Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: A place for this woman

Friday, March 17, 2000 | 10:17 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor

THE PEOPLE attending Women's Summit 2000: Nevada Women United should take time to read "No Place For A Woman," which is written by Janann Sherman and published by Rutgers University Press. No other author has ever written anything that gives a reader a better sense of the history experienced by Americans during the first 80 years of the last century.

Sherman, writing about the life of Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, R-Maine, touches every aspect of life in, around and outside of Washington, D.C., during those years. MCS, as Sherman refers to her, dedicated her life to public service and drew strength from her roots in Maine. She was the first woman to be elected to both the House and the Senate, and she served for a total of more than three decades.

I first came to know the senator during several summers I was employed in the Senate and studying at Georgetown. Watching her work with male powerhouses such as Sens. Barry Goldwater, Richard Russell, John Stennis and Howard Cannon was a pleasure. She was truly a very strong member of a strong Armed Services Committee. Her mind was sharp, and her knowledge of all subject matter was seldom matched during committee meetings with military and political leaders from around the world. In addition to her mental and physical assets she was a lady in every respect of the word.

In 1992 I heard that the lady from Maine wasn't feeling well. I called her at home in Skowhegan, and she answered the phone. When telling her how we first met she said, "Oh, I remember you. You were that schoolteacher from Nevada." I was shocked but so pleased that she even remembered me. She died at home three years later at the age of 97.

Sherman reminds readers that the senator was a tower of strength as a Cold War combatant. No other American carried the torch against communism with equal fortitude and strength. She insisted on a strong military presence here and abroad. At the same time she was willing to take on windbags in her own party like Sen. Joe McCarthy. McCarthy had frightened officeholders across this nation, but his smear tactics failed to impress the senator from Maine.

MCS didn't spare the Democrats she believed were fouling up the works and, in a speech aimed at McCarthy, she made this clear. She challenged the lack of Democratic leadership and added, "... Yet to displace it with a Republican regime embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to this nation. The nation sorely needs a Republican victory. But I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny -- Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear."

When rumors were flying that she might run for vice president her humor surfaced. Sherman recalls when NBC commentator Robert Trout asked her, "What would you do, Sen. Smith, if you woke up some morning in the White House?" She answered, "I think I'd go right to Mrs. Truman, apologize, and go right home."

I was there late at night when her vote against President Eisenhower's Commerce secretary nominee, Lewis L. Strauss, decided his fate. It also brought a loud outburst from fellow Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater.

Sherman writes, "Finally, shortly after midnight, Vice President Nixon took over the presiding officer's chair, ready to cast his vote for Strauss in case of a tie. As the roll was called, the votes tallied as anticipated: then an expectant hush as the clerk called Smith. 'No,' she said firmly. Her colleagues gasped, and Goldwater hit his desk with his fist, exploding, 'Goddamn!' He added a muttered, 'She won't get a damn nickel.' The reference was to his control of campaign funds dispersed by the Senatorial Campaign Committee which he chaired; Smith was up for re-election in 1960."

She also voted to deprive movie star and real-life war hero Jimmy Stewart of his star as a reserve general. She pointed out that, as a reserve officer, he wasn't keeping up on his training requirements. No matter how much pressure was exerted she kept the star from Stewart's shoulders until he fulfilled the requirements at a later date.

Stewart was also a friend of Goldwater's. In 1992 I called Barry and told him of my conversation with MCS and suggested he might want to give her a call. I don't know if he did, but his memories of the lady, once a burr under his saddle, were warm and complimentary. He truly valued her as a colleague and her opposition to him as a GOP presidential candidate in the 1964 primaries didn't even surface in our conversation. Sherman's book reminded me of some history I've lived and told me about much more than I knew was taking place during those years. "No Place For A Woman" is the kind of book you can't set down after opening its covers. Her actions in Iran and composure when her aircraft was in serious danger are but a few of the lively stories in the book.

The women gathering tomorrow for their summit at the Riviera Hotel should think about what Secretary of Defense and former Sen. William Cohen, when speaking about Sen. Smith, said: "An ancient Chinese proverb that says, 'When drinking the water, don't forget who dug the well.' We are carrying on a great tradition which she helped us to create. We are all drinking from the well of independence she helped dig."