Ruth Bryan Owen
Toronto Daily Star, October 29 1931
I couldn't figure out whether this lecture was to be at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto (which was completed in 1928), or whether it was somewhere in England. I'm going to guess Toronto.
Ruth Bryan Owen (1885-1954) was the daughter of William Jennings Bryan; he is best known nowadays for the Scopes Monkey Trial. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 4th District in 1929 as a Democrat. She was in favour of Prohibition; when it was repealed in 1933, she lost the Democratic nomination for her seat.
In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed Ms. Owen to be Ambassador to Denmark. She was the first American woman ever to be appointed an ambassador. She held the position until 1936, when she married Borge Rohde, a Danish Captain of the King's Guard, which gave her dual Danish and American citizenship.
Before becoming a politician, Ms. Owen was a pioneer filmmaker; in 1922, she directed, produced, and wrote Once Upon a Time/Scheherazade, which is now lost. She went on to become an alternate delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.
Created September 10, 2025.