Author Kimberly Heckler's position in the Library of Congress Women's History and Gender Studies Group uniquely positions her to write about Margaret Heckler — former Republican congresswoman from Massachusetts, Cabinet secretary, and U.S. ambassador to Ireland, who also happens to be her mother-in-law.
Similarly positioned is the author of the foreword, Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the Center for American Woman and Politics. Sinzdak's foreword lays a solid foundation of context and awe for female political trailblazers as well as the lack of coverage their stories have received.
In the case of Margaret Heckler, her story is broken into three parts: her early (and sometimes unhappy) life, her time in elected office, and then her stints in two major presidential appointments under President Ronald Reagan.
The author takes the reader through the troubling childhood of Margaret Heckler, born unwanted and rejected by her father. Margaret Heckler's desire for success and to gain external approval, not to mention her dream of securing professional and financial independence for women, was born from her mother's obedience to the sometimes cruel demands of her husband.
The reader sees young Margaret Heckler gain a love of law, reading, and politics through bouncing between America and Ireland, from widows' homes to art collector's flats. When she meets her future husband, John Heckler, they eventually grow into the definition of a "power couple." They soon have a house of three children and an active legal career.
As Margaret Heckler's political career blossoms — notably her defeat of a former Republican speaker of the House in a primary in 1966 — the author dives into the political savvy of her mother-in-law with precision. We learn, for example, exploring with excitement the congresswoman's struggle to keep up with the early feminist movement, the sexist hurdles in American politics at the time, and decades of successes and failures.
Kimberly Heckler showed how Margaret Heckler's life lives up to the title: she was the first woman to serve on the governor's council in Massachusetts, and the first woman to be named a "designated survivor" — the Cabinet member who skips the State of the Union message in order to have a survivor if the president, vice president, and remaining Cabinet members are killed. She also created many firsts for other women, allowing them to escape her mother's fate and build their own credit and financial independence.
If searching for an objective political biography, such a narrative will not be found here. Every sentence of this book drips with the love and admiration the author feels for the book's subject.
Despite an information-heavy start, the book succeeds in solidifying Margaret Heckler's legacy. Women wishing to discover a political figure who sought a career and a family as well reassurance will find it in "A Woman of Firsts."
The final paragraph of the biography leaves the reader with inspiration and hope: "In spite of her many challenges, Margaret Heckler was led to have an extraordinary destiny. At the end of her public life, she proclaimed: 'I feel like a pawn on the chessboard, and I'm a great believer in the Lord's plan for each of us. When it's your turn to move, you move.'"
Olivia D'Angelo's poetry, fiction, and nonfiction has been published in various literary journals, including Carolina Muse and The Penwood Review, and she received an honorable mention in the 2024 A. R. Ammons Poetry Contest.
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