On January 6, 1941, Jeannette Rankin attended a Joint Session of Congress just days after being sworn in to a second term in the House. Representatives and Senators of the new 77th Congress had gathered to count the electoral college vote. A mere 30 minutes after completing that duty, Members of Congress listened to President Franklin Roosevelt's address about the war in Europe and the looming threat to America.
For Rankin, who’d first entered Congress 24 years earlier at the opening of the 65th Congress in 1917, the scene must have been familiar—war clouds gathering on the horizon, a dramatic presidential address, and a whirl of press attention, much of it paid to her return and, remarkably, still focused on her gender.
In addition to the Congresswomen on the House Floor, a number of high-profile female guests attended the Joint Session. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was accompanied by a mysterious woman, whose regal appearance led many in the House Chamber to crane their necks and ask, “Who’s that woman with Mrs. Roosevelt?” She turned out to be Crown Princess Märtha of Norway. “The First Lady leaned over innumerable times to chat with the Crown Princess, and obviously was explaining to her some points of procedure in a joint session,” newspapers reported.
“Looks like the women have taken over the place,” a journalist huffed as he entered the Press Gallery before President Roosevelt’s address. Perhaps the women visitors were inspired by Rankin, Rogers, Norton, and other Congresswomen. The Washington Post recorded that “the ladies had their share of the seats and plenty of attention, as the joint Congressional session got under way in a blaze of klieg lights.”
The many women in the chamber got reporters buzzing in admiration of, and occasional surprise about, their presence. One Washington Post article about the afternoon was titled, “Norse Princess, First Lady and Envoys' Wives Make Dazzling Assembly as Congress Opens.” The Christian Science Monitor carried an article with the shocked title, “In Congressional Spotlight: Why, Look! It's the Women!” Much of the reporting focused on the Congresswomen’s clothes. (Black ensembles with an orchid corsage or pearls were trending.)
In 1917, Rankin was the first woman elected to Congress. At the time, she was the first and only woman in the House. The press and the public paid her attention not only because of her politics, but also because of her gender. Back for her second term, Rankin was no longer the lone woman. “There is nothing unusual about a woman being elected,” she said. Although Rankin and the other Congresswomen might not have found it unusual anymore, gender continued to take the spotlight.
Sources: Washington Post, January 7, 1941; Boston Globe, January 7, 1941; and Christian Science Monitor, January 7, 1941.
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