BETHEL — The life and political career of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith will be the featured topic of the Bethel Historical Society’s 2011 Women’s History Month event.

Society Associate Director Stanley R. Howe will lead a discussion of the various biographies that have been written about her and assess her role as a national figure from Skowhegan.

The program will be held in the Dr. Moses Mason House exhibit hall, 14 Broad St., at 2 p.m. Saturday, March26. The event is free and open to all.

The program will feature a number of visual presentations about the first woman elected to both houses of Congress and the first female to be nominated for U.S. president at a major political party’s nominating convention.

There will also be a discussion of her record, focusing on many of the issues she dealt with in her 32 years serving as a representative and later senator from Maine. Of special interest during her outstanding career was the political courage she exemplified in standing up to the smear tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin in 1950 with her famed “Declaration of Conscience.”

For more information call 824-2908 or 800-824-2910 or e-mail [email protected].