Editing Clare Boothe Luce (section)

===Ambassador to Italy===
[[File:Clare Boothe Luce and Henry Luce NYWTS.jpg|thumb|Clare Boothe Luce, ambassador to Italy, with husband Henry Luce (1954)]]
Eisenhower rewarded Luce for her contributions to his presidential campaign by appointing her as ambassador to Italy, a post that oversaw 1150 employees, 8 consulates, and 9 information centers. She was confirmed by the Senate in March 1953, the first American woman ever to hold such an important diplomatic post.

Italians reacted skeptically at first to the arrival of a female ambassador in Rome, but Luce soon convinced those of moderate and conservative temper that she favored their civilization and religion. "Her admirers in Italy – and she had millions – fondly referred to her as la Signora, 'the lady'."<ref>{{cite book |title=CBL, Author and Diplomat |first=Joseph |last=Lyons |page=91}}</ref> The country's large Communist minority, however, regarded her as a foreign meddler in Italian affairs. Luce was pictured with Monsignor William A. Hemmick, the first American canon of St. Peter's Basilica, in the biography of Hemmick, ''Patriot Priest''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/commemorate/family-ties/stories-of-service/6118-william-anthony-hemmick.html | title=William Anthony Hemmick - World War I Centennial }}</ref>

She was no stranger to [[Pope Pius XII]], who welcomed her as a friend and faithful acolyte.<ref>A popular joke of the time alleged that Luce urged Pius XII to be tougher on communism in defense of the Church, prompting the Pontiff to reply, "You know, Mrs. Ambassador, I am a Catholic too." {{cite news|title=La salvaguardia della Sistina. Stiano tranquilli i consiglieri troppo zelanti.|first=Antonio|last=Paolucci|url=http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1344894|newspaper=L'Osservatore Romano|publisher=www.chiesa.espressonline.it|date=September 13–14, 2010|access-date=September 14, 2011|language=it|trans-title=Sistine chapel safeguard. Too zealous counselors be quiet.|quote=Signora sono cattolico anch'io}}</ref> Over the course of several audiences since 1940, Luce had impressed Pius XII as one of the most effective secular preachers of Catholicism in America.<ref>Fr. Wilfred Thibodeau to Clare Boothe Luce, August 12, 1949, Luce Papers, Library of Congress. In 1957, Luce was awarded the Laertare Medal as an outstanding Catholic layperson. She also received honorary degrees from both Fordham and Temple universities.</ref>

Her principal achievement as ambassador was to play a vital role in negotiating a peaceful solution to the [[Trieste]] Crisis of 1953–1954, a border dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia that she saw as potentially escalating into a war between East and West. Her sympathies throughout were with the Christian Democratic government of [[Giuseppe Pella]], and she was influential on the Mediterranean policy of Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]], another anticommunist. Although Luce regarded the abatement of the acute phase of the crisis in December 1953 as a triumph for herself, the main work of settlement, finalized in October 1954, was undertaken by professional representatives of the five concerned powers (Britain, France, the United States, Italy, and Yugoslavia) meeting in London.<ref>Osvaldo Croci, "The Trieste Crisis, 1953", Ph.D. thesis, McGill University, 1991.</ref>

As ambassador, Luce consistently overestimated the possibility that the Italian left would mount a governmental coup and turn the country communist unless the democratic center was buttressed with generous American aid. A United States Defense Department historical study declassified in 2016 revealed that during her time as ambassador, Luce oversaw a covert financial support program for centrist Italian governments aimed at weakening the [[Italian Communist Party]]'s hold on labor unions.<ref>{{cite web|title=CIA Covert Aid to Italy Averaged $5 Million Annually from Late 1940s to Early 1960s, Study Finds|editor=Dr. Ronald D. Landa|publisher=[[National Security Archive]]|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2017-02-07/cia-covert-aid-italy-averaged-5-million-annually-late-1940s|access-date=August 17, 2018|date=February 7, 2017}}</ref>

Nurturing an image of her own country as a haven of social peace and prosperity, she threatened to boycott the 1955 [[Venice Film Festival]] if the American juvenile delinquent film ''[[Blackboard Jungle]]'' was shown.<ref>{{cite news|title=Envoy Stops Showing of Blackboard Jungle|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eoYQAAAAIBAJ&pg=1675,4368572&dq=clare+boothe+luce+blackboard+jungle&hl=en|newspaper=The Age|date=August 29, 1955}}</ref> Around the same time, she fell seriously ill with [[arsenic poisoning]]. Sensational rumors circulated that the ambassador was the target of extermination by agents of the [[Soviet Union]]. Medical analysis eventually determined that the poisoning was caused by arsenate of lead in paint dust falling from the stucco that decorated her bedroom ceiling. The episode debilitated Luce physically and mentally, and she resigned her post in December 1956.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110504163922/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,865337-2,00.html "Foreign Relations: Arsenic for the Ambassador"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', July 23, 1956.</ref> Upon her departure, Rome's ''[[Il Tempo]]'' concluded "She has given a notable example of how well a woman can discharge a political post of grave responsibility."<ref>{{cite book |title=Clare Boothe Luce: Renaissance Woman |first=Daniel |last=Alef}}</ref>

In 1957, she was awarded the [[Laetare Medal]] by the [[University of Notre Dame]], considered the most prestigious award for [[American Catholics]].<ref>{{cite web  |title=Recipients |url=https://laetare.nd.edu/recipients/#info1957|website=The Laetare Medal|publisher=University of Notre Dame |access-date=July 31, 2020}}</ref>

A great appreciator of Italian [[haute couture]], she was a frequent visitor and client of the [[ateliers]] [[Fernanda Gattinoni|Gattinoni]], [[Vincenzo Ferdinandi|Ferdinandi]], [[Emilio Schuberth|Schuberth]], and [[Sorelle Fontana]] in Rome.