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Selwa Roosevelt

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Former U.S. Chief of Protocol and freelance writer (b.1929)
Selwa Roosevelt
Selwa "Lucky" Roosevelt
23rd Chief of Protocol of the United States
In office
April 16, 1982 – January 20, 1989
PresidentRonald Reagan
Preceded byLeonore Annenberg
Succeeded byJoseph Verner Reed Jr.
Personal details
Born (1929-01-13) January 13, 1929 (age 95)
Kingsport, Tennessee
Spouse Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr. ​ ​(m. 1950; died 1990)​
OccupationJournalist

Selwa Carmen Showker "Lucky" Roosevelt (born January 13, 1929) is an American journalist, patron of the arts, Chairman Emeritus of the Blair House Foundation and former Chief of Protocol of the United States under Ronald Reagan, serving longer (1982-1989) than any other person in that position.

Early life

Born Selwa Showker in 1929 - the daughter of Lebanese immigrants - she attended public schools in her home town of Kingsport, Tennessee, graduating valedictorian of her high school class.  She went on to Vassar College, where she was awarded a B.A. upon graduating in 1950 with honors.

Selwa’s professional journalism and writing career began with work for the local Kingsport Times newspaper at age 16, a job she returned to every summer thereafter between high school and college terms.

Career

After graduating from Vassar, Selwa (now known by the affectionate nickname, “Lucky”) worked for Ladies' Home Journal magazine until she married Archibald Roosevelt, Jr. (a grandson of president Theodore Roosevelt) in September 1950. Soon after marrying, her husband, who was a senior official of the CIA, was posted to Istanbul, Turkey, where they lived from 1951 to 1953.

Roosevelt has worked as a journalist for The Washington Evening Star and a freelance writer for numerous magazines, among them Family Circle, McCalls and Town & Country, where she was a contributing editor for seven years.

She was the longest serving Chief of Protocol serving between 1982 and 1989. In 2012, she received a commendation from President Barack Obama for her government service and for helping to "save" Blair House.

Her correspondence from Fleur Cowles is at the University of Texas at Austin.

Works

Notes

Archives at
LocationMusic Division, Library of Congress
SourceSelwa "Lucky" Roosevelt collection on Washington Opera, 1951-2016
How to use archival material
  1. "blairhouse.org". bliarhouse.org. September 19, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  2. "americanambassodors.org". americanambassadors.org. September 19, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  3. "Dobyns-Bennett High School Graduation Program, 1946". Dobyns-Bennett High School Graduation Program, 1946. 1946 – via KC Manuscript Collection 553, Archives of the City of Kingsport, Tennessee.
  4. "Selwa C. Showker Will Be Married; Prospective Bride". The New York Times. 1950-08-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  5. Saturday Evening Post July 28, 1956
  6. "The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR SELWA S. ROOSEVELT" (PDF). Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. 24 November 2003. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 July 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  7. Roberts, Roxanne and Amy Argetsinger (2012-02-27). "The Reliable Source: Lucky Roosevelt gets presidential commendation". The Washington Post.
  8. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. "Selwa Roosevelt: A Preliminary Inventory of Her Collection of Fleur Cowles in the Manuscript Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center". University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
Chiefs of protocol of the United States
Italics indicates acting
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