The first female U.S. Senator, appointed in 1922 and serving for only one honorary day, was called Senator, and was acclaimed as a "former Senator" until she died in 1930.

Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia had a remarkable life. Born in 1835, she married at age 18 and had five children. She survived the U.S. Civil War in Georgia and supported her husband when he was elected to Congress a few times. She managed his campaigns and conducted stump speeches for him.

After he died in 1909, she served as a delegate to the Bull Moose convention that nominated Theodore Roosevelt for a third term.

She ran her family's business, fought the Klu Klux Klan, pushed for women's suffrage, and in general was a remarkably progressive woman for her time.

The first woman to be elected to the office was Hattie Caraway, Democrat of Arkansas, who was at first appointed to fill the seat left by the death of her husband. She was then elected to a term of her own in 1932, at a time when the House of Representatives had nine women among its ranks.