Margaret Heckler

Margaret Mary Heckler (born June 21, 1931) is a Republican politician from Massachusetts who served in the United States House of Representatives for eight terms, from 1967 until 1983 and was later the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Ambassador to Ireland under President Ronald Reagan. After her defeat in 1982 no woman would be elected to congress from Massachusetts until Niki Tsongas in a special election in 2007.

Early life
She was born Margaret Mary O'Shaughnessy in Flushing, New York. Her undergraduate studies began at the University of Leiden in Holland in 1952. After graduating from Albertus Magnus College (B.A.1953) and from Boston College Law School (LL.B. 1956), she was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. She had also been editor of the Annual Survey of Massachusetts Law.

From 1962 to 1966, Heckler served as an elected Governor’s Councilor for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1964 and 1968 and elected as a Republican to the 90th through the 97th Congresses (January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1983).

Congressional career
In Congress, Heckler was generally regarded as a “Rockefeller Republican” who supported moderate to liberal policies favored by voters in her state. In 1978, she launched and became co-chair of the Congresswoman’s Caucus, a bipartisan group of 14 members focused on equality for women in Social Security, tax laws, and related areas. Heckler was also an outspoken advocate for and cosponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment. She opposed abortion, but did not favor a constitutional amendment to ban it at that time. Later in life, Heckler has become a speaker and activist for pro-life causes.

In Massachusetts, she was noted for building an especially effective network of constituent services that allowed her to breeze through several re-election bids in an overwhelmingly Democratic state. In the capital, Heckler was noted as a socialite with a penchant for high fashion; columnist Jack Anderson called her Margaret “I’d-walk-a-mile-for-a-camera” Heckler.

Electoral history
Heckler’s entrance to and exit from Congress are noteworthy pieces of political history. She won her first term in 1966 by defeating incumbent Republican Joseph W. Martin, Jr., in the primary. Martin, then 82, had previously served as Speaker of the House. Heckler won the subsequent general election with just 51 percent, but was easily reelected thereafter.

Following the 1980 census, Massachusetts lost one of its congressional seats due to a slow-growing population. Heckler’s district, at the time the only one in Massachusetts large enough to not need redistricting, was combined with that of freshman Democratic Rep. Barney Frank. When the two ran against each other in 1982, Heckler began the race as a front-runner. Although she opposed Reagan on 43 percent of House votes, Frank successfully portrayed Heckler as an ally of the president by pointing to her early support for his tax cuts (which she later retracted). Heckler also lost the support of the National Organization for Women because she opposed federal funding for abortion. She went on to lose the race by a larger-than-expected 20 percent margin.

Health and Human Services Secretary
Following her defeat, Heckler turned down several government jobs — including as an assistant NASA administrator — before Reagan nominated her to replace retiring Health and Human Services Secretary Richard Schweiker in January 1983. She was confirmed on March 3, 1983 by an 82 to 3 vote in the Senate. The three dissenters were conservative Republicans, including Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina.

As secretary, Heckler presided over staffing cuts in the department as part of the administration’s spending reductions and was dispatched as a frequent spokesperson on a wide array of public health issues, including the then-emerging AIDS crisis. She also encouraged Reagan to support an AIDS awareness initiative, new child support standards, and softer standards for Social Security disability requirements. Her husband even maintained that she was the first to suggest that Reagan appoint a woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Public divorce saga
Heckler’s tenure as secretary was also marked by a public soap opera that played out in the Washington press when her husband, John, filed for divorce, in 1984. The episode was tinged by election-year concerns over the impact of the divorce on conservative voters and dragged on for months as the couple argued whether Massachusetts or Virginia, where Margaret Heckler had moved, had jurisdiction in the case. John Heckler publicly criticized his wife for becoming a changed person after she entered politics, and cited “fear of life and limb and mental welfare” in his filing. Margaret Heckler disputed the claims, but declined to comment publicly.

Departure from Cabinet
Heckler was one of the cabinet secretaries to stay on after Reagan’s re-election. Although she was widely regarded as an effective spokesperson, press accounts in late 1985 revealed that some White House and agency insiders regarded her as an ineffective manager. White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan reportedly pushed for Heckler’s dismissal, but President Reagan told reporters “there has never been any thought in my mind to fire” her. Instead, she was appointed as ambassador to Ireland—with a $16,000 pay cut that prompted the press to ridicule Reagan’s characterization of the situation as a “promotion.” She was confirmed as ambassador in December 1985.

Ambassador to Ireland
In her new position, Heckler was credited as the driving force behind a $120 million U.S. grant to the International Fund for Ireland, an economic development organization. She was a frequent guest on Irish television programs and was “by all accounts an effective spokesperson for her government’s policies on everything from Central America to international trade,” according to the Washington Post. Her term expired in January 1989.

Current
Margaret Heckler is a resident of Arlington, VA. Her papers are housed in the Burns Library at Boston College.