Hattie Caraway

Arkansas widow who became the first woman elected to the United States Senate.

Overview

Appointed in 1931 to succeed her late husband, Caraway won a special election in 1932, surprising the establishment with a Huey Long barnstorming campaign, and won again in 1938, becoming the first woman elected and re-elected to the Senate. She was the first woman to preside over the Senate, the first to chair a committee, and the first senior woman to sponsor the Equal Rights Amendment in that chamber. She voted for New Deal programs and against isolationist neutrality, losing in 1944 to J. William Fulbright's first campaign.