Clare Booth Luce
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Clare Boothe Luce (; March 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American writer, politician, diplomat, and public conservative figure. A versatile author, she is best known for her 1936 hit play '' The Women'', which had an all-female cast. Her writings extended from drama and screen scenarios to fiction, journalism, and war reportage. She served as U.S. Ambassador to Italy from 1953 to 1956, and as a
U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
for
Connecticut's 4th congressional district Connecticut's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in the panhandle, the district is largely suburban and extends from Bridgeport, the largest city in the state, to Greenwich – an are ...
from 1943 to 1947. She was married to
Henry Luce Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine magnate who founded ''Time'', ''Life'', '' Fortune'', and ''Sports Illustrated'' magazines. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the Amer ...
, publisher of ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', ''
Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'', ''
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...
'', and ''
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''. Politically, Luce was a leading conservative in later life and was well known for her
anti-communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...
. In her youth, she briefly aligned herself with the liberalism of President
Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
as a protégé of
Bernard Baruch Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870 – June 20, 1965) was an American financier and statesman. After amassing a fortune on the New York Stock Exchange, he impressed President Woodrow Wilson by managing the nation's economic mobilization in W ...
but later became an outspoken critic of Roosevelt. Although she was a strong supporter of the Anglo-American alliance in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, she remained outspokenly critical of British colonialism in India. Known as a charismatic and forceful public speaker, especially after her conversion to Catholicism in 1946, she campaigned for every Republican presidential candidate from
Wendell Willkie Wendell Lewis Willkie (born Lewis Wendell Willkie; February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican nominee for president. Willkie appeale ...
to
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
.


Early life

Luce was born Ann Clare Boothe in New York City on March 10, 1903, the second child of Anna Clara Schneider (also known as Ann Snyder Murphy, Ann Boothe, and Ann Clare Austin) and William Franklin Boothe (also known as "John J. Murphy" and "Jord Murfe"). Her parents were not married and would separate in 1912. Her father, a sophisticated man and a brilliant violinist, instilled in his daughter a love of literature, if not of music, but had trouble holding a job and spent years as a traveling salesman. Parts of young Clare's childhood were spent in Memphis and
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
,
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, and
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as well as
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. Clare Boothe had an elder brother, David Franklin Boothe. She attended the cathedral schools in Garden City and
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, graduating first in her class in 1919 at 16. Her ambitious mother's initial plan for her was to become an actress. Clare understudied
Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...
on
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
at age 10, and had her Broadway debut in Mrs. Henry B. Harris' production of "The Dummy" in 1914, a detective comedy. She then had a small part in Thomas Edison's 1915 movie, ''The Heart of a Waif''. After a tour of Europe with her mother and stepfather, Dr. Albert E. Austin, whom Ann Boothe married in 1919, she became interested in the
women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...
movement, and she was hired by
Alva Belmont Alva Erskine Belmont (née Smith; January 17, 1853 – January 26, 1933), known as Alva Vanderbilt from 1875 to 1896, was an American multi-millionaire socialite and women's suffrage activist. She was noted for her energy, intelligence, strong ...
to work for the
National Woman's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NWP ...
in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
and
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. She wed George Tuttle Brokaw, millionaire heir to a New York clothing fortune, on August 10, 1923, at the age of 20. They had one daughter, Ann Clare Brokaw (1924–1944) who was killed in a car accident. According to Boothe, Brokaw was a hopeless
alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...
, and the marriage ended in divorce on May 20, 1929. On November 23, 1935, she married
Henry Luce Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine magnate who founded ''Time'', ''Life'', '' Fortune'', and ''Sports Illustrated'' magazines. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the Amer ...
, the publisher of ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', ''
Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'', and ''
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...
''. She thereafter called herself Clare Boothe Luce, a frequently misspelled name that was often confused with that of her exact contemporary
Claire Luce Claire Luce (October 15, 1903 – August 31, 1989) was an American stage and screen actress, dancer and singer. Among her few films were '' Up the River'' (1930), directed by John Ford and starring Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart in the ...
, a stage and film actress. As a professional writer, Luce continued to use her maiden name. In 1939 she commissioned
Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...
to paint a portrait of the late
Dorothy Hale Dorothy Hale (January 11, 1905 – October 21, 1938) was an American socialite and aspiring actress who died by suicide by jumping off of the Hampshire House building in New York City. Her husband's death, followed by several unsuccessful r ...
. Kahlo produced '' The Suicide Of Dorothy Hale''. Luce was appalled and almost destroyed it; however,
Isamu Noguchi was an American artist, furniture designer and Landscape architecture, landscape architect whose career spanned six decades from the 1920s. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Grah ...
dissuaded her. Luce later anonymously donated the painting to the
Phoenix Art Museum The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest art museum, museum for visual art in the southwest United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,0 ...
. On January 11, 1944, her only child, Ann Clare Brokaw, a 19-year-old senior at
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, was killed in an automobile accident. As a result of the tragedy, Luce explored
psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...
and religion. After grief counseling with Bishop Fulton Sheen, she was received into the Catholic Church in 1946. She became an ardent essayist and lecturer in celebration of her faith, and she was ultimately honored by being named a Dame of Malta. As a memorial to her daughter, beginning in 1949 she funded the construction of a Catholic church in Palo Alto for use by the Stanford campus ministry. The new Saint Ann Chapel was dedicated in 1951. It was sold by the diocese in 1998 and in 2003 became a church of the Anglican Province of Christ the King."A Spiritual Home Finds Salvation"
, ''Stanford Magazine'', July/August 2006. Accessed August 2, 2009. Ann Brokaw graduated cum laude from Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia at the age of 17 and went to Stanford University as a way to see the western United States. While at Stanford she was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.


