Prominent national officeholders from Montana include US Senator Thomas Walsh (b.Wisconsin, 1859–1933), who directed the investigation that uncovered the Teapot Dome scandal; Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973), the first woman member of Congress and the only US representative to vote against American participation in both world wars; Burton K. Wheeler (b.Mass., 1882–1975), US senator from 1923 to 1947 and one of the most powerful politicians in Montana history; and Michael Joseph "Mike" Mansfield (b.New York, 1903–2001), who held the office of majority leader of the US Senate longer than anyone else.
Chief Joseph (b.Oregon, 1840?–1904), a Nez Percé Indian, repeatedly outwitted the US Army during the late 1870s; Crazy Horse (1849?–77) led a Sioux-Cheyenne army in battle at Little Big Horn. The town of Bozeman is named for explorer and prospector John M. Bozeman (b.Georgia, 1835–67).
Creative artists from Montana include Alfred Bertram Guthrie, Jr. (b.Indiana, 1901–91), author of The Big Sky and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Way West; Dorothy Johnson (b.Iowa, 1905–84), whose stories have been made into such notable Western movies as The Hanging Tree, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and A Man Called Horse; and Charles Russell (b.Missouri, 1864–1926), Montana's foremost painter and sculptor. Hollywood stars Gary Cooper (Frank James Cooper, 1901–61) and Myrna Loy (1905–93) were born in Helena. Newscaster Chet Huntley (1911–74) was born in Cardwell.