Armstrong was born on December 27, 1927 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and graduated from Vassar College in 1949.[2] In 1950, she married Tobin Armstrong, a cattle rancher from Texas.[3]
Political Career
From 1966 to 1968, she was the vice chairman of the TexasRepublican Party. From 1971 to 1973, she was co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, and she was the keynote speaker at the 1972 Republican National Convention.[4] Armstrong was the first woman from either major party to keynote at a national convention.[5] In a Christmas dinner toast at the White House on Dec. 16, 1972, she "in one breath" praised "'Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace'" and Nixon as "the man who has done the most for peace in our history"; at the time, Nixon had given orders for the Christmas Bombing of North Vietnam.[6]
Counselor to the President
President Richard Nixon named Armstrong as Counselor to the President on December 19, 1972. She held from January 19, 1973 to November 1974 under President Ford.[7]
During her tenure as Counselor, Armstrong founded the first Office of Women's Programs in the White House,[8] predecessor to the current White House Council on Women and Girls. Fluent in Spanish, she was Nixon's liaison to Hispanic Americans and was a member of a Cabinet committee on opportunities for Spanish-speaking people.[8] From 1976 to 1977, Armstrong was the first woman United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom.[9]
Armstrong was a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).[11][12] In 1971, Armstrong was quoted as saying, "I feel like it has become a symbol of meaning for so many people. Plus it would clear up a lot of legal questions."[13]
^Weiner, Tim (2015). One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon. (New York: Henry Holt and Company. New York: Henry Holt and Company. p. 222. ISBN978-1-62779-083-3.
^"Mayor Jim Reese of Odessa and the Republican Party in the Permian Basin", The West Texas Historical Association Year Book, Vol. LXXXVII (October 2011), p. 138