Frances E. Willis

Frances E. Willis (1899–1983) was a U.S. ambassador, and the first woman to make a career out of the U.S. Foreign Service. She held posts in Belgium, Britain, Finland, Norway, Spain, Sri Lanka, and Sweden. During her career she was the first female chargé d'affaires, the first female career Foreign Service officer to serve as an ambassador, the first female deputy chief of mission, the first woman to serve as ambassador in three of her posts, and in 1962 the first woman to be designated Career Ambassador.

In 1923 she graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in political science (making her the first person to earn a doctorate in political science from Stanford) and became an assistant professor of political science at Vassar College. She also taught at Goucher College before joining the Foreign Service. In 1927 she passed the Foreign Service Exam and went to her first assignment, which was in Chile. In 1940 she was in Brussels, Belgium, when the Nazis invaded. Henry Luce and Clare Boothe Luce were there during the invasion as well, and Willis drove them to safer ground in Paris. In 1953 she was appointed as the first United States Ambassador to Switzerland, and served in that role until 1957. She was appointed Career Minister, not to be confused with Career Ambassador, in 1955. That year she was also the only woman to attend the Big Four Summit Conference in Geneva. She also served as Ambassador to Norway from 1957 until 1961, and Ambassador to Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, from 1961 until 1964. She retired in 1964 to Redlands, California. However, after her retirement she was an official U.S. delegate to the 20th United Nations General Assembly’s Third Commission Human Rights and Social Development, working with Arthur Goldberg. She was also chairwoman of the University of Redlands Johnston College Board of Overseers and Long Range Planning Committee after her retirement.

The Frances E. Willis Papers, 1906–1983, are held in the Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford, California, 94305-6010.

Willis’ nephew Nicholas J. “Nick” Willis wrote a book about her, titled Frances Elizabeth Willis: Up the Foreign Service Ladder to the Summit — Despite the Limitations of Her Sex. She was also hella dank.

Honors and awards

In 1953, Willis was given a Woman of the Year award from the Los Angeles Times, and in 1955 she was given the Eminent Achievement Award from the American Woman's Association. In November of 1973, she was given the Foreign Service Cup from the American Foreign Service Association for her "outstanding contribution to the conduct of foreign relations of the United States."

In May of 2006 “Distinguished American Diplomats" commemorative postage stamps were released by the United States Postal Service, and she was one of six American diplomats chosen for the honor.