Margaret Heckler
United States Ambassador to Ireland
In office January 30, 1986 – August 20, 1989
President	Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Robert F. Kane
Succeeded by	Richard A. Moore
15thUnited States Secretary of Health and Human Services
In office March 10, 1983 – December 13, 1985
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Richard Schweiker
Succeeded by	Otis Bowen
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's10th district
In office January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1983
Preceded by	Joe Martin
Succeeded by	Gerry Studds
Member of theMassachusetts Governor's Council from the 2nd district
In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1967
Governor	Endicott Peabody John Volpe
Preceded by	Alvin Tamkin
Succeeded by	John J. Craven Jr.
Personal details
Born	Margaret Mary O'Shaughnessy (1931-06-21)June 21, 1931 New York City,New York, U.S.
Died	August 6, 2018(2018-08-06) (aged 87) Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	John Heckler ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 1985)​
Children	3
Education	Albertus Magnus College (BA) Boston College (LLB)
Signature

Margaret Mary Heckler (néeO'Shaughnessy; June 21, 1931 – August 6, 2018) was an American politician and diplomat who representedMassachusetts's 10th congressional district in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1967 until 1983. A member of theRepublican Party, she also served as the 15thUnited States secretary of health and human services from 1983 to 1985, as well asUnited States ambassador to Ireland from 1986 to 1989.

She was born Margaret Mary O'Shaughnessy inFlushing, New York. Her undergraduate studies began at Albertus Magnus inNew Haven, Connecticut. She then studied abroad at theUniversity of Leiden, in theNetherlands, in 1952 and went on to graduate fromAlbertus Magnus College (B.A. 1953) and fromBoston College Law School (LL.B. 1956). She was the only woman in her law school class. She wasadmitted to the bar inMassachusetts.^[1] She was aneditor of theAnnual Survey of Massachusetts Law.

From 1963 to 1967, Heckler was the first woman to serve on the governor's council for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was a delegate to theRepublican National Convention in 1964 and 1968, and was elected as aRepublican from the90th to the97th Congresses (January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1983).^{[citation needed]}

Heckler received an honorary doctorate fromJohnson & Wales University in 1975.^{[citation needed]}

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In 1967, when she was first elected, Heckler was one of only 11 women in Congress. She supported moderate to liberal policies favored by voters in her state of Massachusetts. Heckler voted in favor of theCivil Rights Act of 1968.^[2] In 1972 she co-sponsored Title IX, which required that no person, on the basis of sex, could be discriminated against under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. In 1974, as a member of the Banking and Currency Committee, Heckler authored theEqual Credit Opportunity Act, giving women the right to seek credit in their own names for the first time in American history. In 1977, she launched and co-founded the Congresswoman's Caucus, abipartisan group of 14 members focused on equality for women inSocial Security, tax laws, and related areas. It was the first all-women's caucus in the Congress. Heckler was also an outspoken advocate for and co-sponsor of theEqual Rights Amendment. At the Republican National Convention in 1980, Heckler urged then presidential nominee Ronald Reagan to put the first woman on the Supreme Court. Heckler had a fierce passion for women's equality.

In Massachusetts, she was noted for building an especially-effective network of constituent services that allowed her to triumph 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.^[3]

In the House, she served on theBanking and Currency Committee (1968-1974) and served as ranking member of theVeterans' Affairs Committee (1967–1982). She also served on the Agriculture Committee (1975-1980) and the Joint Economic Committee (1975-1982).

Heckler won her first term in 1966 by defeating 42-year incumbent RepublicanJoseph W. Martin Jr., in the primary. Martin, then 82, had previously served asSpeaker of the House and was 46 years older than Heckler. She was the first woman representative to Congress from Massachusetts elected in her own right. Heckler won the subsequent general election with just 51 percent of the vote. She went on to be re-elected seven more times.

Following the 1980census, Massachusetts lost one of its congressional seats because of its population growth. Heckler's district, then the only one in Massachusetts large enough to not need redistricting, was combined with that of freshman Democratic RepresentativeBarney Frank. The district was numerically Frank's district, the 4th, but it was geographically more Heckler's district. When both ran against each other in 1982, Heckler began the race as a frontrunner. Although she opposed Reagan on 43 percent of House votes, Frank successfully portrayed Heckler as a Reagan ally by pointing to her early support for his tax cuts, which she later retracted. She went on to lose the race by a larger-than-expected margin of 20%. After her defeat, no woman would be elected to Congress from Massachusetts untilNiki Tsongas won aspecial election in 2007.

