Esther Peterson

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Esther Peterson
Lyndon Johnson
Preceded byOffice established
Executive Vice Chairperson of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women
In office
January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
PresidentJohn F. Kennedy
Preceded byOffice established
4th Director of the United States Women's Bureau
In office
January 20, 1961 – January 3, 1964
PresidentJohn F. Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
Preceded byAlice K. Leopold
Succeeded byMary Dublin Keyserling
Personal details
Born
Esther Eggertsen

(1906-12-09)December 9, 1906
Provo, Utah, U.S.
DiedDecember 20, 1997(1997-12-20) (aged 91)
Washington
Spouse
Oliver Peterson
​
(m. 1932)​
Children4
Alma materBrigham Young University (1927)
Teachers College, Columbia University (1930)

Esther Eggertsen Peterson (December 9, 1906 – December 20, 1997) was an American consumer and women's advocate.

Background

The daughter of

Danish immigrants, Esther Eggertsen grew up in a Mormon family in Provo, Utah.[1] She graduated from Brigham Young University in 1927 with a degree in physical education, and a master's from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1930.[2][3] She held several teaching positions in the 1930s, including one at the innovative Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, which brought milliners, telephone operators and garment workers onto the campus.[4]

She moved to New York City where she married Oliver Peterson. In 1932, the two moved to Boston, where she taught at The Winsor School and volunteered at the YWCA.[5]

Career

In 1938, Peterson became a paid organizer for the

AFL–CIO, becoming its first woman lobbyist.[6]

She was Assistant Secretary of

Consumer Affairs.[9] She would later serve as President Jimmy Carter
's Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs.

Peterson was also Vice President for Consumer Affairs at

Giant Food Corporation, and president of the National Consumers League
.

She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981.[10] Peterson was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board in 1982. In 1990, the American Council on Consumer Interests created the Esther Peterson Consumer Policy Forum lectureship, which is presented annually at the council's conference.[11] She was named a delegate of the United Nations as a UNESCO representative in 1993. In that same year, Peterson was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[12]

Death

Peterson died on December 20, 1997.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Esther Eggertsen Peterson | AFL-CIO". aflcio.org. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  2. ^ "Esther Peterson - American consumer advocate".
  3. ^ "Esther Peterson Personal Papers | JFK Library". www.jfklibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
  4. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  5. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7
    . Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  6. ISBN 9780415968263
    .
  7. ISBN 9781603441544
    .
  8. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2022-11-29.
  9. ^ "Esther Peterson To Be Elevated". The Sumpter Daily Item. January 3, 1964. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  10. ^ President (1977-1981 : Carter). White House Staff Photographers (20 January 1977). "Jimmy Carter - Presenting the Medal of Freedom to Roger Baldwin (not in attendance), Harold Brown, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Warren Christopher, Walter Cronkite, Kirk Douglas, Dr. Karl Menninger (not in attendance), Edmund S. Muskie, Margaret McNamara, Esther Peterson, Ambassador Gerard C. Smith, Robert S. Strauss, Judge Elbert Tuttle, Chief Justice Earl Warren (posthumously), Ambassador Andrew Young". Archived from the original on 4 August 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2017 – via US National Archives Research Catalog.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Esther Peterson Award". www.consumerinterests.org. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  12. ^ National Women's Hall of Fame, Esther Peterson

Sources

  • Restless: The Memoirs of Labor and Consumer Activist Esther Peterson (Caring Publishing, 1997)
    ISBN 9781886450028

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Esther_Peterson&oldid=1181370417"