Editing Jeannette Rankin (section)

===Second congressional term===
[[File:Miss Janette (i.e., Jeannette) Rankin LCCN2016821746.jpg|thumb|Jeannette Rankin]]
Rankin began her campaign for Congress in 1939 with a tour of high schools in Montana. She arranged to speak in 52 of the first congressional district's 56 high schools to reestablish her ties to the region after years of spending much of her time in Georgia. Once again, Rankin enjoyed the political support of her well connected brother Wellington, even though the siblings had increasingly divergent lifestyles and political views.{{sfnp|Smith|2002|pp=172–174}}

In the 1940 race, Rankin—at age 60—defeated incumbent [[Jacob Thorkelson]], an outspoken [[antisemite]], in the July primary,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/08/the-only-u-s-politician-to-vote-against-war-with-japan-75-years-ago-was-this-remarkable-woman/|title=The only U.S. politician to vote against war with Japan 75 years ago was this remarkable woman|last=Tharoor|first=Ishaan|date=December 8, 2016|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|language=en|access-date=March 5, 2019}}</ref> and former Representative [[Jerry J. O'Connell]] in the general election.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19401108&id=vUhTAAAAIBAJ&pg=1529,2128472&hl=en | title=Jeannette Rankin returns to House | newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |date=November 8, 1940 |access-date=October 5, 2015}}</ref> She was appointed to the [[United States House Committee on Natural Resources|Committee on Public Lands]] and the [[United States House Committee on Insular Affairs|Committee on Insular Affairs]]. While members of Congress and their constituents had been debating the question of U.S. intervention in World War II for months, the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] on December 7, 1941, galvanized the country and silenced virtually all opposition.<ref name="smith" />

On December 8, Rankin was the only member of either chamber of Congress to vote against the [[United States declaration of war upon Japan|declaration of war on Japan]].<ref>{{citation|title=U.S. Declares War, Pacific Battle Widens|date=December 8, 1941|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1208.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|series=On This Day|quote=Unity in Congress; Only One Negative Vote as President Calls to War and Victory}}</ref> Hisses could be heard in the gallery as she cast her vote; several colleagues, including Rep. (later Senator) [[Everett Dirksen]], asked her to change it to make the resolution unanimous—or at very least, to abstain—but she refused. "As a woman I can't go to war," she said, "and I refuse to send anyone else."<ref name=montana>{{cite web |url=http://www.greatfallstribune.com/multimedia/125newsmakers6/rankin.html |title=Jeannette Rankin |work=125 Montana Newsmakers |publisher=Great Falls Tribune |access-date=January 10, 2013 |archive-date=January 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117054445/http://www.greatfallstribune.com/multimedia/125newsmakers6/rankin.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After the vote, a crowd of reporters pursued Rankin into a cloakroom. There, she was forced to take refuge in a phone booth until [[United States Capitol Police|Capitol Police]] arrived to escort her to her office,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19411209&id=dDBQAAAAIBAJ&pg=7042,2471769&hl=en |title=Miss Rankin is lone dissenter in war vote |newspaper=[[Milwaukee Sentinel]] |date=December 9, 1941 |access-date=October 5, 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Wyckoff |first=Whitney Blair |date=May 18, 2011 |title=The First Woman in Congress: A Crusader For Peace |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/07/14/135521203/the-first-woman-in-congress-a-crusader-for-peace |newspaper=[[NPR]] |access-date=October 6, 2015}}</ref> where she was inundated with angry telegrams and phone calls. One cable from her brother read, "Montana is 100 percent against you."{{sfnp|Shirley|1995|p=105}} A [[News agency|wire-service]] photo of Rankin sequestered in the phone booth, calling for assistance, appeared the following day in newspapers across the country.{{sfnp|O'Brien|1995|p=16}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/timeline/image/capitol-phone-booth-jeannette-rankin-calls-assistance-following-her-vote|title=Jeannette Rankin Votes for Peace 1917, 1941|publisher=[[Architect of the Capitol]]|date=December 8, 1941|access-date=September 14, 2022|quote=In a Capitol phone booth, Jeannette Rankin calls for assistance following her vote against war on December 8, 1941.|archive-date=September 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914190057/https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/timeline/image/capitol-phone-booth-jeannette-rankin-calls-assistance-following-her-vote|url-status=dead}}</ref>

While her action was widely ridiculed in the press, Progressive leader [[William Allen White]], writing in the Kansas ''[[Emporia Gazette]]'', acknowledged her courage in taking it:
<blockquote> Probably a hundred men in Congress would have liked to do what she did. Not one of them had the courage to do it. The ''Gazette'' entirely disagrees with the wisdom of her position. But Lord, it was a brave thing! And its bravery someway discounted its folly. When, in a hundred years from now, courage, sheer courage based upon moral indignation is celebrated in this country, the name of Jeannette Rankin, who stood firm in folly for her faith, will be written in monumental bronze– not for what she did but for the way she did it.<ref>{{Cite news |last=White |first=William Allen |date=December 10, 1941 |title=Jeannette Rankin |pages=2 |work=[[The Emporia Gazette]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122321853/jeannette-rankin/ |access-date=April 5, 2023 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>{{sfnp|Shirley|1995|pp=105–106}}</blockquote>

Three days later, a similar war declaration against Germany and Italy came to a vote; Rankin abstained. With her political career effectively over, she did not run for reelection in 1942.{{sfnp|Alter|1999|pp=153–157}} Asked years later if she ever regretted her action, Rankin replied, "Never. If you're against war, you're against war regardless of what happens. It's a wrong method of trying to settle a dispute."{{sfnp|O'Brien|1995|p=17}}<ref>{{Citation |last= |first= |title=A Vote Against Entering WWII (1941) |date=December 12, 2021 |url=https://player.fm/episodes/314235551 |work=player.fm |access-date=December 13, 2021 |language=}}</ref> John F. Kennedy would write about Rankin's decisions, "Few members of Congress have ever stood more alone while being true to a higher honor and loyalty."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Snapshots |first=Historical |date=April 5, 2021 |title=Jeannette Rankin: a snapshot biography |url=https://historicalsnaps.com/2021/04/05/a-snapshot-biography-of-jeannette-rankin/ |access-date=April 14, 2023 |website=Historical Snapshots |language=en-US}}</ref>