EUGENIE M. (EUGENIE MOORE) ANDERSON:

Eugenie Moore Anderson was born in 1909 in Adair, Iowa, the daughter of Flora Belle Moore and Methodist minister Ezekiel Arrowsmith Moore. In pursuit of a musical career she studied at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. In 1929 she transferred to Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she met John Pierce Anderson from Red Wing, Minnesota. They were married in 1930 and moved to New York City, where Eugenie continued her musical studies at the Institute of Musical Art and John pursued his art interests. Several years later the couple returned to live at Tower View, the Anderson family farm in Red Wing.

In 1944 Eugenie Anderson became active in Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) politics, having previously worked with the League of Women Voters, served on the local school board, and participated in other civic organizations. She was especially interested in problems of international affairs and gave many speeches under DFL auspices on the United Nations and foreign policy matters. In 1948 Anderson was elected Democratic national committeewoman and a Minnesota delegate-at-large to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia; there she campaigned actively for Harry S. Truman and Hubert H. Humphrey.

In October 1949 President Truman appointed Anderson United States Ambassador to Denmark; she was the first American woman to serve as the chief of a mission abroad. While ambassador she was also chosen as United States representative to the third session of the United Nations Ad Hoc Commission on Prisoners of War, which convened in August 1952. Later that year Anderson additionally spent several weeks campaigning for United States presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson and was a principal speaker at the Democratic National Convention. When she resigned from her ambassadorial post in January 1953, Anderson returned to Red Wing with the Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog, Denmark's highest honor, awarded to her by King Frederik IX.

From 1953 to 1962 Anderson travelled and lectured throughout western Europe, India, and the United States as both private citizen and official representative for various government bodies. In 1957 she toured the Iron Curtain country refugee camps in Europe as a member of the Zellerbach Commission. From 1959 to 1961 she served as a board member of the American Association for the United Nations, a board member of the U.S. Committee for Refugees, and a member of the Democratic National Advisory Committee on Foreign Policy. From 1961 to 1962 Anderson served as vice chairwoman of the Citizens' Committee for International Development.

Minnesota government and the DFL Party tapped her skills as well during this period. From 1955 to 1960 Anderson chaired the Minnesota State Commission for Fair Employment Practices. In 1957 Governor Orville Freeman appointed her chairwoman of the Minnesota Centennial International Guests program. In early 1958 Anderson challenged Eugene McCarthy for the DFL endorsement in the United States Senate race but was defeated. Yet she continued to take an active role in party politics, especially working to strengthen Hubert Humphrey's political base in and outside Minnesota.

In 1962 Eugenie Anderson was named American Minister to Bulgaria by President John F. Kennedy, thus becoming the first American woman to serve as chief of a diplomatic mission in a Soviet bloc country. She served in this post until December 1964.

From 1965 to 1968 Anderson accepted several appointments as part of the official United States delegation to the United Nations in New York. In August 1965 she was chosen to be United States representative to the United Nations Trusteeship Council; eventually she was elected president of this body. In July 1966 Anderson also became alternate United States representative to the United Nations Security Council. In 1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson sent her to Vietnam to observe the progress of the Revolutionary Development Program, a large-scale political and social stabilization effort.

Between 1968 and 1972 Anderson began to relinquish her official United Nations responsibilities. She returned to Minnesota and campaigned intensively for Hubert Humphrey, both for president in 1968 and for United States senator in 1970.

Eugenie and John Anderson had a son, Hans Anderson; a daughter, Elizabeth Johanna (Anderson) Ghei; and six grandchildren.

The above sketch was taken from the papers; Who's Who in Minnesota (1958); and Who's Who of American Women, third edition (1962).

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The collection is divided into the following series:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions:

Use and Reproduction: Copyright in the transcript of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library oral history interview with Eugenie Anderson was donated by Anderson to the Kennedy Library. Quotation or publication beyond the fair use provisions of the copyright law requires the written permission of the director of the Kennedy Library. The transcript may not be copied or duplicated in any way without the permission of the director of the Kennedy Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Eugenie Anderson Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 7704; 11,682; 14,340; 16,961

Location of Master Files

Digital masters of audio reels are maintained on the Society's secure digital collections storage servers and are managed and preserved in accordance with archival best practices.

Processing Information:

Processed by: Doris Hanson, September 1981; Lynn Leitte, March 2003; Deborah Kahn, May 2004; addition by David B. Peterson, January 2015

Digital audio transferred from the master audio reels by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes, May 2018

Catalog ID number: 990017151940104294

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Eugenie Anderson's career as United States Ambassador to Denmark from 1949 to 1953 is documented by several sets of files suggesting the variety and complexity of her diplomatic responsibilities abroad.

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These files represent fifteen years of Eugenie Anderson's public affairs career following her diplomatic service in Denmark, which had won her national and international recognition not only as the State Department's first American woman ambassador but also as an advisor in matters of foreign policy planning and negotiation.

Correspondence and printed items, largely for the period from 1953 to 1964, reflect her involvement in state and national Democratic committee work as well as her political appointments to such positions as chair of the Minnesota State Commission for Fair Employment Practices (1955-1960), board member of the American Association for the United Nations (1959-1961), and vice-chair of the Citizens' Committee for International Development (1961-1962).

