Clare Boothe Luce

By 1942 she was fully involved in wartime politics and ran for and was elected as a representative to Congress for Connecticut's Fourth District. Her most famous saying was: "No good deed goes unpunished."  She often spoke about the problems of women trying to succeed in a world mainly controlled by men.  She said: "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.'

As a child, Clare developed a serious interest in writing.  She wrote comments for pictures published in Vogue. In 1930 she became associate editor for Vanity Fair. She wrote reports about social events and famous people in New York.  Later these reports were published in a book. She became a top editor at Vanity Fair and worked there until 1934. By then, she was also writing plays.  One play was called "Abide With Me."  It was about a man who mistreats his wife.  "Abide With Me" opened in a theater on Broadway in New York City in 1935. Soon after it opened, she married Henry Robinson Luce, who was a famous magazine publisher. They were together for more than thirty years.

Her second and most popular play, "The Women," made fun of rich women. It opened on Broadway in 1936. The show became increasingly popular, and was eventually made into a movie. Another play, "Kiss the Boys Goodbye," also was a success. So was her next play, "Margin For Error." All three plays were noted for their use of sharp language and making fun of human failings. Anxious to convince people of the dangers of isolationism, she wrote and published a non-fiction book about her travels in Europe just as World War II was breaking out. The book was titled Europe in the Spring. The book was a vivid, anecdotal account of her four-month visit to "a world where men have decided to die together because they are unable to find a way to live together."


A tragic accident affected Luce in 1944.  Her 19 year old daughter Ann was killed in a car accident.  She experienced severe emotional problems. She demanded to know why God had taken her daughter. A Reverend said that her daughter had died so that her mother could learn about the meaning of life. Luce eventually recovered and returned to Congress and her love of writing.

Luce was instrumental in establishing the Atomic Energy Commission and was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Italy, becoming the first American woman to represent her country to a major world power. During the 1980s, she served as an adviser to three presidents, and in 1981 she became a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  That is the highest honor a president can give to an American citizen. Unfortunately, she had a long battle with cancer, and in 1987 it took her life. Today she is often referred to as one of the most important and admired women in American history.


Sources
http://www.hluce.org/cblbio.aspx
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKluceC.htm