Editing Clare Boothe Luce (section)

===House of Representatives===

In 1942, Luce won a seat in the [[United States House of Representatives]] as a Republican comprising the whole of [[Fairfield County, Connecticut]], the [[Connecticut's 4th congressional district|4th Congressional District]]. She based her platform on three goals: "One, to win the war. Two, to prosecute that war as loyally and effectively as we can as Republicans. Three, to bring about a better world and a durable peace, with special attention to post-war security and employment here at home."<ref name=Clerk>{{cite web|title=Clare Boothe Luce, Representative, 1943–1947, Republican from Connecticut|url=http://womenincongress.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=147#foot36|publisher=Office of the Clerk U.S. Capitol, Room H154|access-date=May 29, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618031235/http://womenincongress.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=147#foot36|archive-date=June 18, 2012}}</ref> She took up the seat formerly held by her late stepfather, [[Albert E. Austin|Dr. Albert Austin]]. An outspoken critic of Roosevelt's foreign policy,<ref name="Clerk"/> Luce was supported by isolationists and conservatives in Congress, and she was appointed early to the prestigious House Military Affairs Committee. Although she was by no means the only female representative on the floor, her beauty, wealth, and penchant for slashing witticisms{{peacock inline|date=November 2024}} caused her to be treated patronizingly by colleagues of both sexes.<ref>William Miller, ''Fishbait'' (New York, 1977), 67; Clare Boothe Luce to Pearl S. Buck, July 20, 1959, Clare Boothe Luce Papers, Library of Congress</ref> She made a debut in her maiden speech, coining the phrase "globaloney" to disparage Vice President [[Henry A. Wallace|Henry Wallace]]'s recommendation for airlines of the world to be given free access to US airports.<ref>"America in the Post-War Air World", speech by Clare Boothe Luce, Congresswoman from Connecticut, delivered in the House of Representatives, Washington D.C., February 9, 1943. ''Vital Speeches of the Day'', 1943, 331–36.</ref> She called for repeal of the [[Chinese Exclusion Act]], comparing its "doctrine of race theology" to [[Adolf Hitler]]'s,<ref>''Palm Beach Post'', July 7, 1943.</ref> advocated aid for war victims abroad, and sided with the administration on issues such as infant-care and maternity appropriations for the wives of enlisted men. Nevertheless, Roosevelt took a dislike to her and campaigned in 1944 to attempt to prevent her re-election, publicly calling her "a sharp-tongued glamor girl of forty."<ref>New York ''Sun'', November 8, 1944.</ref> She retaliated by accusing Roosevelt of being "the only American president who ever lied us into a war because he did not have the political courage to lead us into it."<ref>''The New York Times'', October 14, 1944.</ref>

During her second term, Luce was instrumental in the creation of the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]<ref name=CBLgrants>{{cite web|title=Clare Boothe Luce|url=http://www.hluce.org/cblprogram.aspx|publisher=The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc|access-date=May 29, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518025520/http://www.hluce.org/cblprogram.aspx|archive-date=May 18, 2012}}</ref> and, during the course of two tours of Allied battlefronts in Europe, she campaigned for more support of what she considered to be America's forgotten army in Italy. She was present at the liberation of several Nazi concentration camps in April 1945, and after [[V-E Day]], she began warning against the rise of international [[Communism]] as another form of totalitarianism, likely to lead to [[World War III]].<ref name="Clerk"/>

In 1946, she was the co-author of the [[Luce–Celler Act of 1946]], which permitted Indians and Filipinos to immigrate to the US, introducing a quota of 100 immigrants from each country, and allowed them ultimately to become naturalized citizens.<ref>Harold A. Gould, Sikhs, Swamis, Students and Spies: The India Lobby in the United States, 1900–1946, Sage Publications, 2006, pp. 393–431.</ref>

Luce did not run for re-election in 1946.