Millicent Vernon Fenwick (née Hammond; February 25, 1910 – September 16, 1992) was an American fashion model, Vogue magazine editor, socialite, Republican Party politician, and diplomat who represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1983. She also served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1970 to 1972 and as the first United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture from 1983 to 1987. She was famous for her energy and colorful enthusiasm and regarded as a political moderate or progressive within her party. She was outspoken in favor of civil rights and the women's movement.

Early life and education

Millicent Vernon Hammond was born in New York City on February 25, 1910 to Ogden H. Hammond (1869–1956) and his first wife, Mary Picton Stevens (1885–1915). Her father was a graduate of Yale University, an insurance and real estate broker, and local Republican Party politician in Bernardsville, New Jersey. He had been born to a prominent family in Louisville, Kentucky, and his father John Henry Hammond had served as chief of staff to William Tecumseh Sherman during the Vicksburg campaign. Her mother, Mary, was the heiress to a prominent Hoboken, New Jersey family and a great-granddaughter of Edwin Augustus Stevens, who had founded Stevens Institute of Technology. Millicent was the second of three children, with siblings Mary Stevens Hammond and Ogden Jr., and they were raised in a Bernardsville mansion with 50 rooms.

In 1917, he remarried to Marguerite McClure Howland. According to her biographer Amy Schapiro, Millicent had a poor relationship with her new stepmother, who was preoccupied with her social status and her own son from a previous marriage, and her father remained absent from his children's lives and upbringing. Instead, Millicent became close with her siblings, especially her sister Mary.

By 1952, Fenwick retired from work, as her children were old enough to support themselves and she could derive a substantial income from her trust accounts, which consisted of her inheritance from her mother and her family's real estate.

Political career

thumb|right|Fenwick with [[President of the United States|President Gerald Ford and Clifford P. Case in 1976]]

During the 1950s, Fenwick became involved in politics via the civil rights movement and volunteered for the NAACP, the Somerset County legal aid society, local political candidates, and a prison reform group. When an anonymous member of the New Jersey delegation criticized Fenwick as "not into the hard work of putting together coalitions necessary to get legislation passed," her Democratic committee colleague Stephen Solarz praised Fenwick in an open letter for her active participation on drafting sanctions against Rhodesia, providing military assistance to El Salvador, and promoting nuclear nonproliferation.

After Fenwick left the House following her loss, President Ronald Reagan appointed her as United States Ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome. She held the position from June 1983 to March 1987, when she retired from public life at the age of 77.

Personal life and image

Fenwick was 5 feet 10 inches tall. For the duration of her political career, Fenwick wore tailored wool-tweed suits from her time as a fashion model in the 1940s.

Death and legacy

Fenwick died of heart failure in her home town of Bernardsville on September 16, 1992. Always decorated, it is near the Bernardsville train station.

Some consider Fenwick the model for the character of Lacey Davenport in Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury, although Trudeau himself has insisted the character was modeled on no one in particular, and Davenport first appeared several months before Fenwick was elected to Congress.

Electoral history

  • 1974 U.S. House
  • Millicent Fenwick (R), 53.4%
  • Frederick Bohen (D), 43.5%
  • 1976 U.S. House
  • Millicent Fenwick (R), 66.9%
  • Frank Nero (D), 31.3%
  • 1978 U.S. House
  • Millicent Fenwick (R), 72.6%
  • John Fahy (D), 27.4%
  • 1980 U.S. House
  • Millicent Fenwick (R), 77.5%
  • Kieran Pillon, Jr. (D) 20.5%
  • 1982 U.S. Senate
  • Frank Lautenberg (D), 51%
  • Millicent Fenwick (R), 48%

See also

  • Women in the United States House of Representatives

References

Further reading

  • Lamson, Peggy. In the Vanguard: Six American Women in Public Life (1979).
  • Schapiro, Amy. Millicent Fenwick: Her Way (2003).
  • Schapiro, Amy, "Millicent Fenwick" American National Biography (2003) online free https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0700784

Primary sources

  • Fenwick, Millicent. "Speak Frankly." Foreign Policy 39 (1980): 11–13. online
  • Fenwick, Millicent. Vogue's Book of Etiquette: A Complete Guide to Traditional Forms and Modern Usage (Simon and Schuster, 1948). online free to borrow
  • Fenwick, Millicent. Speaking Up (1982), includes her congressional newsletters, editorials, and other articles she wrote.
  • MillicentFenwick.com
  • Millicent Hammond Fenwick at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
  • Millicent Hammond Fenwick Collection at the Carl Albert Center

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