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    "label": "List of Women in the Foreign Service",
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    "id": "12005139",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "List of Women in the Foreign Service",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/12005139",
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        "Bertha S. Adkins Papers",
        "Personal Files"
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "logicalDate": "1959-01-01",
            "year": 1959
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    "seq": 2,
    "pageIndex": 0,
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    "ocrText": "Women Ambassadors\nMiss Frances Willis, the first State Department career woman to be\nelevated to the rank of Ambassador, has twice been appointed U.S.\nAmbassador. In April, 1957, she was appointed Ambassador to Norway, where\nshe is now serving. In July, 1953, Miss Willis was named Ambassador to\nSwitzerland. She also was the first U.S. Ambassador to that country as this\ncountry's Legation there was raised to an Embassy in 1953.\nMiss Willis began her Foreign Service as a Vice Consul in Chile in 1927,\nhas served in many strategic posts and at the time of her first Ambassadorial\nappointment, she was the first woman to hold the rank of Foreign Service\nOfficer, Class I.\nPrevious Ambassadors\nMrs. Clare Boothe Luce, appointed U.S. Ambassador to Italy on February\n16, 1953, by President Eisenhower, has the distinction of being the first\nAmerican woman Ambassador to a major European country. She is a former\nmember of Congress, having served two terms as the Representative from\nConnecticut's 4th Congressional District. She resigned from her Ambassa-\ndorial post, January 4, 1957. In the spring of 1959, Mrs. Luce's nomination\nas Ambassador to Brazil was confirmed by the Senate, but she resigned before\ntaking up her duties. The only other woman Ambassador, Mrs. Eugenie\nAnderson, was Ambassador to Denmark, Oct. '49 - May, 1953.\nPrevious Ministers\nWomen Ministers in the United States Foreign Service have numbered\nonly three. The first, Mrs. Ruth Bryan Owens, was Minister to Denmark\nfrom April, 1933 to August 30, 1936. The second, Mrs. J. Borden Harriman\nwas Minister to Norway from May 4, 1937 to February 4, 1941. The third,\nMrs. Perle Mesta, was Minister to Luxembourg from August, 1949 to\nMay, 1953.\nDEPARTMENT OF STATE\nFollowing is a list of women Foreign Service Officers (Class 3 and above) re-\npresenting the United States in the capitals of the world:\nRuth Bacon\nH. Alberta Colclaser\nInternational Relations Officer,\nCivil Air Officer, Paris\nBureau of Far Eastern Affairs\nAlice I. Curran\nKatherine Bracken\nSpecial Assistant, Bureau of\nForeign Service Institute\nPublic Affairs\nMary M. Carmichael\nEthel B. Dietrich\nEconomic Officer, Brussels, Belgium\nEconomic Officer, U.S. Regional\nOrganization, Paris\n-2-"
}