Ambassador Swanee Hunt was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She is the fourth and youngest child of H.L. Hunt, founder of the Hunt Oil Co., and Ruth Ray Hunt. Hunt earned BA in philosophy at Texas Christian University, MA in counseling psychology from Ball State University, and MA and Doctor of Theology from the Iliff School of Theology. In 1982, Hunt and her sister, Helen Hunt Hendrix, co-founded the Hunt Alternatives Fund to provide grants to programs involved with families, women, youth, poverty, and mental illness. In 1992, Hunt became involved in national politics, when she activly supported Clinton's presidential campaign. In 1993, President Clinton nominated Swanee Hunt for Ambassador to Austria, a post for which she was confirmed. She held the position until 1997. She founded the Vienna Women's Initiative and established the Center on Democracy. In 1997, Ambassador Hunt organized a three-day conference in Vienna called Vital Voices: Women in Democracy. Ambassador Hunt began teaching at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1998. She published her memoirs: Half-Life of a Zealot (2006). During the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Hunt organized the program: Unconventional Women. She was married to the composer and symphony conductor, Charles Ansbacher (1942-2010).
From the description of Ambassador Swanee Hunt collection 1978-1999. (Denver Public Library). WorldCat record id: 45192241
