Graduating in 1956 as one of the first female students of Boston College Law School was perhaps one of the lesser accomplishments of Margaret Heckler, the first woman to earn a “triple crown” in politics, serving as a congresswoman, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and ambassador to Ireland.
In her 2025 book, A Woman of Firsts: Margaret Heckler, Political Trailblazer, Kimberly Heckler, writer and daughter-in-law of Margaret Heckler, details the life and successes of Margaret Heckler, from her upbringing as the daughter of Irish immigrants, who gave her away as a baby, to her historical and bipartisan leadership.
Raising awareness of the woman who changed so many lives and yet is so rarely talked about, Kimberly Heckler came to BC Law at the invitation of the Women’s Law Coalition to share with students the life of their fellow graduate from so many years ago. “I wrote this book because her story has not been told,” Kimberly Heckler said. Margaret Heckler sat with presidents, authored the bill that gave women the right to credit and credit cards, and wrote a report addressing health disparities among minority populations which so revolutionized healthcare that, to this day, it’s still referred to as the “Heckler Report.”
Showing photos of Margaret Heckler working with politicians Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush, to name a few, Kimberly Heckler also shared pictures from Margaret’s childhood, addressing the hardship surrounding her upbringing in New York City during the 1930s and ’40s. The author’s stories kept the room engrossed as she brought to life the 5’2” red-haired woman who not only stood up to giants but brought them down with hard work, perseverance, and famous quotes such as, “Women must do twice as good as men to be thought of as half as good. Luckily, it’s not that hard.”
Selected as a top five pick on the Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program’s 2025 Summer Reading List, A Woman of Firsts offers a behind-the-scenes view of both Margaret Heckler and American politics of the 1960s through the 1980s. In a previous article, BC Law Magazine described Margaret Heckler as “tenacious, tactical, and tactful,” advancing women’s equality while eschewing feminist orthodoxy.
Margaret Heckler recognized the role BC Law played in her career. She graduated sixth in her class, and was proud to state that while at school, she got to the answer as fast as the men did. “If I can do it here,” she said, “I can do it anywhere.”