August 25, 2010

Thaddeus Caraway was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from Jonesboro (Craighead County) in 1912. In 1920, he was elected to a seat in the U.S. Senate. His unexpected death in 1931 set in motion a series of events that would make national history. Just a week after his death, Governor Harvey Parnell appointed Caraway’s wife, Hattie, to fill the vacant seat. Approximately one month later, she was elected in a special election, becoming the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.