Born in Montana to a wealthy rancher and a teacher, oldest of seven siblings. She studied Biology at Montana State University, Social Work in New York School of Philanthropy, and Policy-Making in the University of Washington. After exploring various professional avenues – as a teacher, social worker, seamstress, and lobbyist, politician became her chosen career. In 1916, she was elected to the US House of Representatives from Montana and became the first female in Congress four years before the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution passed, allowing women to vote. Rankin served twice as a Republican Representative of Montana in the House, the only woman from Montana. Both times she voted against US involvement in World Wars. She was an active advocate of pacifism, suffrage and social welfare up until her nineties. At the age of 87, she led a march of 5,000 women dressed in black, against the Vietnam War, named “Jeannette Rankin Brigade.” Rankin loved to travel, for work or pleasure, a spirit captured in her legendary diary entry: “It makes no difference where, just so you go! Go! Go! Remember, at the first opportunity, go.” In the United States, she lived and worked in various states, and owned a farm in rural Georgia, which she tried to turn into a female commune, and where she established the Georgia Peace Society. In her travels overseas, she visited New Zealand, Russia, Ireland, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, Switzerland, and returned several times to her favorite destination – India. Her fame attracted to her several marriage proposals via mail, which she rejected. She is said to have had little time for romantic affairs and did not want to have children. She passed away at 92, in California. She left her estates to the Jeannette Rankin Foundation which awards educational scholarships for low-income women above the age of 35. Read more...