Eugenie Anderson

Eugenie Anderson (May 26, 1909 – March 31, 1997), also known as Helen Eugenie Moore Anderson, was a United States diplomat. She is best known as the first woman appointed chief of mission at the ambassador level in US history. It was there she met her husband, John Pierce Anderson, whom she married in 1929 and with whom she had two children, Hans and Johanna.

Public life

Anderson's interest in international affairs had been stirred by a trip to Europe in 1937, where in Germany she first saw a totalitarian state in action, as she recalled. On her return she spoke frequently for the League of Women Voters, fighting the strong isolationist policies of the time.

Truman's appointment made her the first woman appointed chief of mission at the ambassador level in US history. (The first female chief of mission at the minister rank was Ruth Bryan Owen in 1933). Despite undercurrents of sexism and discomfort in the press with her career flaunting gender roles, she was well known in Denmark and was sometimes called "Auntie Anderson" by the media. Anderson was a strong proponent for people's diplomacy, or public diplomacy. For example, immediately after she presented her credentials to King Frederik, she invited the workers who furnished her official residence and their families to a house-warming party. Anderson also learned and spoke publicly in Danish which was unusual as such language skills were not seen as necessary at the time. Her popularity and high-profile allowed her to exert some political force: she convinced Denmark to make a stronger commitment to NATO, strengthened the Greenland Treaty, and in 1950 became the first American woman to sign a treaty, with the Treaty of Commerce and Friendship with Denmark, which she drafted. When she resigned from this position in 1953, King Frederik IX awarded her the Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog, a high honor.

In 1958 Anderson campaigned for, but did not win, the DFL nomination for U.S. Senator, which ultimately went to Eugene McCarthy. She was later appointed by Kennedy to be ambassador to Bulgaria (1962–1964). Thus, Anderson became the first American woman to represent the United States in a country allied with the Soviet Union. She was also the first American diplomat to speak on Bulgarian television and radio. While ambassador to Bulgaria, Anderson negotiated the settlement of outstanding Bulgarian debts to the US from World War II.

After her retirement from these posts, President Johnson appointed Anderson member of the US delegation to the United Nations, serving on the Trusteeship Council and the Security Council.

Retirement and death Anderson retired from the State Department in September 1968. She continued to work for Humphrey's political campaigns. Anderson died in Red Wing, Minnesota at the age of 87.