In 1956, Meg Manning became one of the first women in Delaware to be elected to the State Legislature. No one seemed more surprised than her. As a mother of four children in the early 1950s, she became part of the Active Young Republicans and participated in blocking or polling local neighborhoods to determine their political opinions. Manning enjoyed the work tremendously, and thought of eventually running for office when she was approached by State Representative Jim Snowden, who told me it was time to run for office. "I was pretty excited about going in to file for the first time and the press was hanging around to see as they usually do…and I babbled on about this was my birthday and wasn't this a great day to file."

The next day, a newspaper headline announced "thirty-six year old woman admits age when she files or something like that." Manning was not offended in the least, grabbing a police officer walking nearby and saying, "Look at this. It's me!" Enthusiasm and willpower seemed to characterize Manning's attitude

Not only was Manning a woman, but she was not a native of Delaware and had lived in the State for only four years. Even so, she optimistically mounted a door-to-door and mailing campaign. I was so green that it never occurred to me that I could lose," she admitted. "We did it with shoe leather, enthusiasm and very little money." After two terms in the House, Manning was elected to the Senate, where she served until 1976. After a failed bid for Lieutenant Governor, she retired from politics.