Category: Mary Louise Smith Chair

Nancy Kassebaum Baker
Nancy Kassebaum Baker


Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker represented Kansas in the U.S. Senate from 1978 to 1997. She was the first woman to represent Kansas in the U.S. Senate and the first woman to chair a major U.S. Senate committee (Labor and Human Resources). Baker was born in Topeka, Kansas, on July 29, 1932. Her father was Alf Landon, governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937 and the 1936 Republican nominee for president. She graduated from the University of Kansas in Lawrence with a B.A. in political science in 1954 and received a […]
Carol Moseley Braun
Carol Moseley Braun


Carol Moseley Braun served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 1993 to 1999. She was the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate (and the only one until Kamala Harris was elected to the Senate from California in 2016), and was the first female senator from Illinois. Moseley Braun was born on August 16, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in political science in 1969 and obtained her juris doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in […]
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton


Hillary Rodham Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president of the United States, the first women to be nominated for U.S. president on a major party ticket. She served as United States secretary of state from January 2009 to February 2013, United States senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, first lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, and first lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992. She is the only U.S. first lady to hold elective office and to serve in […]
Candy Crowley
Candy Crowley


Candy Crowley is a political correspondent. She was most recently the anchor of CNN's "State of the Union with Candy Crowley," a political hour of newsmaker interviews and weekly analysis. On Oct 16, 2012, she was the first woman in two decades to moderate a nationally broadcast presidential debate. Crowley was born December 26, 1948 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. Crowley began her broadcast journalism career in Washington, DC, as a newsroom assistant for Metromedia radio station WASH. […]
Elizabeth Dole
Elizabeth Dole


Elizabeth Dole served as a U.S. senator for North Carolina from 2003 to 2009, as U.S. secretary of labor under President George H.W. Bush, and as U.S. secretary of transportation under President Reagan. Dole was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, on July 29, 1936. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Duke University in 1958, a Master of Arts degree in education and government from Harvard University in 1960 and a Harvard law degree in 1965. From 1969 to 1973, Dole served as deputy assistant to […]
Carly Fiorina
Carly Fiorina


Carly Fiorina is a business executive who was a Republican candidate in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. She served as chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005, the first woman to lead a Fortune 50 business. Fiorina was born September 6, 1954, in Austin, Texas. She received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and medieval history from Stanford University in 1976. In 1980, she earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland, and in 1989, she earned a Master of Science in business from the […]
Karen Hughes
Karen Hughes


Karen Hughes served as the under-secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs in the U.S. Department of State from 2005 to 2007. Hughes was born on December 27, 1956, in Paris, France, to American parents Patricia and Harold Parfitt, the last U.S. governor of the Panama Canal Zone. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in journalism from Southern Methodist University in 1977. She began her career as a television news reporter for KXAS-TV, the NBC affiliate in Dallas/Fort Worth. Prior […]
Gwen Ifill
Gwen Ifill


Gwen Ifill was moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week" and senior correspondent and co-anchor for "PBS NewsHour." She was also frequently asked to moderate debates in national elections, most recently the vice presidential debates during the 2008 and 2004 elections. Ifill joined both "Washington Week" and "NewsHour" in 1999, interviewing newsmakers and reporting on issues ranging from foreign affairs to politics. In 2009, "Washington Week with Gwen Ifill" was honored with the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award. In 2010, Ifill received the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award. Before coming […]
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Klobuchar


Amy Klobuchar assumed office as Minnesota's first female United States senator in January 2007. In February 2019, she announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. She suspended her campaign on March 2, 2020. Klobuchar was born May 25, 1960, in Plymouth, Minnesota. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in 1982 and completed her Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago Law School in 1985. In 1998, after serving as a partner at two of Minnesota's leading law firms, Klobuchar was elected as […]
Madeleine Kunin
Madeleine Kunin


Madeleine Kunin served as governor of Vermont from 1985-1991, the first and only woman to have served as governor of Vermont and the first Jewish governor of Vermont. Kunin was born on September 28, 1933, in Zurich, Switzerland, and moved to the United States as a child in 1940. She holds a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Massachusetts and a Master of Science from the Columbia School of Journalism. Before seeking elective office, she worked as a journalist and a college professor. Prior to serving as governor, […]