We Need a Heckler!

Margaret Heckler was many things during her long career: lawyer, Rockefeller - or moderate - Republican, Congresswoman, devout Catholic, trailblazer, Cabinet Secretary, pragmatist, Ambassador, feminist, wife, mother, and certainly a “heckler.” She earned a law degree and entered politics during a time when those fields were male-dominated, believing that women belonged anywhere decisions were made. Her career is a story of firsts. Elected to eight terms in Congress, she championed women’s rights, served as the nation’s health secretary during the rise of the AIDS epidemic, and ended her career as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, the land of her parents’ birth.

Born Margaret Mary O’Shaughnessy in Flushing, New York in 1931 to Irish immigrant parents, she attended Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut. Her first taste of politics came while running for Speaker of the House for the Connecticut Intercollegiate Student Legislature. John M. Heckler, her future husband, managed her winning campaign, and she was the first woman to hold the office. After graduation, she and John married and went to law school, John at Harvard and Margaret at Boston College. She graduated from BC Law School in 1956, the only woman to graduate that year. After facing discrimination while applying to jobs at leading Boston law firms, Heckler went into private practice. The experience had a lasting effect on her, and she talked about it often during her career.

Margaret Heckler, candidate for Governor’s Council, and Edward W. Brooke, Republican candidate for Massachusetts Attorney General, 1962.

Box 128, Folder 2, Margaret Heckler papers, CA1998-004

‘Let’s Keep a ‘Heckler’ on the Governor’s Council’ campaign card, 1964.

Box 1, Folder 5, Margaret Heckler papers, CA1998-004

Heckler joined the Republican Committee in Wellesley, where she and John were raising their three children. Then, in 1962, she ran for Governor’s Council, an eight-person elected advisory body to the governor, responsible for approving gubernatorial appointments and pardons. Once again, John Heckler managed her successful campaign, with the slogan “We Need a Heckler on the Governor’s Council!,” and she was elected as the only Republican and only woman on the Council. She ran successfully for reelection in 1964, and then set her sights on higher office. This exhibit tells the story of Margaret Heckler’s wide-ranging political career, fueled by her seemingly boundless energy and unwavering commitment to achieving equality under the law for all Americans.
We Need a Heckler in Congress!