Opening the door to people-to-people diplomacy

75 years ago, the history of US diplomacy recorded the first female Ambassador…

Ambassador Eugenie Anderson signs the Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between the United States and Denmark on October 1, 1951. (Source: NMAD)

In October 1949, Eugenie Moore Anderson (1909-1997) was appointed US Ambassador to Denmark, becoming the first woman to hold the position of head of a US diplomatic mission. Later, Ms. Anderson also worked at the US diplomatic mission in Bulgaria and the United Nations, striving to build a personal style that she described as "people's diplomacy".

Sharing on the ShareAmerica page, Ambassador and Head of the US Mission to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that in the context of the diplomatic profession at that time being dominated by men, Ms. Anderson "defied all difficulties to make a lasting mark on US-Europe relations after World War II".

In January 1952, the cover of Quick magazine featured a photograph of US Ambassador to Denmark Eugenie Anderson with the caption: "Is Diplomacy a Woman's Job?" The article mentioned Ms. Anderson's work alongside the diplomatic careers of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt as a delegate to the United Nations, US Ambassador to Luxembourg Perle Mesta, and the names and titles of women who held similar positions from India, Chile, and Brazil.

The definitive answer for Quick readers is: Yes, diplomacy is indeed a woman’s job. Eugenie Anderson, the first American woman to hold the rank of Ambassador, achieved many outstanding achievements in a diplomatic career spanning more than 30 years, as a leader of the Minnesota Democratic Party, Ambassador to Denmark (1949-1953), Minnesota Senate candidate in 1958, Ambassador to Bulgaria (1962-1964), and delegate to the United Nations (1965-1968).

From international concerns…

Born and raised in Adair, Iowa, Anderson studied music at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, before transferring to Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she met and married John Anderson in 1931.

Becoming interested in international affairs, she traveled to Europe in 1937, as Hitler rose to power in Germany. She returned home and joined the League of Women Voters in Minnesota, quickly becoming a strong advocate for international diplomacy and later the founding of the United Nations.

After being appointed by President Harry Truman (1884-1972) as the US Ambassador to Denmark in October 1949, Ms. Anderson learned Danish so that she could travel around the country and converse with the local people. She established the Fulbright exchange program with Denmark to expand understanding and friendship between the two countries.

It was Ambassador Anderson who negotiated a mutual defense agreement and signed the Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between the two countries, becoming the first American woman to sign such a treaty.

Ambassador Eugenie Anderson meets farmers in Bulgaria. (Source: NMAD)

In 1960, President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) appointed Ms. Anderson as the US Ambassador to Bulgaria. She was also the first American woman to head a diplomatic mission to a Soviet bloc country. She was also the first American diplomat to speak on Bulgarian television and radio.

Here, the American diplomat wallpapered the windows of the American mission with pictures introducing American life and culture to Bulgarians passing by... During this time, it was Ms. Anderson who negotiated the settlement of Bulgaria's unpaid debts to the United States from World War II.

After completing her term in Bulgaria in December 1964, a year later, Ms. Anderson was appointed as the US representative to the United Nations Trusteeship Council and assisted newly independent countries in Africa and Asia. She is also considered the first woman to sit on the United Nations Security Council.

Bulgarians are looking at photos of Ms. Anderson and American life through the window of the US Embassy. Source: NMAD)

Heritage forever intact

Since Ms. Anderson, hundreds of women have served as U.S. Ambassadors. Today, one-third of U.S. Ambassadors around the world are women.

According to US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung, many female diplomats have followed Ms. Anderson, bringing “diversity of ideas, solutions and ways of connecting with the public.”

As a US diplomat, Ms. Chung served in embassies in countries including Colombia, Iraq and Vietnam. She regularly met with other female ambassadors. “We thought about ways we could empower young diplomats, young entrepreneurs and Sri Lankan women,” she said. “I loved my job.”

President John F. Kennedy receives Eugenie Anderson in the Oval Office in 1962. (Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)

As for Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, “I would not be where I am, or who I am, without pioneers like Eugenie Moore Anderson.”

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield said she also often thinks “about leaders like Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, and above all my mother — they taught me how to move forward, be bold, and dream big.”

Ambassador and Head of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield (center) talks with Haitian Foreign Minister Dominique Dupuy on July 22 in Haiti. (Source: U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince)

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/nu-dai-su-my-dau-tien-mo-canh-cua-ngoai-giao-nhan-dan-291841.html