Esther Peterson

Esther Peterson
Peterson in 1962
2nd Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs
In office
January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
President Jimmy Carter
Preceded by Virginia Knauer
Succeeded by Virginia Knauer
1st Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs
In office
January 3, 1964 – May 1, 1967
President Lyndon Johnson
Preceded by Position created
Executive Vice Chairperson of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women
In office
1961–1963
President John F. Kennedy
Preceded by Position created
4th Director of the United States Women's Bureau
In office
1961–1964
President John F. Kennedy
Preceded by Alice K. Leopold
Succeeded by Mary Dublin Keyserling
Personal details
Born Esther Eggertsen
(1906-12-09)December 9, 1906
Provo, Utah, U.S.
Died December 20, 1997(1997-12-20) (aged 91)
Washington
Spouse(s)
Oliver Peterson (m. 1932)
Children 4
Alma mater Brigham Young University (1927)
Teachers College, Columbia University (1930)

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

Background

The daughter of Danish immigrants, Esther Eggertsen grew up in a Mormon family in Provo, Utah. 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.[1] 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.[2]

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.

Career

In 1938, Peterson became a paid organizer for the American Federation of Teachers and traveled around New England. In 1944, Peterson became the first lobbyist for the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. In 1948, the State Department offered Peterson’s husband a position as a diplomat in Sweden. The family returned to Washington D.C., in 1957 and Peterson joined the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO, becoming its first woman lobbyist.

She was Assistant Secretary of Labor and Director of the United States Women's Bureau under President John F. Kennedy. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson named Peterson to the newly created post of Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs.[3] 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.[4] Peterson was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board in 1982. She was named a delegate of the United Nations as a UNESCO representative in 1993.

Death

Peterson died on December 20, 1997.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Esther Peterson - American consumer advocate".
  2. 1 2 Molotsky, Irvin (22 December 1997). "Esther Peterson Dies at 91; Worked to Help Consumers". The New York Times. New York: NYTC. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  3. ↑ "Esther Peterson To Be Elevated". The Sumpter Daily Item. January 3, 1964. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  4. ↑ 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" – via US National Archives Research Catalog.
  • Restless: The Memoirs of Labor and Consumer Activist Esther Peterson (Caring Publishing, 1997)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.