Owen, Ruth Bryan, 1885-1954

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Ruth Baird Bryan Leavitt Owen Rohde, also known as Ruth Bryan Owen, (October 2, 1885 – July 26, 1954) was an author and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Owen was the daughter of three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. In 1928, she was elected from Florida's 4th district as Florida's first female U.S. Representative and the second from the South after Alice Mary Robertson. Representative Owen was also the first woman to earn a seat on the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. She campaigned for prohibition.

Born in Jacksonville, Illinois, Ruth Bryan moved in response to her father’s rising political fortunes—first, upon his election to the Nebraska legislature, to Lincoln, when Ruth Bryan was two years old and then to Washington, D.C. after her father's election to the U.S. House of Representatives. She attended public schools in Washington, DC, and the Monticello Female Academy in Godfrey, Illinois. She entered the University of Nebraska in 1901 and took two years of classes before marrying the artist William Homer Leavitt in 1903. The couple has two children before their divorce in 1909.

Bryan married Reginald Owen, a British Army officer, in 1910, and had two more children with him. The family lived at Reginald Owen’s numerous overseas duty posts. During World War I, Owen served as a war nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment in the Egypt–Palestine campaign from 1915 to 1918. She also served as a secretary for the American Women's War Relief Fund. When her husband’s health failed in 1919, she moved the family to Miami, Florida, to be near her parents. For the next 10 years, she spoke on a professional lecture circuit and served as a faculty member and on the board of regents at the University of Miami.

A year after her father’s death in 1925, Ruth Bryan Owen decided to run for the House of Representatives in a district along Florida’s Atlantic coast, losing narrrowly to six-term incumbent William J. Sears. Owen did not leave the political arena; she ran again for the same seat in 1928, the year she was widowed. Thanks in part to relief work after a devastating hurricane ripped through Miami in 1927, Owen triumphed over Sears in the 1928 Democratic primary by more than 14,000 votes.

Owen ran for re-election in 1930, defeating Daytona Beach attorney Dewitt T. Deen by a wide margin in the June Democratic primary election. As the Republican Party did not nominate a candidate to run against the Democratic nominee, the pro-prohibition Owen was heralded in the press as presumably having won re-election by virtue of her Democratic nomination. Her pro-Prohibition stance led to her being defeated two years later. Bowing to the wishes of her constituents, Owen voted in favor of repealing the Eighteenth Amendment, despite her personal convictions, prior to leaving Congress.

