On this day: March 4
POSTED: 08:46 AM PDT Mar 11, 2013
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PST Mar 03, 2013
The U.S. Constitution goes into effect, FDR reassures the nation, John Lennon gets into a popularity contest with Jesus, and Martha Stewart gets out of prison, all on this day.
Public domain
1917: Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives. A Republican and a lifelong pacifist, she was one of the 50 members of Congress who voted against the entry of the United States into World War I in 1917 and, after being elected again in 1940, the only member of Congress who voted against declaring war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
