Esther Peterson

American consumer rights activist (1906–1997)

Esther Peterson

Peterson in 1962

2nd Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs
In office
January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
President| Jimmy Carter
Preceded by| Virginia Knauer
Succeeded by| Virginia Knauer
1st Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs
In office
January 3, 1964 – May 1, 1967
President| Lyndon Johnson
Preceded by| Office established
Executive Vice Chairperson of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women
In office
January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
President| John F. Kennedy
Preceded by| Office established
4th Director of the United States Women's Bureau
In office
January 20, 1961 – January 3, 1964
President| John F. Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
Preceded by| Alice K. Leopold
Succeeded by| Mary Dublin Keyserling
Personal details
Born|

Esther Eggertsen

(1906-12-09)December 9, 1906
Provo, Utah, U.S.
Died| December 20, 1997(1997-12-20) (aged 91)
Washington
Spouse|

Oliver Peterson

(m. 1932)​

Children| 4
Alma mater| Brigham Young University (1927)
Teachers College, Columbia University (1930)

Esther Eggertsen Peterson (December 9, 1906 – December 20, 1997) was an American consumer and women's advocate.

## Background

[edit]

The daughter of Danish immigrants, Esther Eggertsen grew up in a family who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Provo, Utah.[1] She graduated from Brigham Young University in 1927 with a degree in physical education, and a master's from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1930.[2][3] She held several teaching positions in the 1930s, including one at the innovative Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, which brought milliners, telephone operators and garment workers onto the campus.[4]

She moved to New York City where she married Oliver Peterson. In 1932, the two moved to Boston, where she taught at The Winsor School and volunteered at the YWCA.[5]

## Career

[edit]

In 1938, Peterson became a paid organizer for the American Federation of Teachers and traveled around New England. In 1944, Peterson became the first lobbyist for the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. In 1948, the State Department offered Peterson's husband a position as a diplomat in Sweden. The family returned to Washington, D.C., in 1957 and Peterson joined the Industrial Union Department of the AFL–CIO, becoming its first woman lobbyist.[6]

She was Assistant Secretary of Labor and Director of the United States Women's Bureau under fellow Bostonian President John F. Kennedy.[7][8] In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson named Peterson to the newly created post of Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs.[9] She would later serve as President Jimmy Carter's Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs.

Peterson was also Vice President for Consumer Affairs at Giant Food Corporation, where she led an initiative to introduce the first nutrition labels in 1971, and was president of the National Consumers League.[10]

She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981.[11] Peterson was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board in 1982. In 1990, the American Council on Consumer Interests created the Esther Peterson Consumer Policy Forum lectureship, which is presented annually at the council's conference.[12] She was named a delegate of the United Nations as a UNESCO representative in 1993. In that same year, Peterson was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[13]

## Death

[edit]

Peterson died on December 20, 1997.[4]

## See also

[edit]

* Great Society
* Simon P. Eggertsen Sr. House

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Esther Eggertsen Peterson | AFL-CIO". aflcio.org. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
2. ^ "Esther Peterson - American consumer advocate".
3. ^ "Esther Peterson Personal Papers | JFK Library". www.jfklibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
4. ^ a b Molotsky, Irvin (22 December 1997). "Esther Peterson Dies at 91; Worked to Help Consumers". The New York Times. New York. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
5. ^ Cobble, Dorothy Sue; Bowes, Julia (2014). "Peterson, Esther (09 December 1906–20 December 1997), government official, consumer and labor activist, and women's rights advocate". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1501361. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
6. ^ Arnesen, Eric (2007). Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-class History. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780415968263.
7. ^ Martin, Janet M. (2009-09-13). The Presidency and Women: Promise, Performance, and Illusion. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 9781603441544.
8. ^ Molotsky, Irvin; Times, Special To the New York (1986-12-08). "WASHINGTON TALK: WORKING PROFILE; EVERYMAN'S ADVOCATE: ESTHER PETERSON". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
9. ^ "Esther Peterson To Be Elevated". The Sumpter Daily Item. January 3, 1964. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
10. ^ The First Food Nutrition Labels (1971) w/ Xaq Frohlich, 2023-09-10, retrieved 2024-05-09
11. ^ President (1977-1981 : Carter). White House Staff Photographers (20 January 1977). "Jimmy Carter - Presenting the Medal of Freedom to Roger Baldwin (not in attendance), Harold Brown, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Warren Christopher, Walter Cronkite, Kirk Douglas, Dr. Karl Menninger (not in attendance), Edmund S. Muskie, Margaret McNamara, Esther Peterson, Ambassador Gerard C. Smith, Robert S. Strauss, Judge Elbert Tuttle, Chief Justice Earl Warren (posthumously), Ambassador Andrew Young". Archived from the original on 4 August 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2017 – via US National Archives Research Catalog.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
12. ^ "Esther Peterson Award". www.consumerinterests.org. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
13. ^ National Women's Hall of Fame, Esther Peterson

