist portfolios for the
portrait. Their goal was to make sure the
final artist would depict Sen. Smith faithfully and
in a way the family would like. In October of
2000, Ron Frontin of South Thomaston, one of Maine’s
leading contemporary artists, was commissioned to
paint the portrait. Frontin was chosen by the
U.S. Commission on Art from among 30 applicants
nationwide.
This portrait honors a woman that truly impacted
American politics and made an extraordinary
difference for women. And it was not that Senator
Smith deliberately set out to establish some sort of
precedent since what Margaret Chase Smith’s life
also proved is that gender was not the key factor in
public service – but that dedication and energy,
competence and ability, integrity and sheer guts
were. Indeed, I will never forget the Maine
State Republican convention I attended in 1970 as a
first-time delegate, when Senator Smith summed
herself up perfectly, saying, “I tell it like it
is”.
In the end, the measure of Senator Smith’s life
is in the example she set for the rest of us, and
the standard that many of us have tried to meet.
For me, it brings to mind a woman whose resolve, in
the words of the ancient Greek Aeschylus, “was not
to seem, but to be, the best.” Simply put,
Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was the best.
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