Margaret Chase Smith

Margaret Chase Smith, called the "lady of Maine," was a tough hawk who took a keen interest in military affairs and free speech.Her political career began when she worked as a secretary to her husband, Republican Rep. Clyde Smith. After his death in 1940, she won a special election to succeed him. In 1948, Smith won a U.S. Senate seat representing Maine. Then, in 1964, she became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the presidency by a major political party. She faced Barry Goldwater in the primary — and lost. But with 27 votes, Smith denied Goldwater the unanimous vote for nomination. Radio Diaries talked with Janann Sherman, who wrote No Place for a Woman: A Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith, and Merton Henry, who worked on her 1964 presidential campaign. Says Sherman of Smith's bid for the White House: "She was always having to walk that tightrope between being strong enough and tough enough to be commander in chief, to run a country, but still feminine enough and ladylike enough ... because being feminine was absolutely essential. And so she tried to balance it the best way she knew how."