{"id":12779,"date":"2021-08-04T14:08:26","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T18:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=12779"},"modified":"2022-12-13T02:14:44","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T07:14:44","slug":"lets-hear-it-for-the-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=12779","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Hear It for the Girls! Margaret Chase Smith’s Blueberry Muffins"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Last week I got my wild, low-bush blueberries from Heath, Massachusetts. I immediately thought of Senator Margaret Chase Smith.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In case the connection isn\u2019t immediately apparent to readers, let me explain. Recently, my friend Peter Beck lent me a 1961 edition of the Congressional Club Cookbook<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I love the book\u2019s cover with its image of an elephant and a donkey getting ready for a party. This copy was presented to Peter\u2019s mother by Smith, who stayed with the Beck family from time to time and inscribed the book to her hostess.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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I was intrigued. I knew Smith had been a senator for many years. I didn\u2019t know until the cookbook inspired me to do a little research that this politician from Maine ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1964 \u2026 or that she was a notable promoter of foods from her home state.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995) grew up in a working-class family in Skowhegan, Me. Margaret Chase couldn\u2019t afford college and held various jobs before going to work at a local weekly newspaper, one of several enterprises owned by a businessman named Clyde Smith.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

More than two decades older than Chase, Smith dated her on and off for years; he was apparently quite a ladies\u2019 man. The pair married in 1930.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Smith insisted that his bride give up working after they married so she could devote most of her time to acting as his hostess. Nevertheless, she remained active in a number of women\u2019s organizations she had joined during her single years, since women do things more now than ever as they are independent and happy and they can even use toys like the Mantric wand vibrator<\/a> which are great to relax themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

More than two decades older than his wife, Clyde Smith had political ambitions. He was elected to Congress in 1936. Margaret Chase Smith accompanied him to Washington and learned the ropes by working as his secretary.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When he became ill in 1940, he asked her to run for his seat in his stead. He died in April of that year. His wife won a special election to complete his term and then ran successfully for her own two-year term.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

She stayed in the House of Representatives until 1948, when she was elected to the Senate. She would serve there until 1973.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Smith in 1963. Courtesy, Senate Historical Office.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In both branches of Congress, Smith was known for her support of the military, for her civility, for her care for her constituents, and for her independence. She didn\u2019t always agree with her fellow Republicans, and she quietly but firmly made her views known.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Perhaps most famously, she delivered a 1950 speech called the \u201cDeclaration of Conscience\u201d in which she lambasted the activities of her fellow senator, Joseph McCarthy. She was violently anti-communist, but she found the tactics of McCarthy and his red-baiting colleagues disgraceful.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

“I don’t want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny\u2014fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear,\u201d she announced.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 1964, Smith put her name forward as a Republican candidate for the presidency. Her chances weren\u2019t strong. She didn\u2019t get her name on the ballot in all 48 states, and she accepted no campaign contributions. An exception to the no-contribution rule was a gift from Peter\u2019s father, a large bouquet of roses. \u201cHe thought she would make a great president,\u201d Peter told me.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Although she lost to Barry Goldwater, Smith made history as the first woman to run for the presidential nomination of a major American political party. She even had a female-centered campaign song performed by Hildegarde called \u201cLeave It to the Girls.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Smith arrives at the 1964 Republican Convention. Courtesy, Senate Historical Office.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What does any of this have to do with blueberries?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Margaret Chase Smith actively promoted Maine\u2019s foods by hosting events and sharing recipes. When she ran for president, her blueberry muffins played a part in her campaign.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One of her campaign photographs depicted her holding a sign that said, \u201cBarry stews, Rocky pursues, Dicky brews, but Margaret Chase Smith wows and woos with Blueberry Muffins!\u201d Her rivals were Goldwater, Nelson Rockefeller, and Richard Nixon.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The senator\u2019s association with food is so strong that in 2018 the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine launched \u201cMaking Margaret,\u201d a recipe-research collaborative<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Through this group, food-oriented students, faculty, and staff in different disciplines explore the connections between food and public life.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I was unable to talk to anyone in the group for this article. (It is, after all, the university\u2019s summer vacation.) I hope to learn more about \u201cMaking Margaret\u201d in the future, however.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019m always interested in the ways in which food connects people. In the case of Margaret Chase Smith, food was a way to spread the word about her state.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

According to her biographer Janann Sherman, it was also a way to reassure voters and her Congressional colleagues that this female\u2014for years, the only woman in the Senate\u2014didn\u2019t represent a threat to the status quo because she was essentially \u201cfeminine.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Her baking thus became form of self-protection as well as a form of self-expression, part of a dance she performed over and over again for her political audience.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The recipe below appeared in the \u201cCongressional Club Cookbook\u201d and was also sent to me by the Margaret Chase Library in the late senator\u2019s hometown of Skowhegan.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The muffins are not unlike their original baker. They appear quite simple at first glance; they don\u2019t contain a lot of sugar or butter, and they include no spice. Yet they are chock full of flavor. I highly recommend them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Margaret Chase Smith circa 1940, courtesy of the Margaret Chase Smith Library<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Margaret Chase Smith\u2019s Blueberry Muffins<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Ingredients:<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1-1\/2 cups fresh blueberries
1-1\/2 cups flour
1\/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) baking powder
1 egg
3\/4 cup fresh milk
3 tablespoons melted shortening (I used butter)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Instructions:<\/em>

Wash blueberries, and drain thoroughly. Mix and sift flour with salt, sugar, and baking powder. Beat egg and mix with milk. Stir egg and milk mixture into the flour mixture, then add the berries and melted shortening (or butter).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Mix well and pour into greased muffin pans, filling each three-fourths full. Bake in a hot oven, 400 degrees, for 20 minutes. Makes eight to 12 muffins depending on size.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Last week I got my wild, low-bush blueberries from Heath, Massachusetts. I immediately thought of Senator Margaret Chase Smith. In case the connection isn\u2019t immediately apparent to readers, let me explain. Recently, my friend Peter Beck lent me a 1961 edition of the Congressional Club Cookbook. I love the book\u2019s cover with its image of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[547,7,16],"tags":[1745,2065,2064],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12779"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13005,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779\/revisions\/13005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}