June 1, 2004, will mark the 44th anniversary of Margaret Chase Smith’s maiden – and most important – speech to the United States Senate. She was the first woman ever directly elected to that body in her own right without having filled a previous term of a senator husband.

Much has been written about Margaret Chase Smith’s powerful and courageous “Declaration of Conscience” speech during which she stood up to the witch-hunt tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy as well as the inherent intolerance of the communist ideology. Her words, written almost five decades ago, have power and impact even today:

“As a United States Senator, I am not proud of the way in which the Senate has been made a publicity platform for irresponsible sensationalism. I am not proud of the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled from this side of the aisle.

“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.

“As an American, I condemn a Republican fascist’ just as much as I condemn a Democrat communist.’ I condemn a Democrat fascist’ just as much as I condemn a Republican communist.’ They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country.”

But not all accounts underscore the incredible hold Sen. McCarthy had over the political system at the time.

Not only were Senate Republicans and Democrats paralyzed with fear, Gen. Eisenhower and other prominent Republicans were afraid of McCarthy and did nothing to stop his febrile anti-communist smears until long after Margaret stepped forward. And President Harry S. Truman, usually so feisty and combative, hung back in a diffident, almost shy fashion.

Nearly alone, Margaret stood up to McCarthy in 1950 and the communist ideology she also abhorred. An interesting footnote to history: While six other moderate Republican senators originally signed onto her resolution before she gave her speech, within weeks, only one other – Sen. Wayne Morse of Oregon – had not withdrawn his name after a McCarthy-inspired backlash began. All the others fled the political battlefield with their tails between their legs.

Contemporary reaction to her speech varied widely. She received nationwide attention and a great deal of praise.

Bernard Baruch, for example, said that if a man had made that speech, he would be the next president of the United States. But many conservatives attacked her personally; and in Maine, while most editorial comment was positive, Guy Gannett and his newspaper said it had done more harm than good.

Moreover, the Republican leadership in the Senate punished her with poor committee assignments, and McCarthy even induced a senate staffer and former aide to Maine’s previous Republican senator, Owen Brewster, to run against her in the Republican primary of 1954. She won handily with 83 percent of the vote.

Margaret Chase Smith stood her ground and established herself firmly in the firmament of not only Maine, but U.S. politics as well. Her reputation for moderation, courage and independence grew over the years. Often on the outs with the Eisenhower White House, she voted her conscience and for all Americans over and over. In 1964, she became the first woman to have her name officially put into nomination for president.

All this for a woman born in 1897 who barely graduated from high school, rose from poverty through hard work and a strong will to serve her state for 32 years.

Her independent stances and personal following, as opposed to reliance on party regulars, changed the nature of Republican politics in the Pine Tree State. Stan Tupper, Bill Cohen, Dave Emery and Jock McKernan all followed her model in relying on their own organizations rather than the Republican State Committee. Mert Henry, old enough to have been the leader of Youth for Margaret Chase Smith (1948) and young enough to have headed up the senatorial campaign of Susan Collins (1996), put it succinctly: “If only the Republican State Committee had voted, Margaret would never have been elected to anything.”

Although at age 75, she was eventually to lose to Congressman Bill Hathaway in 1972, her legacy endures today as both U.S. senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, have modeled their careers after her.

They stand, as she did, for integrity, feistiness and independence, neither of them afraid to tangle with the presidents of their own party when they believe principle or Maine priorities are at stake.

Margaret’s political shadow remains long, positive, inspiring and worthy of emulation. Although she was something of an anti-feminist feminist (and in my judgment, all the more interesting and effective for that ironic juxtaposition), all women and men in Maine politics owe her homage for being the trailblazer she was.

More than any other figure in modern Maine politics, Margaret Chase Smith set the independent standard against which all major political figures are still measured in the Pine Tree State.

Chris Potholm is professor of government at Bowdoin College, president of a national polling company and a writer, analyst and speaker on Maine’s political scene. He can be reached at The Potholm Group, 182 Hildreth Road, Harpswell, Maine 04079 or by e-mail at [email protected].