Marriage to Henry Luce

The marriage between Clare and Henry was difficult. Henry was by any standard extremely successful, but his physical awkwardness, lack of humor, and newsman's discomfort with any conversation that was not strictly factual put him in awe of his beautiful wife's social poise, wit, and fertile imagination. Clare's years as managing editor of ''Vanity Fair (American magazine 1913–1936), Vanity Fair'' left her with an avid interest in journalism (she suggested the idea of ''Life'' magazine to her husband before it was developed internally). Henry himself was generous in encouraging her to write for ''Life'', but the question of how much coverage she should be accorded in ''Time'', as she grew more famous, was always a careful balancing act for Henry since he did not want to be accused of nepotism. It has been reported that their marriage was sexually "open". Clare Luce's lovers included Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, Randolph Churchill, General Lucian Truscott, General Charles A. Willoughby, Charles Willoughby, and Roald Dahl. Joseph P. Kennedy was the father of several United States politicians. Clare Luce at times provided advice to the campaigns of John F. Kennedy, who became the 35th U.S. president. Dahl, who became a very successful author after the war, was at the time a young RAF fighter pilot, temporarily assigned to Washington. He was part of a plan developed by spymaster William Stephenson, Sir William Stephenson (code name "Intrepid"), intended to weaken American isolationist thinking by influencing, among others, American journalists and politicians. Dahl was The very tall (6'6") and athletic Dahl later claimed he found his affair with Clare to be so physically demanding that he had begged the British ambassador to relieve him of the task, but the ambassador told him he must continue. In the early 1960s, both Luces were friends of philosopher, author, and LSD advocate Gerald Heard. They tried LSD one time under his careful supervision. Although taking LSD never turned into a habit for either of the Luces, a friend (and biographer of Clare), Wilfred Sheed, wrote that Clare made use of it at least several times. The Luces stayed together until Henry's death from a heart attack in 1967. As one of the great "power couples" in American history, they were bonded by their mutual interests and complementary, if contrasting, characters. They treated each other with respect in public, never more so than when he willingly acted as his wife's consort during her years as ambassador to Italy. She was never able to convert him to Catholicism (he was the son of a Presbyterian missionary) but he did not question the sincerity of her faith, often attended Mass with her, and defended her when she was criticized by his fellow Protestants. In the early years of her widowhood, she retired to the luxurious beach house that she and her husband had planned in Honolulu, but boredom with life in what she called "this fur-lined rut" brought her back to
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
for increasingly long periods. She made her final home there in 1983.


