09/30/2007
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Staff Photo by David Leamingfrom the Kennebec Journal
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from the Morning Sentinel
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District regroups after budget failure
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Burnham driver wins checkered flag at 2 tracks on same day
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All of today's:
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from the Morning Sentinel
By DARLA L. PICKETT
Staff Writer
SKOWHEGAN -- The generations of people who knew Republican Sen. Margaret Chase Smith -- the woman who shook the hands of world leaders, fought against the scare tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and was the first woman nominated by a major political party for the U.S. presidency -- are dwindling.
Just as she knew it would.
It's an inevitability Smith predicted, a reality she began preparing for 25 years ago when she first helped establish the Northwood Institute Margaret Chase Smith Library on Norridgewock Avenue.
There, in a library attached to her graceful home overlooking the Kennebec River, she and the institute created a repository for Smith's papers and memorabilia from more than 32 years in Congress.
They then set in motion a plan to make it relevant in her absence, a plan that embraced her love of education, desire for ethics in politics and belief in open democracy.
Through its programs, the library has sought to raise the level of political discourse in the state, nourish a love of history and civic-mindedness in young people and provide a research site for scholars throughout the world.
THE NEXT 25 YEARS
On this, its 25th anniversary year, and 12 years after Smith's death, library leaders say they're reflecting on past successes and look to the future.
"We look back over 25 years and ask the historian's question, 'So what?' " said Director Gregory P. Gallant, who has worked at the library for 20 years. "We need to ask what lasting significance we have here? What steps, what actions do we need to take to make sure a legacy endures?"
Gallant said the library's future cannot be just about the senator -- admired by her countrymen, the first civilian woman to break the sound barrier, the woman everyone wanted to meet.
"Her impact (now) is less the McCarthy era than her delightful efforts to get young people to become involved, to fulfill their obligations of citizenship," Gallant said.
The focus will naturally stray away from the political arena and into an educational realm, Gallant said.
Today, students from the library's Michigan-based parent organization and university spend a 10-week fall term each year doing research at the library. Three of those students are in residence this fall.
As many as 70 groups of children on school field trips visit the library every year, Gallant said.
"When the senator started this, the focus was on the young people of Maine. Not too many (political figures) came back and made themselves accessible to young students." he said. "She recognized if you can instill an appreciation for civic engagement in the young people of Maine, you've really set the stage for a bright future. She felt that innately."
The issue then, Gallant said, is how to continue that focus as generations of students evolve: "They see history though a different lens. Last year, the students who came here were born after I started working here."
Historians also think differently at different times, Gallant said.
"You can't remain static, they'll be going by you and the message will be lost ... Kids today are not familiar with what happened in the Carter era," he said.
DELIVERY OF EDUCATION IS KEY
David Richards, assistant director in charge of the educational component at the library, said the current history involving Smith sold as long as she was here.
"What does sell well now are themes about the importance of service and aspirations," said Richards, who has been with the library for 11 years. "What we ask students now is what can you tell us about your service work? Why is it important?"
Then, says Richards, students are encouraged to learn how their work is relevant to Smith's life and legacy: "The history is connected with what they're doing, with what she did."
The 11-year-old Margaret Chase Smith annual essay contest targets high school seniors.
"These are going to be the young people who are going to have to solve the problems they write about," Richards said.
One of the concerns Richards has with the contest is that there aren't a lot of applications because the types of questions asked -- about current world policy -- attract mostly students from honors classes.
"We're pretty confident the applications we get are from the best and brightest. We are hearing back from them at college, or beyond college and the types of jobs they are getting. In a way, I wish it wasn't so self-selecting."
ETHICS AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT TOP LIBRARY LIST
Over the years, the library has established programs focused on civic engagement, including the Maine Code of Election Ethics initiative started in 1996 and the 17-year-old Maine Town Meeting public policy program.
Those projects have known success, especially the town meetings, according to Richards.
The meetings have included such topics as citizenship and values in schools, waste reduction, health care and political correctness and campaign finance reform, according to Angela Stockwell, collections specialist and 25-year veteran member of the staff. Speakers have included well-known people such as Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of Robert Kennedy, in 1990, author Suzanne Mettler, who talked about the GI bill in 2006, E.J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist and author who has appeared on CNN and John Avlon, Mayor Rudy Giuliani's speech writer, who spoke about centrism in American politics.
"Success has always been a question, but people keep wanting to come back," Richards said. "A lot of professionals get a day off from work to be with other people interested in civic issues. We don't really do any follow-up to see what they do with these ideas. But, this is a good opportunity to have citizen engagement, a chance to sit down with fellow citizens and have a discussion about a (current) topic."
The election ethics program saw some success during the election cycles it ran -- 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002 -- in that it brought political ethics to the forefront, Richards said.
The code was dropped after that. "Some of the candidates decided it really didn't work because there was no enforcement mechanism. They would come to sign that day and there was no group to monitor it."
Richards said some people wanted the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine at Orono or the library "to be referee."
"The code and the voting public are the referees," he said. "They decide whether (the politicians) have upheld that contract."
Republican State Sen. Peter Mills, one of the first to sign the code of ethics -- which outlined principles for campaign practices -- said the library should be credited for its creativity.
"The library has been very creative in coming up with initiatives for politicians and policymakers to be concerned about," Mills said. "Some of their seminars have been phenomenal; they have attracted good speakers and assembled interesting programs. I think the pledge created a very strong sense of awareness at the time they applied it. Then guys began taking public money."
Glenn D. Beamer, director of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center on the University of Maine Orono campus, said he thinks the library's programs have been successful, "particularly in an environment where political discourse has become less civil nationally."
Beamer said the Town Meeting format plays an important role of bringing people together to discuss topics not often in the mainstream media, and regrets elimination of the Maine Code of Election Ethics program.
"It's a shame it's been dropped, but a variety of pressure for enforcing it made it impractical," Beamer said.
Sandy Maisel, director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement at Colby at Colby College, said retaining Smith's legacy might need to include other great women politicians.
"Maine has this great history of strong women politicians," such as U.S. senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, State Sen. Elizabeth "Libby" Mitchell and "others in the state who have gone quite far," Maisel said.
Maisel came to Colby 37 years ago and said he remembers Smith.
"I knew Sen. Smith, and had great respect for her," Maisel said. "But anybody who was born or moved into the state after 1973 never knew her in office. It seems to me this would make not just her relevant, but the legacy of Maine Women in politics."
RESEARCH IS IMPORTANT
"A significant portion of the library deals with research. Smith's career lent itself to that -- social history, cultural matters, she was involved with it all," Gallant said.
Because of that involvement and a rich 97-year history based in Maine, Smith's life provides an encyclopedic backdrop for generations of events.
Angela Stockwell, collections specialist and 25-year veteran member of the staff, said the library still draws researchers from all over the world.
Many of the researchers are authors who need information period during which Smith lived and was active in politics. Others are students who need to put world and political events in perspective.
"We have people here today from Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, a whole range of people from all over the country. One of the women here now is a commissioner for worker's compensation in Mississippi who is writing a book that requires information set in a certain time period," Stockwell said.
Beamer envisions a bright future for the library.
"I think the library has a great future ahead of it in the next five years in terms of engaging -- particularly Maine -- high school and college students," Beamer said. "...Understanding Margaret Chase Smith's legacy will foster a higher level of political discourse in Maine."
Darla L. Pickett -- 474-9534, Ext. 341
dpickett@centralmaine.com
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