ANNE ARMSTRONG * 1927- 2008
'Epic Texan' helped GOP, women reach new heights
Rancher served as ambassador to England, member of A&M System board.
By W. Gardner Selby
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Anne Armstrong journeyed from South Texas to Washington and London as a groundbreaking activist who helped the Republican Party surge.
"An epic Texan," said Austin lawyer Harry Whittington, a player in the GOP's rebound in Texas. "As a Republican, she broke whatever barriers there might have been against a lady."
 Anne Armstrong  ASSOCIATED PRESS As co-chairwoman of the national party, Anne Armstrong prepares to deliver the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention at Miami Beach's Convention Hall. |
The 80-year-old died of cancer Wednesday in Houston. She became the first female U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1976 after serving as a White House counselor. Before that, Armstrong was the first woman elected co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
Friends remembered her flair for politics and a style that combined outdoorsiness and glamour, charm and intellect, through half a century marked by the resurgence of Republicans in a state dominated since Reconstruction by Democrats.
Accolades came from Republicans, including Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn of Texas, and President Bush and his father, President George H.W. Bush, who called Armstrong a "fantastic shot."
In 1972, Armstrong was the first woman to deliver the keynote address at the Republican National Convention. Sharing the duties with two men, she spoke on opening the party to women, minorities and youth.
Armstrong told reporters that she hoped to run for state office, maybe the Legislature. She never did, despite entreaties from leaders including Hutchison, who before running for the Texas House in 1972 worked as Armstrong's press secretary at GOP headquarters in Washington.
Hutchison said Armstrong, who was eyed as a vice presidential prospect by Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, never thought seriously of making such a race.
"She was the best natural politician I've ever met," Hutchison said. "She had a feel for when to make a move, for when to be quiet, for when to fight and when not to. I really kept thinking to myself: How did she gain this (and) from where?"
Anne Legendre, a New Orleans native, attended prep school and Vassar College before forgoing a magazine's job offer to marry rancher Tobin Armstrong, whom she'd met at a swim party on a trip to Texas.
The Armstrongs, who raised five children, initially voted Democratic in keeping with Texas conventions. Her great-grandfather was a Democratic lieutenant governor in the 1800s. But they declared themselves Republicans as Dwight Eisenhower won his first term as president in 1952.
Anne Armstrong said later: "The Republicans needed every warm body they could get, so it was a good place to move ahead fast." Democrats, she said, had too much faith in big-brother government.
Armstrong became the state party's vice chairwoman in 1966 before hop-skipping to the GOP national committee and then co-chairwoman of the national party.
"She is the top woman spokesman for the Republican Party," the party boasted then, "and holds the highest position ever held by any woman in any political party."
Armstrong subsequently intended to stay in Texas until President Richard Nixon asked her to serve as a White House counselor. Her assigned topics included Hispanics, youth, national parks and women.
At the time, Armstrong supported passage of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution; it fell short of ratification.
Cyndi Taylor Krier, who worked for Armstrong near the White House, cautioned against casting Armstrong as a feminist. "She did what men were doing in politics at the time and did it just as well," Krier said. "She wouldn't have burned her bra."
After Ford asked her to serve as ambassador in London, Armstrong revealed she had been to England for three days as a tourist.
"I'll probably be nervous before I meet the queen and the prime minister," Armstrong told a reporter.
She settled in, however, later entertaining royalty at her family's sprawling ranch south of Corpus Christi.
Armstrong's name again landed in the news in 2006, when Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded Whittington, a fellow hunter, during an outing at the ranch.
Armstrong, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, also served on corporate boards and on the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.
Elsa Murano, A&M's president, said Armstrong told students in a commencement speech that she would have loved to attend the university, except it didn't accept women when she was young.
Tending to her family and ranch, Armstrong embraced local causes as well. In the 1970s, she was credited for her home county opening a one-room schoolhouse. More than 30 years later, she succeeded her husband on the Kenedy County Commissioners Court after his death.Armstrong attended the court's latest meeting July 14.
"She was like she normally was, always very active, asking questions," said Gayle Cordell, an assistant to the county judge.
Additional material from the Associated Press.
wgselby@statesman.com; 445-3644
