Known as a Firebrand, an orator, a socialite, and an activist, Millicent Fenwick broke down stereotypes and accomplished extraordinary feats, all in the trusted company of her favorite pipes. New Jersey's four-term Congresswoman, Fenwick was also referred to as the "pipe-smoking grandma," which irked her, likely because her peers (mostly men) smoked freely during the 1970s in chamber sessions and many had grandchildren, yet she was unfairly singled out simply for enjoying what her colleagues did.

In an interview from the Los Angeles Times upon retirement from public service in 1987, she said: "I was so hurt when I got to Congress. All the media would say was 'pipe-smoking grandmother.' And I would say 'For God's sake, hardworking grandmother, same number of syllables!' But I couldn't persuade them." Fenwick was first elected to the House when she was 64 and turned to pipe smoking after her doctor told her to cut down on cigarettes. She cheerfully embraced pipes and was known for her humor and quirkiness. The New York Times described her as "tall and patrician, but down-to-earth and pungent."

Millicent's Early Life

Born Millicent Hammond in New York City on February 25, 1910, into an upper-class family, she was raised in New Jersey. She would lose her mother, Mary Picton Stevens, five years later when a German U-boat torpedoed the British-owned steamship Lusitania. Her mother had been traveling to Paris to help create a hospital for victims of World War I. Her financier father, Ogden Haggerty Hammond, survived and later joined a class-action suit filed against the ship's company in 1918, for which each Hammond family member was compensated more than $60,000. She attended the Foxcroft School in Virginia but left to go to Spain with her father, where he was appointed as the United States' ambassador under President Calvin Coolidge in 1925. Her education continued in other forms, as she became multilingual, learning to speak Italian, French, and Spanish fluently.

Her father remarried to Marguerite McClure Howard, whom she never felt a close connection to. Upon her return to the United States at 19 years old, Millicent attended Columbia University and the New School for Social Research, yet she never earned a degree for any of her coursework.

When she was 21, she met Hugh Fenwick, who she married, and had her first child, a daughter named Mary, in 1934. By the time their second child, Hugo, was born, Millicent's marriage was deteriorating, with Hugh relocating to Europe and leaving behind the enormous debt he had accrued with the 1929 market crash, as well as his two children and wife. They divorced years later, in 1945, according to an article, "From Fashion Editor to Famous Representative: The Life of Millicent Fenwick," detailing Millicent's life in Historic America. Millicent was a statuesque, taller woman, standing at 5'10", and she briefly modeled for Harper's Bazaar before searching for a full-time, more permanent job to support herself and her children, as well as to pay off the debts left by her husband.

She cheerfully embraced pipes and was known for her humor and quirkiness.

She went to work at Vogue magazine as a caption editor in 1938, where she rose up the ranks, eventually becoming the war editor, writing features focusing on the war at home and abroad after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Her time spent writing and editing catapulted her desire to be involved in politics. "Hitler started me into politics; when I became aware of what he was doing to people, I fired up," she stated, according to the article from Historic America.

During that time, the socialite wrote Vogue's Book of Etiquette, which sold a million copies. By 1952, Millicent had retired from working at Vogue, inheriting enough to comfortably support herself and her children.

Illustrious Political Career

The book Women in Congress, 1917-2006 sheds light on Fenwick's political career. She joined the National Conference of Christians and Jews, where she attempted to counter anti-Semitic propaganda in the U.S.. She served on the board of education at Bernardsville, New Jersey, from 1938 to 1947, as well as supporting presidential candidate Wendell Willkie and Republican Senate candidate Clifford Case throughout those years and into the 1950s. She was involved in the Civil Rights movement and took part in both local and state politics in N.J. throughout the '50s and '60s, joining the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She was a member of the Bernardsville borough council from 1958 to 1964, also serving on the N.J. committee in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1958 to 1972.

Her time spent writing and editing catapulted her desire to be involved in politics.

At the age of 59, Fenwick's first campaign for state office won her a seat in the N.J. General Assembly in 1970, representing Morris County. She served for several years in this capacity before resigning from the General Assembly in 1972 to serve as the state's director of consumer affairs, appointed by Governor William Thomas Cahill. She worked to restrict auto dealers' misleading advertising, as well as requiring funeral homes to offer itemization of bills in advance of services, according to Women in Congress.

The fiery Republican also worked toward campaign finance reform, helped advance the rights of women and minorities, and advocated for consumer protection laws for the poor. She was said to have influenced Garry Trudeau's cartoon character Lacey Davenport in Doonesbury, who was a fiscal conservative with a liberal character.

Her sense of humor and wit shined in Congress. For example, while debating the Equal Rights Amendment in Congress, a male colleague stated, "I just don't like this amendment. I've always thought of women as kissable, cuddly and smelling good." Fenwick countered that comment with: "That's the way I feel about men, too. I only hope for your sake that you haven't been disappointed as often as I have," according to Women in Congress.

The fiery Republican also worked toward campaign finance reform, helped advance the rights of women and minorities, and advocated for consumer protection laws for the poor.