In April 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Owen, a longtime family friend, as Minister to Denmark—making her the first American woman to head a diplomatic legation. On July 11, 1936, Owen married Captain Borge Rohde of the Danish Royal Guards. Because her marriage meant that she was a citizen of both Denmark and the United States, she had to resign her diplomatic post, but Owen spent the fall of 1936 campaigning for Roosevelt’s re-election. From 1938 to 1954, she served on the Advisory Board of the Federal Reformatory for Women. In 1949 President Harry S. Truman appointed her as an alternate delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. Owen lived in Ossining, New York, lecturing and publishing several well-received books on Scandinavia. She died in Copenhagen on July 26, 1954, during a trip to accept the Danish Order of Merit from King Frederick IX recognizing her contributions to American-Danish relations.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Sage Colleges. Archives. Honorary degree recipient for 1931, Ruth Bryan Owen. The Sage Colleges Libraries
creatorOf Owen, Ruth Bryan, 1885-1954. Correspondence with Marian Anderson, 1933-1942. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Howe, E. W. (Edgar Watson), 1853-1937. Edgar Watson Howe papers, 1872-1960 Houghton Library
creatorOf Owen, Ruth Bryan, 1885-1954. Letters, 1928, 1934. Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Pope, Helen Smoyer. Helen Smoyer Pope collection, 1927-1930 (inclusive). Florida State University
referencedIn Miller, Emma Guffey, 1874-1970. Papers: Series III-IV, 1900-1972 (inclusive) [microform]. Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Earhart, Amelia, 1897-1937. The George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers, 1785-1948 (inclusive), 1928-1937 (bulk). Purdue University Library
referencedIn Laidlaw, Harriet Burton, 1873-1949. Papers, 1851-1958 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Owen, Ruth Bryan, 1885-1954. Letter to Cyril Clemens. New York, NY. 1937 Sept. 24. University of Iowa Libraries
referencedIn Weidenbach, Nell Colcord. Nellie Colcord Weidenbach scrapbook, 1935-1936 (inclusive). Florida State University
referencedIn Business and Professional Women's Club (Camden, N.J.). Business and Professional Women's Club friendship dinner, 1940 Apr. 20. Camden County Historical Society
referencedIn Papers, 1898, 1909-1963 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Seydell, Mildred, 1889-1988. Mildred Seydell papers, 1842-1978. Emory University. Special Collections and Archives
referencedIn Bess Furman papers, 1728-1967 Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Roper, Daniel C. (Daniel Calhoun), 1867-1943. Papers, 1860-1985 David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
creatorOf Winther, Sophus Keith, 1893-1893. Papers, 1934-1964. Indiana University
referencedIn Todd, Mabel Loomis, 1856-1932. Mabel Loomis Todd papers, 1863-1948 (inclusive). Yale University Library
creatorOf Leaf, Martin, 1874-1967. Martin Leaf papers, 1914-1964. Minnesota Historical Society Library
referencedIn Laurence A. Steinhardt Papers, 1929-1950 Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Mabel Loomis Todd papers, 1863-1948 Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
creatorOf Brock, Emma L. (Emma Lillian), 1886-1974. Picture tales from Scandinavia : production material. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
referencedIn Beard, Mary Ritter, 1876-1958. Papers, 1935-1958 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Miller, Emma Guffey, 1874-1970. Papers, 1833-1975 (bulk: 1884-1972) Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Flagg, Mildred Buchanan, 1886-1980. Papers, 1876-1955 (inclusive), 1900-1955 (bulk). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Elliott, Richard Nash, 1873-. Papers 1926-1948. Indiana University
referencedIn White, Sue Shelton, 1887-1943. Papers, 1898-1963 (inclusive), 1909-1963 (bulk). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Laidlaw, H. B. (Harriet Burton), b. 1874. Papers: Series I-IV, 1851-1958 (inclusive). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Hurst, Fannie, 1889-1968. Letter, 1933. Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
referencedIn Todd, Mabel Loomis, 1856-1932. Mabel Loomis Todd papers, 1863-1948 (inclusive) Yale University Library
referencedIn Mabel Vernon Papers, 1933-1947 Syracuse University. Library. Special Collections Research Center
referencedIn Letters sent to Walter Hines Page from various correspondents, English period, 1876-1937. Houghton Library
referencedIn Inglis Fletcher Papers, 1883-1967, 2015 East Carolina University. J.Y. Joyner Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Brock, Emma L. (Emma Lillian), 1886-1974. person
childOf Bryan, Mary Baird, 1861-1930 person
childOf Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925 person
associatedWith Business and Professional Women's Club (Camden, N.J.) corporateBody
associatedWith Clemens, Cyril, 1902-1999, person
associatedWith Earhart, Amelia, 1897-1937. person
associatedWith Elliott, Richard Nash, 1873- person
associatedWith Emma (Guffey) Miller, 1874-1970 person
associatedWith Flagg, Mildred Buchanan, 1886-1980. person
associatedWith Fletcher, Inglis, 1879-1969. person
correspondedWith Furman, Bess, 1894-1969. person
associatedWith Harriet Wright (Burton) Laidlaw, 1873-1949 person
associatedWith Hoover, Herbert Clark, 1874-1964. person
correspondedWith Howe, E. W. (Edgar Watson), 1853-1937 person
associatedWith Hurst, Fannie, 1889-1968. person
associatedWith Laidlaw, H. B. (Harriet Burton), b. 1874. person
associatedWith Leaf, Martin, 1874-1967. person
associatedWith Mary (Ritter) Beard, 1876-1958 person
associatedWith Miller, Emma Guffey, 1874-1970. person
parentOf Owen, Reginald Bryan. person
associatedWith Page, Walter Hines, 1855-1918 person
associatedWith Pope, Helen Smoyer. person
associatedWith Roper, Daniel C. (Daniel Calhoun), 1867-1943 person
associatedWith Seydell, Mildred, 1889-1988. person
associatedWith Steinhardt, Laurence A. (Laurence Adolph), 1892-1950. person
associatedWith SUE SHELTON WHITE, 1887-1943 person
associatedWith Todd, Mabel Loomis, 1856-1932. person
memberOf United States. Congress. House person
almaMaterOf University of Nebraska-Lincoln. corporateBody
associatedWith Vernon, Mabel. person
associatedWith Weidenbach, Nell Colcord. person
associatedWith White, Sue Shelton, 1887-1943. person
associatedWith Winther, Sophus Keith, 1893-1893. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Copenhagen 17 DK
Lincoln NE US
Cairo 11 EG
New York City NY US
Godfrey IL US
District of Columbia DC US
Jacksonville IL US
Miami FL US
Oracabessa 13 JM
Ossining NY US
Alderson WV US
Subject
Legislators
Occupation
Ambassadors
Authors
Diplomats
Film directors
Film producers
Nurses
Representatives, U.S. Congress
Screenwriters
Secretaries
University administrator
Activity

Person

Birth 1885-10-02

Death 1954-07-26

Female

Americans,

Britons,

Danes

German,

English

Information

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SNAC ID: 85427896