## Sources

[edit]

* Restless: The Memoirs of Labor and Consumer Activist Esther Peterson (Caring Publishing, 1997) ISBN 9781886450028

## External links

[edit]

* Archives.gov Archived 2016-03-10 at the Wayback Machine
* Papers, 1884-1998 (inclusive), 1929-1998 (bulk). Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
* AFL-CIO Profile
* Transcribed oral history interview with Esther Peterson at the JFK Library

* v
* t
* e

Consumerism

the philosophy of and activism for consumer protection

Concepts|

* Consumerism
* Consumer
* Anti-consumerism
* Consumer capitalism
* Consumer privacy
* Consumer protection
* Consumer revolution
* Consumer welfare standard
* Ethical consumerism
* Informed consumer

Activism|

* Consumer activism
* Consumer Bill of Rights
* Consumer complaint
* Consumer education
* Consumer movement
* Collaborative consumption
* United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection

Fields of study|

* Consumer math
* Euthenics
* Home economics

Key players|

* Consumer organizations
* list
* Consumers' Association
* Ellen Swallow Richards
* Ralph Nader
* Esther Peterson

* v
* t
* e

Inductees to the National Women's Hall of Fame

1970–1979

| 1973|

* Jane Addams
* Marian Anderson
* Susan B. Anthony
* Clara Barton
* Mary McLeod Bethune
* Elizabeth Blackwell
* Pearl S. Buck
* Rachel Carson
* Mary Cassatt
* Emily Dickinson
* Amelia Earhart
* Alice Hamilton
* Helen Hayes
* Helen Keller
* Eleanor Roosevelt
* Florence Sabin
* Margaret Chase Smith
* Elizabeth Cady Stanton
* Helen Brooke Taussig
* Harriet Tubman

|

1976|

* Abigail Adams
* Margaret Mead
* Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias

1979|

* Dorothea Dix
* Juliette Gordon Low
* Alice Paul
* Elizabeth Bayley Seton

1980–1989

| 1981|

* Margaret Sanger
* Sojourner Truth

|

1982|

* Carrie Chapman Catt
* Frances Perkins

1983|

* Belva Lockwood
* Lucretia Mott

1984|

* Mary "Mother" Harris Jones
* Bessie Smith

1986|

* Barbara McClintock
* Lucy Stone
* Harriet Beecher Stowe

1988|

* Gwendolyn Brooks
* Willa Cather
* Sally Ride
* Mary Risteau
* Ida B. Wells-Barnett

1990–1999

| 1990|

* Margaret Bourke-White
* Barbara Jordan
* Billie Jean King
* Florence B. Seibert

|

1991|

* Gertrude Belle Elion

1993|

* Ethel Percy Andrus
* Antoinette Blackwell
* Emily Blackwell
* Shirley Chisholm
* Jacqueline Cochran
* Ruth Colvin
* Marian Wright Edelman
* Alice Evans
* Betty Friedan
* Ella Grasso
* Martha Wright Griffiths
* Fannie Lou Hamer
* Dorothy Height
* Dolores Huerta
* Mary Putnam Jacobi
* Mae Jemison
* Mary Lyon
* Mary Mahoney
* Wilma Mankiller
* Constance Baker Motley
* Georgia O'Keeffe
* Annie Oakley
* Rosa Parks
* Esther Peterson
* Jeannette Rankin
* Ellen Swallow Richards
* Elaine Roulet
* Katherine Siva Saubel
* Gloria Steinem
* Helen Stephens
* Lillian Wald
* Madam C. J. Walker
* Faye Wattleton
* Rosalyn S. Yalow
* Gloria Yerkovich

