At the age of 10, the father of Clare Boothe Luce (1903–1987), William Boothe, left her and her mother, Anna Clara Snyder, and brother, David, to fend for themselves. The family moved back to New York City, where for two years Luce worked stage plays to help her mother pay the bills. At 12, the family had saved enough money to send her to the Cathedral School of St. Mary on Long Island and Miss Mason’s School in Tarrytown.
She grew up armed with a quick wit and sarcastic sense of humor. As her schooling progressed, so did her writing ability. She was a beautiful and charming girl who, at the age of 20, caught the eye of 43-year-old millionaire George Brokaw. The two married and had a daughter, but their marriage lasted only six years. Her divorce in 1929 resulted in a large financial settlement, but she hardly favored the world of wealthy socialites. She desired to prove she could make it on her own and went to work as a caption writer for Vogue. By 1931, she joined another Condé Nast publication, Vanity Fair, writing satirical pieces about high society. Two years later, she became the magazine’s managing editor.
Luce’s combination of humor, wit, and writing led her to write several scripts. Shortly after marrying Henry Luce, the founder of Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune magazines in 1935, she penned her Broadway hit “The Women,” a comedy about the gossipy drama of several well-to-do women in Manhattan. She would write several other successful plays, including “Kiss the Boys Goodbye” and “Margin for Error.”
Her gift for comedy and satire drifted toward the dramatic when she became a war correspondent for Life in 1939 and 1940. She wrote about her experiences in Europe and the Far East in her 1940 book, “Europe in the Spring.” During her time in Trinidad, she was held under house arrest by British Customs when her Life article about the Allies’s lack of preparedness in Libya proved too accurate. Winston Churchill, the British prime minister and Luce’s personal friend, noted her critiques and made preparatory changes to Britain’s Middle East military policy.
Before America ever entered into World War II, Luce was a vocal critic of President Franklin Roosevelt, whom she felt had mishandled America’s approach to Japan, Germany, and Italy. She supported 1940 Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie and was eventually convinced to run for office. She had shown interest in politics since the Great Depression, but possessed no experience in the political game. Regardless, she proved she could hold her own when she defeated the Democratic incumbent Le Roy Donnelly Downs for Congressional office representing Connecticut. She served two consecutive terms. Using her wit and humor, she remained a vocal critic of Roosevelt and also raised the alarm about postwar Soviet objectives.
After her daughter and only child, Ann Clare Brokaw, was killed in an auto crash in January 1944, she decided against seeking re-election. Her political impact and cultural influence, however, made her a sought-after ally. She declined the post of secretary of labor from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, but did accept his appointment to become ambassador to Italy. There, she was instrumental in resolving a territorial dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia. She was a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board for the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan Administrations, and in 1983 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
