Whereas Jeannette Pickering Rankin was born June 11, 1880, near Missoula, Montana; Whereas Jeannette Rankin studied at Montana State University, the New York School of Philanthropy, and the University of Washington; Whereas Jeannette Rankin began her work in public service as a social worker and member of the women’s suffrage movement, successfully campaigning to achieve suffrage for women in Washington and Montana; Whereas Jeannette Rankin successfully ran as a Republican and secured one of Montana’s two at-large congressional seats on November 7, 1916; Whereas Jeannette Rankin became the first woman to serve in the United States House of Representatives upon taking the oath of office on April 2, 1917, as a Member of the 65th Congress (1917–1919); Whereas upon her election to Congress in 1916, Jeannette Rankin declared, I may be the first woman in Congress, but I won’t be the last. , setting an example for American women; Whereas Jeannette Rankin served an instrumental role in the fight for women’s suffrage by serving on the House Committee on Woman Suffrage and opening the first House floor debate on women’s right to vote in 1918; Whereas in her two terms as a Member of Congress, Jeannette Rankin served on the House Committee on Insular Affairs and House Committee on Public Lands and worked to address western and environmental issues; Whereas Jeannette Rankin made history as the only Member of Congress to vote against the involvement of the United States in both World War I and World War II, standing firmly behind her pacifist convictions; Whereas Jeannette Rankin continued to advocate for women and world peace beyond her service in Congress by attending the Women’s International Conference for Permanent Peace in 1919, joining the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, founding the Georgia Pearce Society, lobbying on the behalf of the National Council on the Prevention of War, and advocating for nonviolence and peace during the Vietnam war