Margaret O’Shaughnessy Heckler (1931-2018), a 1956 graduate of Boston College Law School, had a lengthy and influential career in public service. She was a United States representative,  secretary of Health and Human Services, and U.S. ambassador to Ireland. A Woman of Firsts: Margaret Heckler, Political Trailblazer (Lyons Press, 2025), a new biography written by Kimberly Heckler (daughter-in-law of Margaret), chronicles her groundbreaking achievements as a woman in politics, while also offering a behind-the-scenes view of American politics from the 1960s through the 1980s. Among Heckler’s accomplishments was the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, landmark legislation that gave women the right to credit in their own names for the first time in American history. Margaret Heckler’s archives are housed at BC’s John J. Burns Library.