Margaret Chase Smith

The Maine Republican, the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress, had already pushed through the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 as a House member, giving women permanent status in the military. In the Senate her 1950 'Declaration of Conscience' speech, co-signed by six Republican colleagues, was the first major challenge from within his own party to Joseph McCarthy's methods. Her influence came less from bill-writing than from setting limits others then followed.