Governor LePage Proclaims December 14, 2018 Margaret Chase Smith Day

December 14, 2018

WHEREAS, Margaret Chase Smith was born in Skowhegan in 1897 and proudly served her home state for many years; and

WHEREAS, in 1948 Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman in the history of our country to be elected to the United States Senate in her own right and this election also marked the first time that a woman had been elected to both houses of Congress; and

WHEREAS, in 1950 Margaret Chase Smith delivered one of the twentieth century’s most bold and important political speeches with her “Declaration of Conscience” against the extreme actions of McCarthyism in Maine; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman from wither of the two major political parties to have her name placed in nomination for the presidency of the United States in 1964; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Chase Smith’s legacy to the State of Maine as a result of her over thirty years of service in the United States Congress lives on at the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, PAUL R. LEPAGE, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim December 14, 2018 as MARGARET CHASE SMITH DAY throughout the State of Maine, and urge all citizens to recognize this observance.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this third day of December Two-Thousand Eighteen

Paul R. LePage
Governor