Welcome to this month's E-zine!

I grew up lucky in many ways. Not the least of these was that I had a very smart, free-thinking, free-spirited mother. She was way ahead of the “women’s liberation” movement. A writer, mother, and athlete who could beat most men on a golf course or down a ski hill, she set an example for every young woman who came over to our house.

My mother didn’t care much what women were supposed to do. She cared what she wanted to do, or what the right thing to do was. She was smart enough to pull it off, but more important, courageous enough to stand up for what she believed in.

And surely today this remains one of the most important things we can teach our children.

This month’s story is about one of the most admired American women of the 20^th century. A free thinker and hard worker who came from nothing, she stepped into many roles and handled them all successfully: single parent, playwright, editor at Vanity Fair, foreign correspondent for LIFE magazine, elected representative, US Ambassador to Italy, and advisor to four US presidents.

I hope you enjoy this month’s story of Clare Boothe Luce.

Yours in Leadership,

Doug Keeley

Please visit our website at www.themarkofaleader.com

CLARE BOOTHE LUCE – CARVING A PATH FOR WOMEN

I have been too involved with living to write much - or well - about life.
- Clare Boothe Luce

Clare Boothe did not come into the world with the trappings she ended her life with. Like so many others, her struggles gave her a work ethic which was in no small part responsible for her later successes.

She was born into poverty in New York City in 1903, the illegitimate daughter of an itinerant orchestra violinist and a chorus girl. While the time she spent with her otherwise married father was brief, he did instill in her a love of theater and writing.

The family moved constantly, and by the time she was 8, her parents had separated. Her mother became a call girl to support her two children.

By age 10 she had developed a passion for the stage, a passion that would stay with her for life.

Fortunately her mother believed in the value of a good education, and she somehow managed to get Clare into several good schools, where she graduated first in class. Equally important, it would turn out, she developed a circle of well-connected friends.

At the age of 20, Clare married and had a daughter. But her husband proved to be an abusive alcoholic.

As the country headed into the Great Depression, she was a single mother with a young daughter, facing a very uncertain future. Although she had some money from her divorce, Clare knew she couldn’t - and wouldn’t- simply put her own life on a shelf. She needed a job and, equally important, needed to find an outlet through which to express herself creatively.

Although she had done well in school, Clare had zero practical experience. But she refused to let that stop her.

She contrived a way to meet Conde Nast, the owner of Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines, at a social event. After a brief hello, she asked him straight out for a job on one of his magazines.

The publisher gave her the brush-off – politely, but firmly.

Undeterred, she decided to try again. A few weeks later she showed up in person (with no appointment) at Vogue’s offices. Mr. Nast, she was told, had left for Europe.

On the way out Clare noticed some empty desks belonging to the photo caption writers, who were both away for several weeks.

No-one was paying attention; so she took off her coat, sat down at the desk and started to work on the assignments that had been piling up there.

The publisher and the editor each assumed that the other had hired her. By the time Nast returned, she was already on the payroll… impressing the entire office with her energy and attention to detail.

After a few months, feeling limited by writing picture captions, she took on a new challenge: a job as an editorial assistant at Vanity Fair. Here she arranged interviews, made detailed notes for the photographers, and honed her writing and editing skills.

She was a woman fighting for respect and responsibility in a man’s world. And she knew it. She got in with cunning and courage, but they would not be enough to keep her there.

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.”
- Clare Boothe Luce

Her work ethic and intelligence drove her. By 1933 she had been promoted to Managing Editor of Vanity Fair…having nearly doubled the magazine’s circulation over the previous few years.

But despite this success, only a year later Clare made an unusual and bold move: she decided to leave the magazine so she could focus on what had become her new passion - writing plays.

In 1936 she published what was to become her best-known and most popular work: The Women.

A satire on the lives of wealthy wives and divorcees, it ran for three years on Broadway, toured the globe, and has been filmed several times…most recently in 2008.

While her career was growing, Clare remarried - to Henry Luce, the publisher who had founded Time and Fortune.

Shortly after their marriage, a new publication came onto the America landscape, for which she is given much of the credit. Unlike the news and business focus of Time and Fortune, this focused on the entire spectrum of life, and featured significantly more photography than any news or lifestyle magazine of the time.

It was appropriately called Life, and it went on to become perhaps the greatest chronicle of 20^th century American society. Clare had always had a keen interest in politics and people, and would study current events and political situations until she knew them inside and out. It is generally believed that it was her inspiration and drive that brought Life, literally to life.

Although she was now one of America’s leading American playwrights, she craved new challenges. And in 1940-41, LIFE sent her through war zones from Europe to the Far East, reporting on the conflict brewing. Again she broke ground for women, taking on a role usually only filled by men, facing the same discomforts and dangers encountered by any war correspondent – including bombs, bullets and military arrest.

During these travels, she interviewed a number of key personalities… including US General George Patton, Premier Chiang Kai-Shek and his wife, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India, and Philippine President Manuel Quezon.

These experiences underlined for her the huge impact which politics has on the world. And she realized that, as she had become a privileged member of society as a result of her successful career and her husband’s connections, she could do much more.

So once again, she stepped forward, and took action, and broke new ground for women. In 1943, she became the first congresswoman ever elected in her home state of Connecticut.

During her two terms, she became well known for her strong conservative, Republican, anti-communist views, and her fearlessness about expressing those views to those in authority.

A few years later she was chosen as US Ambassador to Italy… the first American woman to represent her country to a major world power. During her tenure, she was instrumental in helping to settle a serious dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia over the city of Trieste.

In 1956, after three years as ambassador, she resigned her post due to health problems, and retired.

I don't have a warm personal enemy left…they've all died off. I miss them terribly, because they helped define me.
- Clare Boothe Luce

However, she remained active in politics until the end of her life, serving as an advisor to four different presidents.

Clare Boothe Luce paved the way for women around the world who have followed her into the most senior levels of politics, have journeyed to the front zones of war ravaged countries, and have spoken their mind as journalists.

She was fearless and self confident, despite starting life with so many things going against her.

She showed us all that courage and hard work are a one-two combination that can change the world.

In the final analysis there is no other solution to man's progress but the day's honest work, the day's honest decision, the day's generous influences, and the day's good deed.
- Clare Boothe Luce