Millicent (Hammond) Fenwick (1910-1992)
U.S. Representative from New Jersey & U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Food Agencies. etc.
She began her career as a model and magazine editor at Vogue before authoring the "Vogue Book of Etiquette" in 1948. Her political career started in 1958 when she joined the New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders in her native Bernardsville. She became increasingly involved in civil rights and consumer protection issues during the 1960s and in 1969 she was appointed to the New Jersey Committee on Aging and in the same year won election to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1969. She served until 1974 when she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. During her four terms in Congress (1975-1983), she became known for her fierce independence, her signature personal habit and visual trademark pipe-smoking, and her commitment to human rights.
She served on the House Ethics Committee and championed consumer protection legislation, feminist causes, and international human rights, particularly advocating against apartheid in South Africa. In 1982, she ran for the U.S. Senate but narrowly lost to Democrat Frank Lautenberg in an expensive and closely watched race. After leaving Congress, President Reagan appointed her U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, where she served from 1983 to 1987. She is widely believed to have inspired Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury character Lacey Davenport.
She served on the House Ethics Committee and championed consumer protection legislation, feminist causes, and international human rights, particularly advocating against apartheid in South Africa. In 1982, she ran for the U.S. Senate but narrowly lost to Democrat Frank Lautenberg in an expensive and closely watched race. After leaving Congress, President Reagan appointed her U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, where she served from 1983 to 1987. She is widely believed to have inspired Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury character Lacey Davenport.
