Topic: Clare Booth Luce

Clare Boothe Luce in 1932, photo by Carl Van Vechten

Clare Boothe Luce (April 10, 1903, New York City – October 9, 1987, Washington D.C.) was an American playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socialite and one of the first women ever in the U.S. Congress, representing the state of Connecticut.

Clare Boothe Luce was born Ann Clare Boothe, the illegitimate child of dancer Anna Snyder and William Franklin Boothe. Although her father, a violinist, deserted the family when Clare was 9, he instilled in his daughter a love of music and literature. Parts of her childhood were spent in Chicago, Illinois; Memphis, Tennessee; and, with her mother, in France.