Jean Carnahan, the former first lady of Missouri, was
appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacant
seat from Missouri caused by the death of her husband
of 46 years, Mel E. Carnahan. Elected to Congress three
weeks after his death in a plane crash, Mel Carnahan
became the first U.S. Senator elected posthumously.
Despite having never held public office, Jean Carnahan
earned the distinction of being the first woman Senator
from Missouri.
Jean Carpenter was born on December 20, 1933, in
Washington, DC. The daughter of Reginald Carpenter,
a plumber, and Alvina Carpenter, a hairdresser, Jean was
just 15 when she met her future husband, Mel Carnahan,
the son of Missouri Congressman Albert Sidney Johnston
Carnahan. Both Mel and Jean attended Anacostia High
School in Washington, DC, where they sat next to each
other in class. In 1951 Jean became the first in her family
to graduate from high school.1 Two years later, Mel and
Jean married upon Mel’s graduation from college. Jean
soon followed suit, earning a BA in business and public
administration from George Washington University in
1955. The couple went on to have four children: Roger,
Russ, Robin, and Tom. In addition to her responsibilities
as a homemaker and mother, Jean Carnahan was a public
speaker and an author. She also played an active role in her
husband’s numerous political campaigns for state office,
writing speeches and creating an extensive card-catalogued
database of potential supporters and donors.2
When Mel Carnahan became governor of Missouri in
1993, his wife flourished in her role as first lady. Interested
in addressing the needs of children, Jean Carnahan helped
to implement mandatory child immunization, organized
projects to promote children’s increased exposure to culture
and art, and cofounded Children in the Workplace to create
childcare for working parents at their place of employment.3
During his second term as Missouri governor, Mel
Carnahan decided to challenge Republican incumbent
John David Ashcroft for his seat in the U.S. Senate.
On October 16, 2000, Carnahan, his son Roger, and a
legislative aide perished when their private plane crashed
en route to a campaign rally in New Madrid, a town about
150 miles south of St. Louis.4 Despite the governor’s death,
his name remained on the ballot due to Missouri state law
that prohibited any changes within a month of the election
date.5 Out of respect for the Carnahans, Ashcroft ceased his
campaign efforts for 10 days after the tragedy.
Political observers assumed Ashcroft would win by
default; however, momentum shifted to the Democratic
candidate in the days preceding the general election. “Don’t
let the fire go out,” became the rallying cry for Missouri
voters, who grew even more enthused about Carnahan’s
candidacy once his widow Jean made it known that she
would accept an appointment to take his place in the
Senate.6 Still reeling from the death of her husband and
son, Jean Carnahan recalled her reaction when Missouri’s
new governor, Roger Wilson, approached her with the
prospect of serving in Congress. “I almost felt as if my
world had come to an end,” she said. “But I didn’t want all
the things that Mel stood for, that we had worked together
for, I didn’t want those things to die. I didn’t want to feel
like I was letting myself down or him down. And the
people of Missouri wanted something to survive the plane
crash, as well.”7 In the November election Mel Carnahan
posthumously defeated incumbent Senator John Ashcroft by
48,960 votes out of a total of about 2.4 million. Elated with
the victory, Jean Carnahan vowed that “we will never let the
fire go out”—a tribute to her late husband’s political legacy.8
Appointed for two years to the U.S. Senate to fill the
vacancy, Jean Carnahan was sworn in on January 3, 2001,
taking the Senate seat once held by Harry S. Truman.
In the Senate, Carnahan served on several committees:
Armed Services; Small Business and Entrepreneurship;
Governmental Affairs; Commerce, Science, and
Transportation; and the Special Committee on Aging.
Admitting that her jump to the Senate was overwhelming at
times, Carnahan observed, “I’ve learned a lot. I’m not so lost
anymore. But there’s a lot I’ve still got to learn. Some issues
I can’t talk to you about yet because I don’t know them yet.
But I’m learning. I’m learning. And I’m enjoying myself.”9
During her first few months in Congress, Carnahan
earned the respect of strangers and colleagues alike. She
recollected that on one occasion, Senator Edward Moore
(Ted) Kennedy of Massachusetts gave her a copy of John F.
Kennedy’s book Profiles in Courage with the inscription,
“To Jean Carnahan, who has written some profiles in
courage herself.”10
Building on her experience as first lady of Missouri,
Carnahan sought to continue the legislative interests she
shared with her late husband, most especially with respect
to furthering opportunities for children. The first legislation
she introduced in the Senate was a measure to increase
funding in public schools to help reduce class sizes, hire
additional teachers, and build or renovate classrooms. In a
speech on the Senate Floor, Carnahan called the education
of children, “an issue that is close to my heart and one that
is essential to our nation’s future.” She also explained that
her desire to improve American schools derived in part from
her husband’s dedication to the issue and their shared belief
that local schools should be given more flexibility on how to
spend federal money to improve education.11 In May 2001,
Carnahan achieved an early legislative victory when her bill
passed the Senate as an amendment to an education reform
measure.12 During her short tenure in the Senate, Carnahan
also worked to provide federal workers with greater access
to childcare services, another carryover from her time as
Missouri’s first lady.
As a Senator, Carnahan emphasized her moderate stance
on the issues and desire to work with colleagues on both
sides of the aisle. In 2001 she was one of 12 Democratic
Senators to back President George W. Bush’s tax cut.
Although she voted in favor of the program, she later
commented, “The bill passed by the Senate is far from
ideal, however. In particular, I would have liked to have
seen a greater portion of its benefits go to middle-income
working class families.”13 Carnahan also worked to find
common ground with fellow Missouri Senator Republican
Christopher Samuel (Kit) Bond. Both supported a bill to
provide assistance for farmers, and the two Senators worked
to protect the jobs of more than 10,000 Trans World
Airlines (TWA) employees in Missouri when the airline
merged with American Airlines.14
A year after her appointment to the Senate, Carnahan
announced her decision to run in the November 2002
special election to complete the six-year term. During her
first year on the Hill, GOP leaders from Missouri avoided
overly criticizing Carnahan, even when angered by actions
such as her vote against John Ashcroft’s appointment for
U.S. Attorney General, a decision Carnahan said was “a
vote of conscience.”15 Still wary of a potential backlash
resulting from the perception of attacking a grieving widow,
Republicans focused on Carnahan’s lack of experience when
she entered the senatorial election. The closely contested
race between Carnahan and her Republican opponent,
former U.S. Representative James Matthes Talent, attracted
national attention from both parties. During the campaign,
Carnahan attempted to distance herself from her husband’s
accident and instead highlighted her accomplishments in
the Senate.16 Ultimately defeated in a close race in which she
earned 48 percent of the vote, Carnahan told her supporters
after conceding to Talent, “Ours is a cause that has not
been lessened by defeat. Others will come to pick up the
fallen torch.”17 Carnahan left office on November 25, 2002,
when her successor was sworn-in.
Since leaving Congress, Carnahan has remained active
in Democratic politics, in particular promoting the
candidacy of women. She also has devoted herself to her
children’s political futures. From 2005 to 2013, her son,
Russ Carnahan, served in the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
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