(March is Women’s History Month. Acton will be highlighting a number of women who have contributed significantly to the issue of liberty during this month.)
Clare Booth Luce was a woman of the 20th century: a suffragette, well-educated, a career woman, intensely loyal to her country. She was known in the literary world as a playwright and journalist, but during World War II, she became very interested in politics and chose to run for a Congressional seat in Connecticut as a Republican. Her platform was, in part, based on her belief that America (under the leadership of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) was ill-prepared for World War II. She served on the Military Affairs Committee, and espoused some isolationist stances.
Luce was a mother to one child, Ann, who was killed at the age of 19 in a car accident. The loss left Luce devastated, ill to the point where she was hospitalized for depression. Upon recovering, she began to write plays again, and eventually, found her way back into politics.
Under the Eisenhower administration, she was appointed ambassador to Italy and then Brazil. Her stances on Communism and her ire for Democratic foes often left her in hot water, and at one point, she resigned her post in Brazil after a scathing remark about a Democratic opponent.
She lived a rather quiet life following the death of her husband, but served as part of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under Nixon, Ford and Reagan. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan; the medal is awarded for meritorious service to the United States and its security and national interests.
Luce was savvy, chic, smart and intensely driven. She was also aware, as a woman of the 20th century, that her work ethic reflected on other women as well: “Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, “She doesn’t have what it takes”; They will say, “Women don’t have what it takes”. By anyone’s standards, Luce had what it took.