Credentials for Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, 1916

National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives

Jeannette Rankin was the first woman elected to Congress, 4 years before woman suffrage was added to the Constitution in 1920. Rankin was active in gaining women the right to vote in Montana in 1914. A pacifist, she voted against U.S. involvement in World War I and World War II during her two widely separated terms in the House, 1917-19 and 1941-43. Since Rankin, there have been nearly 200 women elected to Congress.