SCOUTING YESTERDAY: South Dakota wants U.S. to remember it sent first woman to Senate, not Maine

This week in South Dakota history: Aug. 23-29

S.D. Sen. Gladys Pyle (Wikimedia)

South Dakota’s most noteworthy trailblazer following the end of suffrage was back in the spotlight for her distinction as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, a decade after earning that irrevocable acclaim.

In an effort they said was not to take credit away but instead set the record straight, South Dakota Republicans point out that former Sen. Gladys Pyle was, in fact, the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate — without being previously appointed to the position.

The Lead Daily Call reports on Aug. 26, 1948, that the expected election of Republican Rep. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine to the Senate was not going to be the first election of its kind or even the first of its kind for the party.

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