FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Margaret Madeline Chase Smith (December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S. representative (1940–1949) and a U.S. senator (1949–1973) from Maine. She was the first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress, and the first woman to represent Maine in either. A moderate Republican, she was among the first to criticize the tactics of Joseph McCarthy in her 1950 speech, “Declaration of Conscience“.

Smith was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 1964 presidential election; she was the first woman to be placed in nomination for the presidency at a major party‘s convention. Upon leaving office, she was the longest-serving female senator in history, a distinction that was not surpassed until January 5, 2011, when Senator Barbara Mikulski was sworn in for a fifth term. Smith was ranked as the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate, a distinction that was not surpassed until January 3, 2021, when Susan Collins, who holds the same Senate seat she previously held, was sworn in for a fifth term.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

1750s

• BORN 1755: OLIVER EVANS (INVENTOR)

1800s

• DIED 1803: JOHN BARRY (COMMODORE, “FATHER OF THE AMERICAN NAVY”)

1810s

• BORN 1819: CLARA SCHUMANN (PIANIST & COMPOSER)

1850s

• BORN 1857: MILTON HERSHEY (FOUNDER OF HERSHEY CHOCOLATE COMPANY)

1860s

• BORN 1866: ADOLF MEYER (PSYCHIATRIST)

1870s

• BORN 1876: SHERWOOD ANDERSON (WRITER)

1890s

• 1899: HALFORD MACKINDER’S TEAM BECAME THE FIRST EUROPEANS TO SUMMIT MOUNT KENYA
• 1899: HENRY BLISS WALKED OFF A TROLLEY AND WAS HIT BY A SPEEDING DRIVER. THE FOLLOWING DAY WHEN HE DIED FROM HIS INJURIES, HE BECAME THE FIRST PEDESTRIAN TO BE KILLED BY AN AUTOMOBILE

1900s

• BORN 1902: LELAND HAYWARD (PRODUCER)
• BORN 1903: CLAUDETTE COLBERT (ACTRESS)
• 1909: THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER OPENED IN N.Y.C.

1910s

• BORN 1912: HORACE BABCOCK (ASTRONOMER)
• BORN 1916: ROALD DAHL (AUTHOR)

1920s

• BORN 1920: ELSE HOLMELUND MINARIK (CHILDREN’S AUTHOR; “LITTLE BEAR” SERIES)
• BORN 1925: MEL TORME (SINGER)

1940s

• 1943: CHIANG KAI-SHEK BECAME PRESIDENT OF CHINA
• BORN 1944: PETER CETERA (MUSICIAN)
• BORN 1944: JACQUELINE BISSET (ACTRESS)
• BORN 1948: NELL CARTER (ACTRESS & SINGER)
• 1948: MARGARET CHASE SMITH BECAME THE FIRST WOMAN TO SERVE IN BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS

1950s

• 1956: IBM INTRODUCED THE FIRST COMPUTER WITH A DISK STORAGE SYSTEM

1960s

• BORN 1967: MICHAEL JOHNSON (OLYMPIC ATHLETE)

1970s

• BORN 1971: STELLA MCCARTNEY (FASHION DESIGNER)
• BORN 1977: FIONA APPLE (SINGER)

1980s

• BORN 1980: BEN SAVAGE (ACTOR)

1990s

• DIED 1998: RICHARD MERRELL (TELEVISION WRITER & ACTOR)
• DIED 1998: GEORGE WALLACE (POLITICIAN)

2000s

• DIED 2001: DOROTHY MCGUIRE (ACTRESS)
• 2004: A PROTESTER DRESSED AS BATMAN SCALED THE FRONT WALL OF BUCKINGHAM PALACE

2010s

• DIED 2012: DILHAN ERYURT (TURKISH ASTROPHYSICIST)
• 2015: PARTIAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.
• DIED 2017: FRANK VINCENT (ACTOR)
• DIED 2019: EDDIE MONEY (SINGER)

COURTESY www.almanac.com