Anderson also lectured and travelled extensively during this period. Her files, along with annotated desk calendars, provide information on Anderson's seven-month tour of the Far East and India in 1961, her periodic visits to Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, and numerous speaking engagements on behalf of international organizations and foundations. Her diplomatic service in Bulgaria (1962-1964) is documented elsewhere in the collection.

The Red Wing Files at the beginning of this series represent the first filing system Anderson used for her papers after leaving Denmark and moving back to Minnesota. All other materials in the series reflect a later but more complete filing arrangement. Frequent correspondents in the papers include Hubert H. Humphrey, whom Anderson supported during each of his campaigns for United States senator and for President; India Edwards; Orville L. Freeman; and William (Bill) Roll, former public affairs officer for Anderson at the American embassy in Copenhagen and a close family friend.

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State Department reports and briefings, ministry staff records, correspondence, detailed Anderson family newsletters, and other items cover Eugenie Anderson's service as diplomatic chief of mission in Bulgaria.

Of special note in the papers are Anderson's reports for the State Department regarding incidents or visits with Soviet and Bulgarian officials in Sofia as well as her long, descriptive newsletters home about life behind the Iron Curtain.

Chief correspondents in the papers are Hubert H. Humphrey and U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman.

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Texts of Eugenie Anderson's speeches, background reference files, lecture tour itineraries, and correspondence regarding speech invitations make up this series of papers. Included are speeches made while Anderson served as ambassador to Denmark and diplomatic chief of mission in Bulgaria. Other speeches relate to Anderson's support for Harry S. Truman in 1948, Adlai Stevenson in 1952, and Hubert H. Humphrey in 1968 for the presidency.

Additional speech topics in the papers include the United Nations and its programs, U.S.-Soviet foreign relations, women in foreign affairs, and women in politics.

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The political files reflect Eugenie Anderson's active lifetime involvement in Minnesota DFL and national Democratic politics. Earliest memos, press clippings, party officer and delegate lists, and miscellaneous items refer to the Minnesota and national Democratic conventions of 1948, as well as the campaign activities of the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), a liberal self-avowed anti-Communist organization supported by Anderson, Hubert Humphrey, and others.

Later files document Anderson's DFL Senate endorsement campaign in 1958, her work with the Minnesota centennial planning committee the same year, and her fact-finding trip to Vietnam in 1967 as President Lyndon Johnson's representative.

The papers also provide information about Anderson's involvement in Hubert Humphrey's presidential campaign in 1968. The campaign policy drafts and DFL statement on foreign policy suggest her special interest in Humphrey's political strategies for solving international problems.

The 1970 Humphrey campaign file consists of editorials about Humphrey's candidacy for the United States Senate.

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Eugenie Anderson's personal correspondence is arranged chronologically and includes both family letters and a variety of career-related letters. The earliest correspondence chiefly consists of letters from family and friends about personal matters. Chief correspondents include Jean and Frank Chesley of Red Wing, Mary and Charles Biederman of Red Wing, Louise Sargent of Haverford, Pennsylvania, and Julie Ross of Des Moines, Iowa.

Personal correspondence files for the period after 1960 resemble Anderson's miscellaneous office files in that the correspondents include political colleagues, associates in foreign service posts, and numerous people requesting her participation in organizational activities in the United States and abroad. Frequent correspondents are India Edwards, Vivian Meisen, and Mrs. Carroll Binder.

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Sound recordings:

Emerging Africa and the United Nations, October 20, 1960. 1 master audiotape reel and 1 user audiodisc (CD): 4 3/4 inches.

Aired on WNBC.

Speech: Farewell party for Minister Anderson at Red Wing, Minnesota, July 1, 1962. 5 master audiotape reels and 1 user audio file: MP3 (60 MB).

The box containing Reel 1 includes a list of the individuals who spoke at this event: William Rogers, Dorothy Nelson, Philip Duff, Jack Frederick (Reel 1); Kingsley Holman, George Gorman, Warren Eustis, and George Farr (Reel 2); A. M. (Sandy) Keith and Demetrios Jelatis (Reel 3); and Eugenie Anderson (Reels 4 and 5).

Digital version

July 4th speech of American minister given over Radio Sofia, July 4, 1963. 2 master audiotape reels and 1 user audiodisc (CD): 4 3/4 inches.

In Bulgarian.

Talk at St. Olaf, March 29, 1974. 1 master audiocassette and 1 user audio file: MP3 (28 MB).

Digital version

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A sound recording of Anderson's speech Minnesota and the Atlantic Community (1955) is cataloged separately in the Minnesota Historical Society sound and visual collection.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Diplomatic and consular service, American.

Presidents -- United States -- Election.

Women -- Political activity.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Places:

Bulgaria.

Denmark.

India.

Minnesota--Politics and government--1945-1980.

United States--Foreign relations.

Persons:

Bohr, Niels Henrik David, 1885-1962, author.

Chesley, Jean, author.

Edwards, India, author.

Freeman, Orville L., author.

Hedtoft, Hans, 1903-1955, author.

Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978, author.

Kampelman, Max M., 1920-2013, author.

Meisen, Vivian, author.

Roll, William, author.

Sargeant, Louis, author.

Snavely, Ralph A., author.

Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972, author.

Organizations:

Americans for Democratic Action.

Democratic National Committee (U.S.).

Democratic Party.

Minnesota--State Fair Employment Practices Commission.

Minnesota Statehood Centennial Commission.

United Nations.

United States -- Congress -- Elections.

Document Types:

Audiotapes.

Photographs.

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