Fenwick was a part of the third generation of women in Congress, and significantly, 14 of these women served in state legislatures, meaning that women elected with legislative experience outnumbered women who were elected as widows. She described this experience in service in the state legislature as an invaluable introduction to parliamentary procedure and the legislative process within Women in Congress: "I felt like a fish in just the right temperature of water, learning where the currents were and how to move with them when you wanted to get things done," she stated.

Her career took off even further in 1974. That year, she won a seat in the 5th district of New Jersey for the 94th Congress. "...her career went far beyond just the state of New Jersey and beyond likely what she ever imagined she could do as a woman without a high school diploma," according to Historic America. The news referred to this feat as a "geriatric triumph" as she was 64 when elected, though by today's standards, she would be fairly young in Congress.

Representative Fenwick served in the 94th-97th congresses, in office from 1975 through 1983. She reportedly voted against her Republican colleagues nearly half of the time, at 48%. "She fought for civil rights, peace in Vietnam, gun control, and prison reforms," according to Historic America.

I felt like a fish in just the right temperature of water, learning where the currents were and how to move with them when you wanted to get things done

Pipe-Smoking Politician

Fenwick's pipe smoking, while garnering unwanted and unwarranted attention only because she was female, became part of her cultural identity. In Amy Shapiro's biography, Millicent Fenwick: Her Way (2003), she is quoted on the subject:

Fenwick said, "I took up pipe-smoking when my seventh grandchild [Hugh Wyatt Fenwick, born in 1966] was born and I thought I had reached the age when my conduct would not scandalize society." Before starting to smoke a pipe, Fenwick was a serial cigarette smoker, consuming a pack a day. She often puffed on long, dainty cigarettes, using a cigarette holder and never putting the cigarette in her mouth. She switched from cigarettes to pipes after the doctor advised her, for health reasons, to stop smoking cigarettes. She took him literally, and the pipe became her new vice.

Her pipe smoking was not even close to being a political stunt, but something she legitimately enjoyed. Shapiro provides another mention of Fenwick's pipe in a description of her appearance and comportment:

The best information on Fenwick's pipes is in an article by Bruce Harris, published in Pipes and tobaccos magazine's Winter 2006 edition:

Shapiro tells Harris that, "A second pipe that Millicent Fenwick smoked even more was a Bewlay from England." A third specific pipe is "a Kiko Tanganyika 196 with an elephant on the stem." However, "it doesn't appear that this pipe was ever used."

Her pipe smoking was not even close to being a political stunt, but something she legitimately enjoyed.

The Conscience of Congress

Fenwick did not spend large amounts on her pipes, or on anything in her life; she was known to be very conservative with her spending, despite being a multimillionaire. For example, she drove a used Chevrolet and was especially known for being careful with the money of her constituents. She was appalled by the sums spent for legislators to achieve election, as revealed in the following quote:

Deemed the "Conscience of Congress" by top news anchor Walter Cronkite, Fenwick even tried to return funds allotted to her while representing her constituents, and admonished peers who attempted financial gain at the expense of others.

After losing the election that would bring her another congressional term, Fenwick was appointed as Ambassador to the United Nations by President Ronald Reagan, serving as the United States Representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. She retired from public service in 1987. Millicent Fenwick died at the age of 82 in 1992 of heart failure.

Millicent Fenwick: A Champion of Human Rights

This remarkable woman was born into an affluent family and became a champion of social causes. Her tenure in Congress was by all accounts made livelier by her pipe-smoking presence, but more importantly, she gave voice to those who had little to no voice of their own. Millicent Fenwick, the elegant ex-model and fiscally conservative public servant, was above all else civilized in her assessment of how all people should be equal and treated with respect. "Elegant and patrician, speaking in a raspy voice, Fenwick nevertheless connected with average people." A longtime aide described her as 'the Katherine Hepburn of politics. With her dignity and elegance, she could get away with saying things others couldn't,'" as stated within Women in Congress.

Fenwick held a deep regard for the congressional responsibilities of her office, responsibilities that placed the value of human beings above that of power or control, and she had a special respect for her fellow pipe smokers. In a 2012 blog post, "A Chance Encounter," Jack Stanley remembers a random meeting with the famous lawmaker as they were both buying pipe tobacco at a local shop: "I said to her as she finished her transaction, 'It is a pleasure to meet you. I see you are getting some tobacco; I am too.'" Fenwick's response: "'Well that is lovely, you can always trust a pipe smoker.'"

Her tenure in Congress was by all accounts made livelier by her pipe-smoking presence, but more importantly, she gave voice to those who had little to no voice of their own.

Bibliography

• Brandis, A. (2021, April 13). From fashion editor to famous representative: The Life of Millicent Fenwick. Historic America.
• Fenwick, Millicent Hammond.(n.d.). US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives.
• Harris, B. (2006).Is there a pipe smoker in the house? Pipes and Tobaccos, (Winter), 44–46.
• Lambert, B. (1992, September 17). Millicent fenwick, 82, dies; gave character to congress.The New York Times, pp. 25–25.
• Stanley, J. (2012, July 10). A chance encounter in Benardsville New Jersey with Millicent Fenwick in 1987.
• Wasniewski, M. A. (2006).Women in Congress, 1917-2006. U.S. G.P.O.