Just Go!

 

I was watching the Andy Griffith Show a few nights ago.  Sherriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife had taken their love interests, Ellie Walker and Hilda May, as well as Andy’s son, Opie and Aunt Bea for a picnic.  The group enjoyed a meal and pleasant conversation before some went for a walk while Andy and Ellie stayed behind to clean up.

Well, Ms. Walker started to clean up; Andy covered his face with a newspaper and lay down for a nap.

And that’s when Andy made a mistake…a big one.

——————————————

Most married men will admit to having made such a mistake.  You know, the kind where you say something stupid, then you try to apologize but say something stupider and the situation gets worse.

Yeah, me too.

——————————————

Ellie had glimpsed a notice of an election for town council on the newspaper covering Andy’s face.  She mentioned that no women were running.  Andy expressed confusion as to why any woman would run for that office…and then he stepped in it.

He said the very idea was, “silly.”

Yeah.

——————————————

Fans of the show will remember that Ellie (played by actress Elinor Donahue) was a beautiful, intelligent young lady who had moved to Mayberry to help her uncle run the town’s drugstore.  As a spirited, independent thinker, she didn’t automatically go along with the town’s traditions just because things had, “always been done that way.”

So, in part because of Andy’s scoffing, Ellie decided to run for the town council and Andy eventually saw the error in his thinking and supported her in her successful run.

——————————————

While watching the show, I found myself wondering why Jeannette Rankin decided to run for office.

——————————————

Jeannette Pickering Rankin was born in Missoula County, Montana to schoolteacher Olive Pickering and carpenter and rancher John Rankin.  As the oldest of six children on the ranch, she assumed the role of leader and “woman in charge”.  She didn’t accept limitations, driving forward to achieve what she felt needed to be done.

She helped maintain the ranch machinery, even once single-handedly constructed a wooden walkway for a building her father owned so that he could rent it out.  In an early journal, Jeannette wrote, “Go! Go!  It makes no difference where just so you go!  Go!  Go!  Remember at the first opportunity, go!”

Sounds a lot like, “You go, girl!” doesn’t it?  Well, at least I think so anyway.

——————————————

After high school…she went.  Rankin attended the University of Montana, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology.  She also explored such careers as dressmaking, furniture design, and teaching before dedicating herself to advocacy and politics.

According to Wikipedia, “At the age of 27, Rankin moved to San Francisco to take a job in social work.  Confident that she had found her calling, she enrolled in the New York School of Philanthropy in New York City (later part of Columbia University School of Social Work)… She then moved to Spokane, Washington, where, after briefly serving as a social worker, she attended the University of Washington.”

As I mentioned earlier, Jeannette dedicated herself to politics as a way to stand behind her beliefs, so it just makes sense that she began to consider a run for congress.

——————————————

Rankin’s campaign for one of Montana’s two at-large House seats in a congressional election was financed and managed by her brother Wellington, an influential member of the Montana Republican Party. The campaign involved traveling long distances to reach the state’s widely scattered population. Rankin rallied support at train stations, street corners, potluck suppers on ranches, and remote one-room schoolhouses. She was elected on November 7, by a margin of over 7,500 votes, to become the first female member of Congress.

That’s right, the first.

Among other things, she is noted for her strong pacifist beliefs.  During her time in Congress she voted against the United States entering both World Wars.

——————————————

Now, although her legacy rests almost entirely on her pacifism, Rankin told the Montana Constitutional Convention in 1972 that she would have preferred otherwise. “If I am remembered for no other act,” she said, “I want to be remembered as the only woman who ever voted to give women the right to vote.”

That’s right, on Nov. 7, 1916 Montana’s Jeannette Pickering Rankin was elected to the House of Representatives. She was the first woman ever elected to U.S. national office, four years before the 19^th Amendment was ratified giving women, including her, the right to vote in national elections.

——————————————

Yeah, you go, girl.

 

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE AT THE UPPER RIGHT.  IT’S FREE!

You will ONLY receive notifications when I post new entries to my blog.

Go to the top of the right hand column where it says, “SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG VIA EMAIL”.  Fill in your email and hit the “Subscribe” button.  You will receive a verification email.  Please confirm that you want to subscribe by clicking, “Confirm Follow” and you will be set!  Thanks!

It doesn’t seem to work from a cell phone, only a computer.  I don’t know why.  Sorry.  If there’s a problem, send me your email address and I’ll sign you up.