Writing career

Luce published ''Stuffed Shirts'', a volume of short stories, in 1931. ''Scribner's Magazine'' compared the work to Evelyn Waugh's ''Vile Bodies'' for its bitter humor. ''The New York Times'' found it socially superficial, but praised its "lovely festoons of epigrams" and beguiling stylishness: "What malice there may be in these pages has a felinity that is the purest Turkish Angora, Angoran." The book's device of characters interlinked from story to story was borrowed from Sherwood Anderson's ''Winesburg, Ohio (novel), Winesburg, Ohio'' (1919), but it impressed Andre Maurois, who asked Luce's permission to imitate it. Luce also published many magazine articles. She was also a playwright. After the failure of her initial stage effort, the marital melodrama ''Abide With Me'' (1935), she rapidly followed up with a satirical comedy, '' The Women''. Deploying a cast of no fewer than 40 actresses who discussed men in often scorching language, it became a Broadway smash in 1936 and, three years later, a successful Hollywood movie known for its exclusively female cast. Toward the end of her life, Luce claimed that for half a century, she had steadily received royalties from productions of ''The Women'' all around the world. Later in the 1930s, she wrote two more successful, but less durable plays, also both made into movies: ''Kiss the Boys Goodbye'' and ''Margin for Error (play), Margin for Error''. The latter work "presented an all-out attack on the Nazism, Nazis' racist philosophy". Its opening night in Princeton, New Jersey, on October 14, 1939, was attended by Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann. Otto Preminger directed and starred in both the Broadway production and Margin for Error, screen adaptation. Much of Luce's famously acid wit ("No good deed goes unpunished", "Widowhood is a fringe benefit of marriage", "A hospital is no place to be sick") can be traced back to the days when, as a wealthy young divorcee in the early 1930s, she became a caption writer at ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'' and then, associate editor and managing editor of Vanity Fair (American magazine 1913-1936), ''Vanity Fair''. She not only edited the works of such humorists as P. G. Wodehouse and Corey Ford but also contributed many comic pieces of her own, signed and unsigned. Another branch of Luce's literary career was that of War reporting, war journalism. ''Europe in the Spring'' was the result of a four-month tour of Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and France in 1939–1940 as a correspondent for ''Life'' magazine. She described the widening battleground of World War II as "a world where men have decided to die together because they are unable to find a way to live together." In 1941, Luce and her husband toured China and reported on the status of the country and its war with Japan. Her profile of General Douglas MacArthur was on the cover of ''
Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'' on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor attack, Pearl Harbor. After the United States entered the war, Luce toured military installations in Africa, India, China, and Burma, compiling a further series of reports for ''Life''. She published interviews with General Harold Alexander, commander of British troops in the Middle East, Chiang Kai-shek, Jawaharlal Nehru, and General Joseph Warren Stilwell, Stilwell, commander of American troops in the China-Burma-India theater. Being in the right place at the right time and easy access to key commanders made her an influential figure on both sides of the Atlantic. She endured bombing raids and other dangers in Europe and the Far East. She did not hesitate to criticize the unwarlike lifestyle of General Sir Claude Auchinleck's Middle East Command. One draft article for ''Life'', noting that the general lived far from the Egyptian front in a houseboat, and mocking RAF pilots as "flying fairies", was discovered by British Customs when she passed through Trinidad in April 1942. It caused such Allied consternation that she briefly faced house arrest. Coincidentally or not, Auchinleck was fired a few months later by Winston Churchill. Her varied experiences in all the major war theaters qualified her for a seat the following year on the House Military Affairs Committee after she was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1942. Luce never wrote an autobiography but willed her enormous archive of personal papers to the Library of Congress.


