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Clare Boothe Luce | |
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| United States Ambassador to Italy | |
| In office May 4, 1953 – December 27, 1956 | |
| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Ellsworth Bunker |
| Succeeded by | James David Zellerbach |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 4th district | |
| In office January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1947 | |
| Preceded by | Le Roy D. Downs |
| Succeeded by | John Lodge |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ann Clare Boothe March 10, 1903 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | October 9, 1987 (aged 84) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Conservatism in the United States |
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Clare Boothe Luce (née Ann Clare Boothe; March 10, 1903[1][2] – October 9, 1987) was an American writer, politician, U.S. ambassador, 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 was married to Henry Luce, publisher of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated.
Politically, Luce was a leading conservative in later life and was well known for her anti-communism. In her youth, she briefly aligned herself with the liberalism of President Franklin Roosevelt as a protégé of Bernard Baruch but later became an outspoken critic of Roosevelt.[3] Although she was a strong supporter of the Anglo-American alliance in World War II, she remained outspokenly critical of British colonialism in India.[4]
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 to Ronald Reagan.
- ^ Morris, Sylvia Jukes (January 31, 1988). "In Search of Clare Boothe Luce". The New York Times Magazine. pp. 4 of 5. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
I tracked down her New York birth certificate, and found that she was born not on April 10, 1903, but on March 10 – and not on Riverside Drive, but in the less genteel environs of West 125th Street.
- ^ Clare Boothe Luce's authorized biographer has corrected the misperception, encouraged by Luce herself, that she was born a month later: "I tracked down her New York birth certificate and found that she was born not on April 10, 1903 but on March 10—and not on Riverside Drive but in the less genteel environs of West 125th Street. I told her about the dates and she stared at me. 'Mother always said I was born at Easter. Anyway ... people born under the Aries sign are much more lighthearted and gay than those born under Pisces.'" Sylvia Jukes Morris, "In Search of Clare Boothe Luce", The New York Times Magazine, January 31, 1988
- ^ Morris 1997, pp. 191–98.
- ^ Clare Boothe Luce, Address to the India League of America, August 9, 1943, Clare Boothe Luce Papers, Library of Congress (hereafter CBLP-LC).