a biography of the day-hattie caraway

[niyad]

Dates: February 1, 1878 - December 21, 1950

Occupation: Homemaker, Senator

Known for: first woman elected to the United States Senate; first woman elected to a full 6-year term in the United States Senate; first woman to preside over the Senate (May 9, 1932); first woman to chair a Senate Committee (Committee on Enrolled Bills, 1933); first woman in Congress to co-sponsor the Equal Rights Amendment (1943)

Also known as: Hattie Ophelia Wyatt Caraway
Family:

Father: William Carroll Wyatt
Mother: Lucy Mildred Burch Wyatt
Husband: Thaddeus Horatius Caraway (married February 5, 1902)
Sons (3): Paul Wyatt, Forrest, Robert Easley

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Thaddeus Caraway was elected to Congress in 1912 and women won the vote in 1920: while Hattie Caraway took it as her duty to vote, her focus remained on homemaking. Her husband was re-elected to his Senate Seat in 1926, but then died unexpectedly in November, 1931, in the fifth year of his second term.

Arkansas Governor Harvey Parnell then appointed Hattie Caraway to her husband's Senate seat. She was sworn in on December 9, 1931 and was confirmed in a special election January 12, 1932. She thus became the first woman elected to the United States Senate -- Rebecca Latimer Felton had previously served a "courtesy" appointment of one day (1922).
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In 1938, Hattie Caraway ran again, opposed by Congressman John L. McClellan with the slogan "Arkansas needs another man in the Senate." She was supported by organizations representing women, veterans and union members, and won the seat by eight thousand votes.
Hattie Caraway served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1936 and 1944. She became the first woman to co-sponsor the Equal Rights Amendment in 1943.
More About Hattie Caraway:

When she ran again in 1944 at age 66, her opponent was 39-year-old Congressman William Fulbright. Hattie Caraway ended up in fourth place in the primary election, and summed it up when she said, "The people are speaking."
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http://womenshistory.about.com/od/senate/p/hattie_caraway.htm