Political career


House of Representatives

In 1942, Luce won a seat in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican comprising the whole of Fairfield County, Connecticut, the Connecticut's 4th congressional district, 4th Congressional District. She based her platform on three goals: "One, to win the war. Two, to prosecute that war as loyally and effectively as we can as Republicans. Three, to bring about a better world and a durable peace, with special attention to post-war security and employment here at home." She took up the seat formerly held by her late stepfather, Albert E. Austin, Dr. Albert Austin. An outspoken critic of Roosevelt's foreign policy, Luce was supported by isolationists and conservatives in Congress, and she was appointed early to the prestigious House Military Affairs Committee. Although she was by no means the only female representative on the floor, her beauty, wealth, and penchant for slashing witticisms caused her to be treated patronizingly by colleagues of both sexes. She made a debut in her maiden speech, coining the phrase "globaloney" to disparage Vice President Henry A. Wallace, Henry Wallace's recommendation for airlines of the world to be given free access to US airports. She called for repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, comparing its "doctrine of race theology" to Adolf Hitler's, advocated aid for war victims abroad, and sided with the administration on issues such as infant-care and maternity appropriations for the wives of enlisted men. Nevertheless, Roosevelt took a dislike to her and campaigned in 1944 to attempt to prevent her re-election, publicly calling her "a sharp-tongued glamor girl of forty." She retaliated by accusing Roosevelt of being "the only American president who ever lied us into a war because he did not have the political courage to lead us into it." During her second term, Luce was instrumental in the creation of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Atomic Energy Commission and, during the course of two tours of Allied battlefronts in Europe, she campaigned for more support of what she considered to be America's forgotten army in Italy. She was present at the liberation of several Nazi concentration camps in April 1945, and after V-E Day, she began warning against the rise of international Communism as another form of totalitarianism, likely to lead to World War III. In 1946, she was the co-author of the Luce–Celler Act of 1946, which permitted Indians and Filipinos to immigrate to the US, introducing a quota of 100 immigrants from each country, and allowed them ultimately to become naturalized citizens. Luce did not run for re-election in 1946.


Endorsements in the 1952 presidential election

Luce returned to politics during the 1952 United States presidential election, 1952 presidential election. Boothe led a group of women delegates to the 1952 Republican National Convention who sought to nominate Margaret Chase Smith in the balloting for vice president of the United States, vice presidential nominee. Mrs. Smith, however, requested not to be proposed at the convention as a vice presidential delegate. Noting that presidential nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower's supporters had coalesced around Richard Nixon for vice president, Luce withdrew her nomination of Smith for the convention's vice presidential balloting. During the general election, Boothe campaigned on behalf of the Eisenhower–Nixon ticket, giving more than 100 speeches on its behalf. Her anti-Communist speeches on the Stump speech (politics), stump, radio, and television were effective in persuading a large number of traditionally Democratic-voting Catholics to switch parties and vote Eisenhower.


