Curtis, Lucile Atcherson, 1894-1986

Lucile Atcherson Curtis (1894-1986) was the first woman in what became the U.S. Foreign Service.[1] Specifically, she was the first woman appointed as a United States Diplomatic Officer or Consular Officer, in 1923; the U.S. would not establish the unified Foreign Service until 1924, at which time Diplomatic and Consular Officers became Foreign Service Officers.[2][3] Curtis, née Atcherson, was born on October 11, 1894, in Columbus, Ohio Curtis graduated from Smith College in 1913 and later did graduate and research work at Ohio State University and the University of Chicago.[2] She supported women's suffrage She later became the first Columbus woman to join the National Women's Party and helped organize the Ohio Suffrage Association.[3 In 1917 Curtis volunteered overseas with the American Fund for the French Wounded; in 1918 she was transferred to its new civilian division, called the American Committee for Devastated France, which sought to rebuild eleven villages and give medical and social services.[3] Lucile was eventually transferred to Paris to become director of personnel there for the Committee, and in December 1919, she was given the Medaille de la Reconnaissance Francaise for her work.[3]

In 1920 she became the first woman to apply to be tested to join what became the U.S. Foreign Service. Although she passed, and in 1922 President Warren G. Harding nominated her as the first woman in what became the U.S. Foreign Service, the Senate did not approve her appointment because its members did not think it was appropriate for a young single woman to travel overseas as a diplomat.[3] She worked in the Department of State then, mostly in the Division of Latin-American Affairs.[2] But after women's and political groups supported her with letters and telegrams, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations recommended her appointment overseas and the Senate approved it in 1923.[3] Lucile thus became a U.S. diplomat based in Bern, Switzerland, officially titled "third secretary of the legation" in Bern.[3]

After serving in Switzerland, Lucile was assigned to the U.S. Legation in Panama in early 1927.[2] In summer 1927, she wrote a letter to the legation's personnel chief asking when she would be promoted and noting that men had been promoted ahead of her; soon after this, the personnel board gave its members a bleak summary of her work, stating in part, "Her sex [is] a handicap to useful official friendships."[3] She resigned later that year, although it was not because of her lack of promotion but because she disliked Panama and was in a serious relationship with her future husband.[3]

In 1978, the State Department had a day honoring Lucile and diplomat Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr.[6] Columbus, Ohio celebrated a day in her honor the same year.[6]

Personal life
On January 6, 1928 Lucile married George Morris Curtis[4] with whom she had two children; Charlotte Curtis and Mary Curtis Davey.[7][6] Lucile Atcherson Curtis died on March 6, 1986.[4]

Lucile Atcherson Curtis, daughter of Charlotte (Ray) and Frederick W. Atcherson, was born October 11, 1894, in Columbus, Ohio. She attended Miss Phelps' Collegiate School and the Columbus School for Girls and received her A.B. from Smith College in 1913.

From 1914 to 1917, she was Executive Secretary of the Franklin County [Ohio] Woman Suffrage Society. In September 1917, she went to France as a staff member of the American Fund for French Wounded. In 1918, she joined the staff of the American Committee for Devastated France, where she assisted in the Committee's efforts to provide basic health care and social services and to physically restore eleven villages in the Coucy-le-Château area of the Departement de l'Aisne. In 1919, she was transferred by the Committee to Paris to oversee the Paris office and all personnel. She resigned in 1921. For her work to help rebuild France, she was awarded the Médaille de la Reconnaissance Française in 1919.

In 1922, Curtis passed the examination for the U.S. Diplomatic Service. She was nominated by President Warren G. Harding for secretary of the Diplomatic Service and was confirmed by the Senate on December 5, 1922. From 1922 to 1924, she was assigned to the Division of Latin American Affairs in the Department of State in Washington, D.C., with site visits to Panama and Haiti. From 1925 to 1927, she served as Third Secretary of the Legation at Berne, Switzerland. In 1927, she was transferred as Third Secretary of the Legation in Panama. Curtis resigned from the Foreign Service on September 19, 1927, to marry.

Curtis married George Morris Curtis on January 16, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois. Curtis, the son of A.B. (Anson Bartie) and Mae Christie Curtis, was born April 2, 1890, in Big Rapids, Michigan. He received his B.A. and Ph.D in anatomy from the University of Michigan and his M.D. from Rush Medical College in Chicago. While an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago, he spent a two-year sabbatical in Berne, Switzerland, where he met Lucile Atcherson. Following their marriage, the Curtises settled in Chicago, where their daughters Charlotte Murray Curtis (1928-1987) and Mary (Curtis) Davey (born 1930) were born. In 1932, they moved to Columbus, where Dr. Curtis became Chairman of the Department of Research Surgery at Ohio State University.

Lucile Curtis was a board member of several civic institutions, including the Columbus Council on World Affairs, the Columbus Philharmonic, the Columbus Public Health Nursing Service, and the Franklin County Mental Health Association.

George Morris Curtis died December 23, 1965. Lucile Atcherson Curtis died May 9, 1986, in Columbus, Ohio.