Margaret Chase Smith was elected to the US Senate on this day in 1949. She was from the state of Maine and became the first woman to serve in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. She was a member of the House from 1940-49 and a United States Senator from 1949-1973. She was a moderate Republican.

In 1964 Senator Smith was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for President {Barry Goldwater won } she was the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the presidency at a major political parties convention.

She lost her senate seat in 1972, one of the reasons was rumours about her health. She lived to age 97,dying in 1995.