Inspired by Jane Addams, Jeannette Rankin committed herself to a life of social and political action. Soon, she got a new, daring idea: she would run for political office. After a vigorous struggle, in 1917, she joined the House of Representatives as representative of her home state Montana, the first woman ever elected to Congress. The glory was short-lived; soon the President asked Congress to make a declaration of war. Jeanette, along with six senators, voted against entry into World War I, a decision that brought ridicule from the press and cost her the seat in the House. In March of 1941, she won a place in the House of Representatives once again; once again, she was asked to support a declaration of war; and once again she said "no." As the sole dissenting vote in all of Congress, she was reviled for her stand: "I vote no. As a woman I cannot go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else." When her term ended in 1943, she returned to Montana for a time, then for the next twenty years she traveled the world working as a pacifist and social activist.

A biography of the first woman elected to Congress, who spent the 92 years of her life as a leader for woman suffrage, a lobbyist, and a social reformer.