 |
 Dean Gooderham Acheson
served as Secretary of State under President
Harry Truman. In this capacity he participated in
negotiations that led to the establishment of
NATO, and was responsible for carrying out the
Marshall Plan. |
 Albert Jeremiah
Beveridge served in the U.S. Senate
from 1900-1910. During his tenure he championed
taking advantage of territories won as a result
of the Spanish-American War, drafted the meat
inspection bill, and fought for federal
legislation limiting child labor. |
 Arthur
Capper was a very successful
publisher when he became the first native-born
Kansas Governor in 1914. He subsequently served
five terms in the U.S. Senate, where he was an
advocate for the agriculture industry. |
 Hattie Wyatt Caraway
became the first woman to be elected to the U.S.
Senate on January 12, 1932, and was re-elected in
1938. Although she made no speeches and took no
unpopular stances, she earned respect from her
fellow Senators, and served as presiding officer
of the Senate in 1943. |
 Charles Curtis
served in the U.S. House of Representatives from
1893 to 1907, in the U.S. Senate from 1907 to
1913 and from 1915 to 1929, and as Vice-President
of the United States from 1929 to 1933; he was
the first person of direct Native American
ancestry to serve in all of those positions. |
 Georgia Neese Clark
Gray was an active member of the
Democratic Party and a successful businesswoman
when she was nominated to become the first woman
to serve as Treasurer of the United States, an
office she held from 1949 to 1951. |
 Carl Trumbull Hayden
spent 56 consecutive years in the U.S. Congress,
42 of them in the Senate, records that have never
been surpassed. During his tenure he worked on
the bill which established Grand Canyon National
Park, and sponsored the 19th Amendment to the
Constitution. |
 Clare Boothe Luce
was a playwright and journalist before being
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives,
where she was a vocal critic of Franklin
Roosevelt's foreign policy. In 1953 she became
the first American woman to hold a major
diplomatic post -- Ambassador to Italy. |
| Fontaine Maury
Maverick served in the House of
Representatives from 1935 to 1938. During his
tenure he was known for trying to "out-New
Deal the New Deal." |
 Adam Clayton Powell,
Jr. became the first black to be
elected to the New York City Council in 1941. In
1944 he became the first black to represent New
York in the U.S. House of Representatives, and
only the second in history to serve in that body. |
 Jeannette Rankin
became the first woman to be elected to Congress
in 1916. During her first tenure she voted
against declaring war on Germany. Elected again
in 1940, she voted against declaring war on
Germany, making her the only member of Congress
to vote against U.S. entry in both world wars. |
 Samuel Taliaferro
Rayburn was elected to the House of
Representatives in 1912, and subsequently served
there for the next 48 years, making him the
longest-serving member of the House in U.S.
history. |
 Nelson Aldrich
Rockefeller served four terms as
Governor of New York, during which time he also
served as an advisor to two Presidents. In 1974
he reluctantly accepted the job of Vice-President
under Gerald Ford. |
 Wendell Lewis Willkie
was a loyal Democrat until President Franklin
Roosevelt's New Deal threatened his business
career. He was the Republican candidate for
President in 1940, but lost by a substantial
electoral majority to Roosevelt, after which he
embarked on a world tour on Roosevelt's behalf. |
 Harry Hines Woodring
served as Secretary of War from 1937 to 1940.
During his tenure he led the development of the
"Flying Fortress," and was the man who
recommended the appointment of George C. Marshall
as Army Chief of Staff. |