Ambassador to Italy

Eisenhower rewarded Luce for her contributions to his presidential campaign by appointing her as ambassador to Italy, a post that oversaw 1150 employees, 8 consulates, and 9 information centers. She was confirmed by the Senate in March 1953, the first American woman ever to hold such an important diplomatic post. Italians reacted skeptically at first to the arrival of a female ambassador in Rome, but Luce soon convinced those of moderate and conservative temper that she favored their civilization and religion. "Her admirers in Italy – and she had millions – fondly referred to her as la Signora, 'the lady'." The country's large Communist minority, however, regarded her as a foreign meddler in Italian affairs. Luce was pictured with Monsignor William A. Hemmick, the first American canon of St. Peter's Basilica, in the biography of Hemmick, ''Patriot Priest''. She was no stranger to Pope Pius XII, who welcomed her as a friend and faithful acolyte. Over the course of several audiences since 1940, Luce had impressed Pius XII as one of the most effective secular preachers of Catholicism in America. Her principal achievement as ambassador was to play a vital role in negotiating a peaceful solution to the Trieste Crisis of 1953–1954, a border dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia that she saw as potentially escalating into a war between East and West. Her sympathies throughout were with the Christian Democratic government of Giuseppe Pella, and she was influential on the Mediterranean policy of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, another anticommunist. Although Luce regarded the abatement of the acute phase of the crisis in December 1953 as a triumph for herself, the main work of settlement, finalized in October 1954, was undertaken by professional representatives of the five concerned powers (Britain, France, the United States, Italy, and Yugoslavia) meeting in London. As ambassador, Luce consistently overestimated the possibility that the Italian left would mount a governmental coup and turn the country communist unless the democratic center was buttressed with generous American aid. A United States Defense Department historical study declassified in 2016 revealed that during her time as ambassador, Luce oversaw a covert financial support program for centrist Italian governments aimed at weakening the Italian Communist Party's hold on labor unions. Nurturing an image of her own country as a haven of social peace and prosperity, she threatened to boycott the 1955 Venice Film Festival if the American juvenile delinquent film ''Blackboard Jungle'' was shown. Around the same time, she fell seriously ill with arsenic poisoning. Sensational rumors circulated that the ambassador was the target of extermination by agents of the Soviet Union. Medical analysis eventually determined that the poisoning was caused by arsenate of lead in paint dust falling from the stucco that decorated her bedroom ceiling. The episode debilitated Luce physically and mentally, and she resigned her post in December 1956. Upon her departure, Rome's ''Il Tempo'' concluded "She has given a notable example of how well a woman can discharge a political post of grave responsibility." In 1957, she was awarded the Laetare Medal by the University of Notre Dame, considered the most prestigious award for American Catholics. A great appreciator of Italian haute couture, she was a frequent visitor and client of the ateliers Fernanda Gattinoni, Gattinoni, Vincenzo Ferdinandi, Ferdinandi, Emilio Schuberth, Schuberth, and Sorelle Fontana in Rome.


Ambassador to Brazil nomination

In April 1959, President Eisenhower nominated a recovered Luce to be the US Ambassador to Brazil. She began to learn enough of the Portuguese language in preparation for the job, but she was by now so conservative that her appointment met with strong opposition from a small number of Democratic senators. Leading the charge was Oregon Senator Wayne Morse. Still, Luce was confirmed by a 79 to 11 vote. Her husband urged her to decline the appointment, noting that it would be difficult for her to work with Morse, who chaired the Senate Subcommittee on Latin American Affairs. Luce eventually sent Eisenhower a letter explaining that she felt that the controversy surrounding her appointment would hinder her abilities to be respected by both her Brazilian and US coworkers. Thus, as she had never left American soil, she never officially took office as ambassador.


Political life after office

After Fidel Castro led a revolution in Cuba in 1959, Luce and her husband began to sponsor anticommunist groups. This support included funding Cuban exiles in commando speedboat raids against Cuba in the early 1960s. Luce's continuing anticommunism as well as her advocacy of conservatism led her to support Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona as the Republican candidate for president in 1964. She also considered but rejected a candidacy for the United States Senate from New York on the Conservative Party of New York State, Conservative party ticket. That same year, which also saw the political emergence of future friend
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, marked the voluntary end of Henry Luce's tenure as editor-in-chief of ''Time''. The Luces retired together, establishing a winter home in Arizona and planning a final move to Hawaii. Her husband, Henry, died in 1967 before that dream could be realized, but she went ahead with construction of a luxurious beach house in Honolulu, and, for some years, she led an active life in Hawaii high society. In 1973, President Richard Nixon named her to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). She remained on the board until President Jimmy Carter succeeded President Gerald Ford in 1977. By then, she had put down roots in Washington, D.C., that would become permanent in her last years. In 1979, she was the first woman to be awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point. President Reagan reappointed Luce to PFIAB. She served on the board until 1983. In 1986, Luce was the recipient of the Golden Plate Award of the Academy of Achievement, American Academy of Achievement.


Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Reagan awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1983. She was the first female member of Congress to receive this award. Upon presenting her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Reagan said this of Luce:


Death

Luce died of brain cancer on October 9, 1987, at age 84, at her Watergate complex, Watergate apartment in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
She is buried at Mepkin Abbey, South Carolina, a plantation that she and Henry Luce had once owned and given to a community of Trappist monks. She lies in a grave adjoining her mother, daughter, and husband.


Legacy


Feminism

Revered in her later years as a heroine of the feminist movement, Luce had mixed feelings about the role of women in society. As a congresswoman in 1943, she was invited to co-sponsor a submission of the Equal Rights Amendment, offered by Representative Louis Ludlow of Indiana, but claimed that the invitation got lost in her mail. Luce never ceased to advise women to marry and provide supportive homes for their husbands. (During her ambassadorial years, at a dinner in Luxembourg attended by many European dignitaries, Luce was heard declaiming that all women wanted from men was "babies and security".) Luce bequeathed a large part of her personal fortune of some $50 million to an academic program, the Clare Boothe Luce Program, designed to encourage the entry of women into technological fields traditionally dominated by men. In 2017, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.


Clare Boothe Luce Program

Since 1989, the Clare Boothe Luce Program (CBLP) has become a significant source of private funding support for women in science, mathematics, and engineering. All awards must be used exclusively in the United States (not applicable for travel or study abroad). Student recipients must be U.S. citizens and faculty recipients must be citizens or permanent residents. Thus far, the program has supported more than 1,500 women. The terms of the bequest require the following criteria: # at least fifty percent of the awards go to Roman Catholic colleges, universities, and one high school (Villanova Preparatory School) # grants are made only to four-year degree-granting institutions, not directly to individuals The program is divided into three distinct categories: # undergraduate scholarships and research awards # graduate and post-doctoral fellowships # tenure-track appointment support at the assistant or associate professorship level


Conservatism

The Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute (CBLPI) was founded in 1993 by Michelle Easton. The non-profit think tank seeks to advance American women through conservative ideas and espouses much the same philosophy as that of Clare Boothe Luce, in terms of both foreign and domestic policy. The CBLPI sponsors a program that brings conservative speakers such as conservative commentator Ann Coulter to college campuses. The Clare Boothe Luce Award, established in 1991, is the Heritage Foundation's highest award for distinguished contributions to the conservative movement. Prominent recipients include
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, Margaret Thatcher, and William F. Buckley Jr.


Publications

;Plays * 1935 ''Abide with Me (play), Abide with Me'' * 1936 '' The Women'' * 1938 ''Kiss the Boys Goodbye'' * 1939 ''Margin for Error (play), Margin for Error'' * 1951 ''Child of the Morning'' * 1970 ''Slam the Door Softly'' ;Screen Stories * 1949 ''Come to the Stable'' ;Books * 1931 ''Stuffed Shirts'' * 1940 ''Europe in the Spring'' * 1952 ''Saints for Now'' (editor)


See also

* List of notable brain tumor patients * Women in the United States House of Representatives


Notes


References

* * * * * Hamilton, Pamela (2021). Lady Be Good


External links

* * * * *
''Booknotes'' interview with Sylvia Jukes Morris on ''Rage For Fame: The Ascent of Clare Boothe Luce'', July 27, 1997.

''Q&A'' interview with Morris on ''Price of Fame: The Honorable Clare Boothe Luce'', August 3, 2014.

Discussion of ''Price of Fame'' with Morris and James Atlas, July 22, 2014



Henry Luce profile

Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luce, Clare Boothe 1903 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American diplomats 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women journalists 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American women writers 20th-century Roman Catholics Ambassadors of the United States to Italy American anti-fascists American Roman Catholic writers American women ambassadors American women dramatists and playwrights American women in politics American women non-fiction writers American Writers Association members Aphorists Catholics from Connecticut Converts to Roman Catholicism Dames of Malta Deaths from brain cancer in Washington, D.C. Female critics of feminism Female members of the United States House of Representatives Laetare Medal recipients People from Ridgefield, Connecticut Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut Ward–Belmont College alumni Women in Connecticut politics Writers from Connecticut Writers from New York City 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives