Hope and Fear in Margaret Chase Smith's America

Hope and Fear in Margaret Chase Smith's America: A Continuous Tangle provides a fresh interpretation of the life, career, and legacy of former United States Senator Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman elected to both houses of the U.S. Congress. The book examines the critical connections made by Smith to key policymakers, links that allowed her to overcome opposition and prejudice to gain access, influence, and power in Washington, D.C. Highlighting the tangle of personalities and events in America from 1940 to 1972, the book focuses on Smith’s courageous and often solitary efforts on behalf of women during the 1940s, and her stand during the McCarthy era which earned her a national reputation for civility in public discourse. It also examines her key interactions with the group of U.S. Senators who were elected with her in 1948 and their work to forge public policy in the aftermath of McCarthyism, including domestic and international policy following Sputnik, the creation of the Space Program, civil rights, Vietnam, and Medicare. Against these events and activities, the book demonstrates the impact of the nation’s commitment to anticommunism and nuclear weapons which allowed politicians like Margaret Chase Smith to embrace contradictory stances on political dissent, military policy, and the role of government in American society.

Dr. Gallant has skillfully integrated 20th century social and political history by placing Margaret Chase Smith’s sometimes difficult life and career in the context of strong personalities and critical events. A fascinating look at how Washington worked and how Smith, collaborated with, and alternately opposed, the great egos of the capitol city., Very few people have had the opportunity to spend so much of their professional career in the study of Margaret Chase Smith as has Gregory Gallant. His depth of knowledge comes through in his new autobiography of "The Red Rose of Skowhegan". His research is painstakingly thorough, and offers a remarkably candid view of this trailblazing senator. Smith is a more complex figure than some realize, and Gallant's work illustrates this well. The book is also notable and useful  for its discussion of Cold War American politics and of the notable Senate Class of 1948. , Hope and Fear in Margaret Chase Smith’s America tells a thorough and highly informative story about Margaret Chase Smith and her centrality in twentieth-century U.S. politics. Gallant does an impressive job placing her in the context of many of the most seminal moments of the early Cold War, and is particularly adept at weaving the local history of her home state into the story.

Gregory Peter Gallant served for more than twenty-four years as director of the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, Maine, where he worked closely with Senator Smith for more than a decade.