She was America’s top box office draw in the 1930s, the youngest person ever to receive an Oscar (albeit a noncompetitive one), a mother of three, a delegate to the United Nations, a candidate for California’s 11th Congressional District, an environmental activist, the first female chief of protocol of the U.S. (an officer overseeing the diplomatic corps), and a two-time ambassador. She was also, in the words of one observer quoted by Edwards, “smart as paint, tough-minded, and highly professional, with the devilish charm of a cunning Lucifer-child asking to stay up till nine.”
