Arvonne Fraser

Arvonne Fraser Library, 1222 4th St SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Viewed from the northeast.

Arvonne Skelton Fraser (September 1, 1925 – August 7, 2018) was an American women's rights advocate and political campaigner. She also managed the political campaigns of her husband Donald M. Fraser during his career, from 1954 to 1979.

Early life Fraser was born on September 1, 1925, in Lamberton, Minnesota, to parents Orland Delbert and Phyllis Dufrene Skelton. In 1948, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal arts from the University of Minnesota. She became vice-chair of the party in 1956, a position she held until 1962.

In 1976, Fraser led the Carter-Mondale presidential campaign in the Upper Midwest. After the election victory, she was appointed Counselor, Office of Presidential Personnel in the Jimmy Carter administration, and later served as director of the Office of Women in Development at the United States Agency for International Development from 1977 to 1981. She was a U.S. representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and was a member of the U.S. delegations to the first two UN World Conferences on Women.

Fraser was a senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, from 1982 to 1994. At the Humphrey Institute (now the Humphrey School), she directed the International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW) and cofounded the school's Center on Women and Public Policy. the pair lost the DFL primary. From 1993 to 1994, she served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

Alongside her own career, Fraser ran the political campaigns of her husband, including for his elections to the Minnesota Senate (1954–1962), the U.S. House of Representatives (1963–1979) and the mayoralty of Minneapolis (1980–1993). Every campaign she managed for him resulted in a successful election outcome.

The Arvonne Fraser Library in Dinkytown was named after her in 2019.

Personal life She married Perry Morgan in 1946; they divorced in 1949. In 1950, she married Donald M. Fraser, and the couple had six children (Thomas, Mary, John, Lois, Anne, and Jean) and seven grandchildren.

Book chapters A reprint of Also available online through the University of Minnesota, Human Rights Library.