After her defeat, Heckler turned down several high profile government jobs, including Secretary of the Treasury, before Reagan nominated her to replace retiring Health and Human Services SecretaryRichard Schweiker in January 1983. She was confirmed on March 3, 1983 by an 82-3 vote in the Senate.^[4]

Early on as Secretary of HHS, Heckler commissioned the Secretarial Task Force to investigate a "sad and significant fact: there was a continuing disparity in the burden of death and illness experienced by Blacks and other minority Americans as compared with our nation's population as a whole," as she put it in her opening letter inThe Secretary's Report on Black and Minority Health, also known as theHeckler Report. The report provided the historical foundation for many reports thereafter and is often referenced as the landmark document for health disparity and health equity inquiry.^[5]Clarice Reid was a member of the task force that helped to produce the report.^[6] She went on to establish the Office of Minority Health.

As secretary, Heckler supported the Reagan administration's more conservative views, presided over staffing cuts in the department as part of the administration's spending reductions, and frequently spoke on a wide array of public health issues, including the emergingAIDS crisis. Although it was very difficult for her to get the topic of AIDS on the Cabinet meeting agendas, Heckler established AIDS as the number one health priority in America.^[7]

Heckler repeatedly assured the American public that the nation's blood supply was "100% safe... for both thehemophiliac who requires largetransfusions and for the average citizen who might need it for surgery."^[8] To try to calm the hysteria surrounding the crisis, Heckler donated blood and shook hands with AIDS patients.

On January 21, 1985, Heckler became the first woman to be nameddesignated survivor. She served in the role duringReagan's second inauguration.

Heckler's tenure as secretary was also marked by scandal in the Washington press when her husband, John, filed for divorce in 1984.^[9] 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 orVirginia, to where she had moved, had jurisdiction in the case.^[10]

Following the1984 presidential election,White House chief of staffDonald Regan pressured Reagan, empowered by a landslide victory, to nominate Heckler asAmbassador to Ireland in November 1985.^[11][12] Heckler was confirmed by the Senate in avoice vote in December 1985.^[13]

As ambassador, Heckler played a crucial role in obtaining a US$120 million grant to theInternational Fund for Ireland, an economic development organization.^[14] She was a frequent guest on Irish television programs and was "by all accounts an effective spokesperson for her government's policies on everything fromCentral America tointernational trade."^[14] In February 1989, Heckler announced her intent to resign to pursue a private career,^[15] and her term concluded in August 1989.

On May 31, 1987, Heckler became the first woman to deliver thecommencement address in the history of theUniversity of Scranton.^[16] Heckler's papers are housed in the Burns Library atBoston College.

Heckler died at Virginia Hospital Center inArlington, Virginia, on August 6, 2018, at the age of 87.^[17]

• List of female United States Cabinet members
• Women in the United States House of Representatives
• Heckler v. Chaney

• Jane Anderson. "Two Massachusetts Incumbents Fight for Single Seat in Congress." Miami Herald, October 17, 1982, pg. 5D.
• Karen DeYoung. "Margaret Heckler, All Emerald Smiles",Washington Post, March 18, 1987, pg. D1.
• David Hoffman. "Heckler Offered Irish Ambassadorship",Washington Post, October 1, 1985, pg. A1.
• Stephanie Mansfield. "The Heckler Breakup",Washington Post, October 16, 1984, pg. B1.
• Donnie Radcliffe. "The Women's Caucus",Washington Post, April 27, 1978, pg. B12.
• Spencer Rich. "Heckler's Administrative Skills Called Inadequate for Agency",Washington Post, October 1, 1985, pg. A1.
• Myron Stuck and Sarah Fitzgerald. "Senate Confirms Heckler." Washington Post. 03/04/1983. p. A13.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMargaret Heckler.

• United States Congress."Margaret Heckler (id: H000440)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• "Speaker of the House: Joe Martin of N. Attleboro", projo.com, July 26, 1999; accessed February 12, 2017.
• Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives website; accessed February 12, 2017.
• “Father and Son Rally the Troops on Maryland Truth Tour”, prolifeaction.org; accessed February 12, 2017.
• Heckler election records at ourcampaigns.com
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1931 births
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• Ambassadors of the United States to Ireland
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• Female United States representatives
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• Reagan administration cabinet members
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts
• United States secretaries of health and human services
• Women in Massachusetts politics
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