Clare Boothe Luce and the 1953--1954 Trieste crisis

My paper argues that Clare Boothe Luce, American ambassador to Italy, greatly influenced the Trieste crisis and negotiations of 1953--1954. Luce's understanding of the Cold War in terms of aggressive anti-Communism against the Soviet Union in general and against Yugoslavia in particular, determined her actions during the Trieste negotiations. As a very powerful woman in the Eisenhower administration, Luce managed to make her voice heard on the highest levels and to direct the settlement in ways she thought best for the United States and its ally Italy. Although forceful reports she sent to the State Department and the major policymakers often exaggerated the danger of communism in Italy, they helped spur action in Washington. At the end, according to sympathetic contemporaries, Luce deserved credit for solving the Trieste dispute, which helped contain communism in Italy.