Montana Made History in the House of Representatives in 1916

Class is back in session, gang. I am Professor Sauerwein but drop the "Professor" part because god knows I wouldn't have survived more than 4 years of school.

Over the last few weeks, we've written about all sorts of Montana-based educational fun facts. We covered strange marriage laws, Montana world records, mind-blowing facts, and even dinosaur coverage. (Read below)

Now, it's all about politics and history. A user on Reddit declared Montana was the...

First state with a woman in the House of Representatives." - r/jdoublep

That is correct. Someone queue the Schoolhouse Rock song.

The first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives

Way back in 1916, Jeannette Rankin was elected to the House becoming the first-ever woman to be named a U.S. Rep. Not only was she from Montana, but she was born right here in Missoula. Rankin remained in Western Montana through college. The trailblazer graduated from the University of Montana in 1902.

Rankin was "involved" in a spooky event where people attempted to resurrect her here in Missoula.

Before her career in politics, Rankin wound up in Seattle doing social work. When Rankin dove into her political schedule, she was at the forefront of the women's suffrage movement in Montana.

In office she introduced the first bill that would have allowed women citizenship independent of their husbands and also supported government-sponsored hygiene instruction in maternity and infancy. -Britannica

Wow. Writing this article in 2023, that's almost unfathomable to think it was even needed as a bill.

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The Montana Republican's first congressional run spanned from 1916-1916 and later returned to the House from 1941-1943. Her second run wasn't nearly as popular as the first. Rankin led an antiwar effort that didn't set well with many people in D.C.

Rankin lived a full life as she passed away at 92 years old in 1973.