Today in history: Hattie Caraway - first woman elected to the U.S. Senate

steemizen (69)in #history • 7 years ago

Hello Steemians!

Welcome to today's episode of the "Today in History" serial, where I bring you daily historical facts and events of the current date.

Hattie Ophelia Wyatt Caraway was born on February 1. 1878. in Bakerville, west central Tennessee.

At the age of four she moved with her parents, her father William Carroll Wyatt and her mother Lucy, to Hustburg in Humphreys.

She shortly attended Ebenezer College in Hustburg, but then moved to Dickson Normal College in Tennessee where she got her Bachelor of Arts in 1896.

Dickson Normal College

In 1902. she married Thaddeus Caraway with whom she had three sons, Paul, Forrest and Robert.
They had two homes, one in Jonesboro, Arkansas where they had a family cotton farm and opened a legal practice,
and the second being at the Riverdale Park in Maryland.
In 1912. her husband, Thaddeus was elected into the United States House of Representatives, a position he served until being elected a U.S. senator in 1921.

Thaddeus Caraway

After the death of Thaddeus Caraway, Harvey Parnell, the governor of Arkansas, appointed Hattie Caraway to temporarily take her husband's seat, being sworn into office on December 9. 1931.
In January 1932. she won a special election with the backing of the Arkansas Democratic party.

In December 1932. she won the general elections and with that became, not only the first female senator but also the first woman to chair the Senate Committee, including the Agricultural, Forestry, Commerce, Library and Enrolled Bills.

Hattie rarely made speeches which earned her the nickname "Silent Hattie", but she had build a good reputation as an honest senator.
In 1938, she had a tough reelection against John Little McClellan, who was the opinion that a man can more effectively perform duties in the interest of the state, eventually being Hattie being elected with a narrow win.
In 1943. she wrote history again, becoming the first female legislator to cosponsor the Equal Rights Amendment.

In the year 1944. she lost the nomination for another reelection, being then appointed to the Employees' Compensation Commission by Roosevelt in 1946.
Shortly after Hattie was given a post on the Appeals Board by president Harry Truman.

She remained on the position until January 1950. when she suffered a stroke.
She died on December 21. 1950. in Falls Church in Virginia, being buried in Oaklawn Cemetery in Jonesboro.