Hattie Wyatt Caraway served for 14 years in the U.S. Senate and established a number of firsts. She was the first woman elected to serve a full term as a United States senator, the first woman to chair a Senate committee in 1933, and the first woman to preside officially over the Senate in 1943.
Hattie Wyatt grew up in Bakerville, Tennessee, and in nearby Hustburg. Her family was impoverished, but the generosity of a wealthy aunt allowed her to receive an education at Dickson (Tennessee) Normal College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts. While there, she met and married Thaddeus H. Caraway, who subsequently became a congressman and then a U.S. senator for Arkansas.
In 1931, Thaddeus died and Carraway was appointed by the governor to fill her husband’s seat until a special election could be held, which was customary at that time. She won the special election in January 1932 with the backing of the Democratic Party of Arkansas, thus becoming the first woman elected to the Senate.
Then, in May 1932, Caraway shocked Arkansans and her six male contenders by announcing her candidacy for re-election for a full term. She was considered a long shot for the general election that included a popular former governor and former U.S. senator. Caraway, however, had an important ally: her husband’s friend and political boss, the former Louisiana Governor and recently-elected senator, Huey Long.
Carraway supported Long’s efforts to limit incomes of the wealthy and increase aid to the poor. and Long wanted to prove his popularity outside his home state by campaigning in the state of his chief rival. The highly publicized "Hattie and Huey" tour through Arkansas lasted seven days and resulted in a landslide victory for Caraway. She won nearly twice as many votes as her closest opponent.
Carraway won again in 1938, becoming not only the first woman to be elected to the Senate, but also the first to be re-elected. She became known as “Silent Hattie” because she spoke on the floor just 15 times in her career. Her cheeky wit explained her tendency to avoid speeches. “I haven’t the heart to take a minute away from the men. The poor dears love it so,” she said.