- Was the first woman elected to a full Senate term without being preceded in politics by a husband or father. She was also the first woman to be a senator from Florida.
- Was the leading sponsor of the Missing Children's Act of 1982, which requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation to enter descriptive information on missing children into a national computer database that can be used by law enforcement agencies across the country. (That year, she shocked her colleagues by disclosing in a Congressional hearing that she had been molested as a child by a neighbor.).
- In 1985, participated in the Record Label Hearings of the Senate's Commerce Committee, where the issue of labeling musical songs was examined, after the PRMC initiative. During the hearings, Hawkins had a notable altercation with testifying musician Frank Zappa, who eventually invited the senator to his home to see first-hand "what kind of toys" his children are playing with.
- Conservative Republican US Senator (1981-1987).
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