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Clare Boothe Luce (March 10, 1903〔Clare Boothe Luce's authorized biographer has corrected the misperception, encouraged by Luce herself, that she was born a month later: "I tracked down her New York birth certificate and found that she was born not on April 10, 1903 but on March 10—and not on Riverside Drive but in the less genteel environs of West 125th Street. I told her about the dates and she stared at me. 'Mother always said I was born at Easter. Anyway ... people born under the Aries sign are much more lighthearted and gay than those born under Pisces.'" Sylvia Jukes Morris, "In Search of Clare Boothe Luce", ''New York Times Magazine'', January 31, 1988〕 – October 9, 1987) was an American author and politician, and later a US Ambassador. She was the first American woman appointed to a major ambassadorial post abroad. A versatile author, she is best known for her 1936 hit play ''The Women'', which had an all-female cast. Her writings extended from drama and screen scenarios to fiction, journalism, and war reportage. She was the wife of Henry Luce, publisher of ''Time'', ''Life'', ''Fortune'', and ''Sports Illustrated''. Politically, Luce became steadily more conservative in later life. In her youth, however, she briefly aligned herself with the liberalism of Franklin D. Roosevelt, as a protege of Bernard Baruch.〔Morris 1997, pp. 191–98.〕 Although she was a strong supporter of the Anglo-American alliance in World War II, she remained outspokenly critical of the British presence in India.〔Clare Boothe Luce, Address to the India League of America, August 9, 1943, Clare Boothe Luce Papers, Library of Congress (hereafter CBLP-LC).〕 A charismatic and forceful public speaker, especially after her conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1946, she campaigned for every Republican presidential candidate from Wendell Willkie to Ronald Reagan. ==Early life== Luce was born Ann Clare Boothe in New York City on March 10, 1903, the second child of Anna Clara Schneider (a.k.a. Ann Snyder Murphy; a.k.a. Ann Boothe, a.k.a. Ann Clare Austin) and William Franklin Boothe (a.k.a. "John J. Murphy"; a.k.a. "Jord Murfe").〔Morris 1997, pp. 15–32.〕 Her parents were not married and would separate in 1912. Her father, a sophisticated man and a brilliant violinist,〔Morris 1997, pp. 17–18, 152–53.〕 instilled in his daughter a love of literature, if not of music. But William Boothe had trouble holding down any job, and spent years as a travelling salesman. Parts of young Clare's childhood were spent in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, Chicago, Illinois, and Union City, New Jersey as well as New York City.〔Morris 1997, pp. 29–42.〕 Clare Boothe had an elder brother, David Franklin Boothe. She attended the Cathedral schools in Garden City and Tarrytown, New York, graduating first in her class in 1919 at the age of 16. (Clare Boothe Luce, Author and Diplomat, by Joseph Lyons, Chelsey House Publisher, 1989, p 26 ). Her ambitious mother's initial plan for her was to become an actress. Clare understudied Mary Pickford on Broadway at age 10, and had a small part in Thomas Edison's 1915 movie, ''The Heart of a Waif.''〔Morris 1997, pp. 49–52.〕 After a tour of Europe with her mother and stepfather, Dr. Albert E. Austin, whom Ann Boothe married in 1919, she became interested in the women's suffrage movement, and was hired by Alva Belmont to work for the National Woman's Party in Washington, D.C. and Seneca Falls, New York.〔Morris 1997, pp. 110–14, 120–21.〕 Highly intelligent, ambitious, and blessed with a deceptively fragile blonde beauty, the young Clare Boothe soon abandoned ideological feminism to pursue other interests. She wed George Tuttle Brokaw, millionaire heir to a New York clothing fortune, on August 10, 1923, at the age of 20. They had one daughter, Ann Clare Brokaw (August 22, 1924 – January 11, 1944). According to Boothe, Brokaw was a hopeless alcoholic, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1929.〔Morris 1997, pp. 130–31, 146–148. George Brokaw remarried, to Frances Villiers Seymour. After his death in 1935, Frances Brokaw remarried to actor Henry Fonda, and became the mother of Jane and Peter Fonda.〕 On November 23, 1935, Clare Boothe married Henry Robinson Luce, the publisher of ''Time'', ''Life'', and ''Fortune''. She thereafter called herself Clare Boothe Luce, a frequently-misspelled name that was often confused with that of her exact contemporary Claire Luce, a stage and film actress. As a professional writer, Luce continued to use her maiden name. On January 11, 1944, her daughter and only child Ann Clare Brokaw, a senior at Stanford University, was killed in an automobile accident. As a result of this tragedy, Luce explored psychotherapy and religion. After grief counseling with radio priest Fulton Sheen she joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1946.〔''New York Times'', February 17, 1946.〕 She became an ardent essayist and lecturer in celebration of her faith, and was ultimately honored by being named a Dame of Malta. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Clare Boothe Luce」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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