Owen, Ruth Bryan (1885-1954), was the first American woman chosen to represent the United States in another country. She served as U.S. minister to Denmark from 1933 to 1936. The United States did not have an ambassador to Denmark at the time. The first woman to serve as a U.S. ambassador to a foreign country was Eugenie Anderson, when she became ambassador to Denmark in 1949.
Ruth Bryan was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, on Oct. 2, 1885. She was the oldest daughter of the well-known statesman William Jennings Bryan. In 1910, she married Reginald A. Owen, a British military officer. Ruth Bryan Owen served as a Democrat from Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1929 to 1933. She served as alternate U.S. representative to the United Nations General Assembly in 1949. She died on July 26, 1954.
