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Hattie Caraway
Hattie Ophelia Wyatt Caraway (February 1, 1878 – December 21, 1950) was an American politician who was United States Senator from Arkansas from 1931 to 1945. She was the first woman elected to the Senate, the first woman to serve a full term as a United States senator, and the first woman to be reelected to the Senate. She was also the first woman to preside over the Senate. She won reelection to a full term in 1932 with the active support of fellow Senator Huey Long, of neighboring Louisiana.
Hattie Wyatt was born near rural Bakerville in Humphreys County in west-central Tennessee, the daughter of William Carroll Wyatt, a farmer and shopkeeper, and the former Lucy Mildred Burch. At the age of four, she moved with her family to Hustburg in Humphreys County. Despite her family's relative poverty, she had always hoped to pursue higher education, which was made possible through the generosity of a wealthy aunt. After attending a one-room schoolhouse and Ebenezer Church in Hustburg, she transferred to Dickson (Tennessee) Normal College, wherein 1896 she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. She taught school for a time before in 1902 marrying Thaddeus H. Caraway, whom she had met in college. They had three sons: Paul, Forrest, and Robert; Paul and Forrest became generals in the United States Army. The couple settled in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where he established a legal practice while she cared for the children, tended the household and kitchen garden, and helped to oversee the family's cotton farm.[page needed]
The Caraways established a second home Riversdale at Riverdale Park, Maryland. Thaddeus was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1912, and he served in that office until 1921 when he became a U.S. senator. Although she took an interest in her husband's political career, Hattie Caraway avoided the capital's social and political life as well as the campaign for women's suffrage. She recalled that "after equal suffrage I just added voting to cooking and sewing and other household duties."
Thaddeus H. Caraway died in office in 1931. Following the precedent of appointing widows to temporarily take their husbands' places, Arkansas governor Harvey Parnell appointed Hattie Caraway to the vacant seat, and she was sworn into office on December 9.
With the Democratic Party of Arkansas's backing, she easily won a special election in January 1932 for the remaining months of the term, becoming the first woman elected to the Senate.
In May 1932, Caraway surprised Arkansas politicians by announcing that she would run for a full term in the upcoming election, joining a field already crowded with prominent candidates who had assumed she would step aside. She told reporters, "The time has passed when a woman should be placed in a position and kept there only while someone else is being groomed for the job." When she was invited by Vice President Charles Curtis to preside over the Senate she took advantage of the situation to announce that she would run for reelection. Populist former Governor and Senator Huey Long of neighboring Louisiana traveled to Arkansas on a seven-day campaign swing on her behalf. She was the first female senator to preside over the body as well as the first to chair a committee (Senate Committee on Enrolled Bills). Lacking any significant political backing, Caraway accepted the offer of help from Long, whose efforts to limit incomes of the wealthy and increase aid to the poor she had supported. Long was also motivated by sympathy for the widow and his ambition to extend his influence into the home state of his party rival, Senator Joseph Robinson, who had been Al Smith's vice-presidential candidate in 1928. Bringing his colorful and flamboyant campaign style to Arkansas, Long stumped the state with Caraway for a week just before the Democratic primary. He helped her to amass nearly twice as many votes as her closest opponent.[page needed]
Long effectively used a method to quiet crying babies at campaign stops in Arkansas to encourage voter interest:
Mrs. Caraway would never forget nor cease to laugh over the plans we made for caring for obstreperous infants in the audience so that their mothers might listen to the speeches without the crowds being disturbed. I remember when I saw her notice one of our campaigners take charge of the first baby. The child began fretting and then began to cry. One of the young men accompanying us immediately gave it a drink of water. The child quieted for a bit and resumed a whimper, whereupon the same campaign worker handed the baby an all-day sucker, which it immediately grasped and soon fell asleep. Mrs. Caraway did not understand that it was a matter of design until it had been repeated several times.
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Hattie Caraway
Hattie Ophelia Wyatt Caraway (February 1, 1878 – December 21, 1950) was an American politician who was United States Senator from Arkansas from 1931 to 1945. She was the first woman elected to the Senate, the first woman to serve a full term as a United States senator, and the first woman to be reelected to the Senate. She was also the first woman to preside over the Senate. She won reelection to a full term in 1932 with the active support of fellow Senator Huey Long, of neighboring Louisiana.
Hattie Wyatt was born near rural Bakerville in Humphreys County in west-central Tennessee, the daughter of William Carroll Wyatt, a farmer and shopkeeper, and the former Lucy Mildred Burch. At the age of four, she moved with her family to Hustburg in Humphreys County. Despite her family's relative poverty, she had always hoped to pursue higher education, which was made possible through the generosity of a wealthy aunt. After attending a one-room schoolhouse and Ebenezer Church in Hustburg, she transferred to Dickson (Tennessee) Normal College, wherein 1896 she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. She taught school for a time before in 1902 marrying Thaddeus H. Caraway, whom she had met in college. They had three sons: Paul, Forrest, and Robert; Paul and Forrest became generals in the United States Army. The couple settled in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where he established a legal practice while she cared for the children, tended the household and kitchen garden, and helped to oversee the family's cotton farm.[page needed]
The Caraways established a second home Riversdale at Riverdale Park, Maryland. Thaddeus was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1912, and he served in that office until 1921 when he became a U.S. senator. Although she took an interest in her husband's political career, Hattie Caraway avoided the capital's social and political life as well as the campaign for women's suffrage. She recalled that "after equal suffrage I just added voting to cooking and sewing and other household duties."
Thaddeus H. Caraway died in office in 1931. Following the precedent of appointing widows to temporarily take their husbands' places, Arkansas governor Harvey Parnell appointed Hattie Caraway to the vacant seat, and she was sworn into office on December 9.
With the Democratic Party of Arkansas's backing, she easily won a special election in January 1932 for the remaining months of the term, becoming the first woman elected to the Senate.
In May 1932, Caraway surprised Arkansas politicians by announcing that she would run for a full term in the upcoming election, joining a field already crowded with prominent candidates who had assumed she would step aside. She told reporters, "The time has passed when a woman should be placed in a position and kept there only while someone else is being groomed for the job." When she was invited by Vice President Charles Curtis to preside over the Senate she took advantage of the situation to announce that she would run for reelection. Populist former Governor and Senator Huey Long of neighboring Louisiana traveled to Arkansas on a seven-day campaign swing on her behalf. She was the first female senator to preside over the body as well as the first to chair a committee (Senate Committee on Enrolled Bills). Lacking any significant political backing, Caraway accepted the offer of help from Long, whose efforts to limit incomes of the wealthy and increase aid to the poor she had supported. Long was also motivated by sympathy for the widow and his ambition to extend his influence into the home state of his party rival, Senator Joseph Robinson, who had been Al Smith's vice-presidential candidate in 1928. Bringing his colorful and flamboyant campaign style to Arkansas, Long stumped the state with Caraway for a week just before the Democratic primary. He helped her to amass nearly twice as many votes as her closest opponent.[page needed]
Long effectively used a method to quiet crying babies at campaign stops in Arkansas to encourage voter interest:
Mrs. Caraway would never forget nor cease to laugh over the plans we made for caring for obstreperous infants in the audience so that their mothers might listen to the speeches without the crowds being disturbed. I remember when I saw her notice one of our campaigners take charge of the first baby. The child began fretting and then began to cry. One of the young men accompanying us immediately gave it a drink of water. The child quieted for a bit and resumed a whimper, whereupon the same campaign worker handed the baby an all-day sucker, which it immediately grasped and soon fell asleep. Mrs. Caraway did not understand that it was a matter of design until it had been repeated several times.