What is the use of being elected, or re-elected unless you stand for something.
The ship of Democracy, which has weathered all storms, may sink through the mutiny of those aboard.
Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.
The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among free men.
Whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country.
James Buchanan (1791-1868) was the 15th President of the United States. His single term in office was unable to stem the tides of America’s approaching civil war.
Growing up near Missoula, Montana, Jeannette Rankin was destined for a life of service to her country as well as other causes dear to her heart.
Born in 1880, Rankin lived on her family’s ranch in western Montana. The Treasure State was still recognized as an American territory, and Statehood would not be attained until 1889. In 1902, she graduated with a degree in Biology from Montana State University (now called University of Montana).
As a progressive member of the Republican Party, Rankin became the first American woman elected to a federal office. In 1916, she was victorious in her bid to become a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She would later be elected to a second term in 1940.
Rankin supported social welfare causes for improving working conditions and health care for women. She also worked tirelessly to help women earn the right to vote in the states of Washington and Montana. Both states granted this right in 1910 and 1914, respectively. Her efforts joined with other women in gaining universal suffrage for all in 1919 with passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
While Rankin has remained the only Montana woman ever elected to serve in Congress, she has been most remembered for her unwavering stance on war and peace.
During her first term in Congress, President Woodrow Wilson sent a declaration of war request to both houses of Congress. Joined by 49 other votes against America’s entry into World War I, Rankin cast her vote against the resolution.
Sometimes history will find a way of repeating itself, and this was the case with Rankin in 1941. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt sent a declaration of war request to Congress. With unbendable political courage, she cast the lone vote against America’s entry into World War II.
A lifelong pacifist, Rankin’s two votes against war demonstrated her resolute belief in preventing it. She became the only member of Congress to vote against America’s entry into both World Wars. Her own words say it best, “As a woman I can’t go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else.”
Rankin’s votes against entry into war terminated her future in politics. She unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1918, and she did not run for re-election to the U.S. House in 1942.
Prior to her death in 1973, Rankin served as a passionate voice for including equality and women’s rights in Montana’s new constitution, which replaced the original one approved in 1889.
I want to stand by my country, but I cannot vote for war.
Small use it will be to save democracy for the race if we cannot save the race for democracy.
Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) was an American politician and women’s rights advocate. Elected from her native state of Montana, she became the first woman to hold federal office in the United States.
The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
I remain just one thing, and one thing only–and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.
Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) was an English-born comic actor and filmmaker. His iconic portrayal of “The Tramp” will always remain one of the film industry’s most important characters.
A just society is a society that if you knew everything about it, you’d be willing to enter it in a random place.
Religious faith is an important aspect of American culture and a fact of American political life.
John Rawls (1921-2002) is an American political philosopher. Some of his writings emphasize the concept of “justice as fairness.”
Nothing ever small
Dreaming, another novel—
Writing with bigness
Pick baseball or golf
Swinging for fences or greens—
Which swing shall I use?
Congress at impasse
Where’s spirit to compromise?
Buried long ago
Big Sky Buckeye 