1994|

* Bella Abzug
* Ella Baker
* Myra Bradwell
* Annie Jump Cannon
* Jane Cunningham Croly
* Catherine East
* Geraldine Ferraro
* Charlotte Perkins Gilman
* Grace Hopper
* Helen LaKelly Hunt
* Zora Neale Hurston
* Anne Hutchinson
* Frances Wisebart Jacobs
* Susette La Flesche
* Louise McManus
* Maria Mitchell
* Antonia Novello
* Linda Richards
* Wilma Rudolph
* Betty Bone Schiess
* Muriel Siebert
* Nettie Stevens
* Oprah Winfrey
* Sarah Winnemucca
* Fanny Wright

1995|

* Virginia Apgar
* Ann Bancroft
* Amelia Bloomer
* Mary Breckinridge
* Eileen Collins
* Elizabeth Hanford Dole
* Anne Dallas Dudley
* Mary Baker Eddy
* Ella Fitzgerald
* Margaret Fuller
* Matilda Joslyn Gage
* Lillian Moller Gilbreth
* Nannerl O. Keohane
* Maggie Kuhn
* Sandra Day O'Connor
* Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
* Pat Schroeder
* Hannah Greenebaum Solomon

1996|

* Louisa May Alcott
* Charlotte Anne Bunch
* Frances Xavier Cabrini
* Mary A. Hallaren
* Oveta Culp Hobby
* Wilhelmina Cole Holladay
* Anne Morrow Lindbergh
* Maria Goeppert Mayer
* Ernestine Louise Potowski Rose
* Maria Tallchief
* Edith Wharton

1998|

* Madeleine Albright
* Maya Angelou
* Nellie Bly
* Lydia Moss Bradley
* Mary Steichen Calderone
* Mary Ann Shadd Cary
* Joan Ganz Cooney
* Gerty Cori
* Sarah Grimké
* Julia Ward Howe
* Shirley Ann Jackson
* Shannon Lucid
* Katharine Dexter McCormick
* Rozanne L. Ridgway
* Edith Nourse Rogers
* Felice Schwartz
* Eunice Kennedy Shriver
* Beverly Sills
* Florence Wald
* Angelina Grimké Weld
* Chien-Shiung Wu

2000–2009

| 2000|

* Faye Glenn Abdellah
* Emma Smith DeVoe
* Marjory Stoneman Douglas
* Mary Dyer
* Sylvia A. Earle
* Crystal Eastman
* Jeanne Holm
* Leontine T. Kelly
* Frances Oldham Kelsey
* Kate Mullany
* Janet Reno
* Anna Howard Shaw
* Sophia Smith
* Ida Tarbell
* Wilma L. Vaught
* Mary Edwards Walker
* Annie Dodge Wauneka
* Eudora Welty
* Frances E. Willard

|

2001|

* Dorothy H. Andersen
* Lucille Ball
* Rosalynn Carter
* Lydia Maria Child
* Bessie Coleman
* Dorothy Day
* Marian de Forest
* Althea Gibson
* Beatrice A. Hicks
* Barbara Holdridge
* Harriet Williams Russell Strong
* Emily Howell Warner
* Victoria Woodhull

2002|

* Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis
* Ruth Bader Ginsburg
* Katharine Graham
* Bertha Holt
* Mary Engle Pennington
* Mercy Otis Warren

2003|

* Linda G. Alvarado
* Donna de Varona
* Gertrude Ederle
* Martha Matilda Harper
* Patricia Roberts Harris
* Stephanie L. Kwolek
* Dorothea Lange
* Mildred Robbins Leet
* Patsy Takemoto Mink
* Sacagawea
* Anne Sullivan
* Sheila E. Widnall

2005|

* Florence E. Allen
* Ruth Fulton Benedict
* Betty Bumpers
* Hillary Clinton
* Rita Rossi Colwell
* Mother Marianne Cope
* Maya Y. Lin
* Patricia A. Locke
* Blanche Stuart Scott
* Mary Burnett Talbert

2007|

* Eleanor K. Baum
* Julia Child
* Martha Coffin Pelham Wright
* Swanee Hunt
* Winona LaDuke
* Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
* Judith L. Pipher
* Catherine Filene Shouse
* Henrietta Szold

2009|

* Louise Bourgeois
* Mildred Cohn
* Karen DeCrow
* Susan Kelly-Dreiss
* Allie B. Latimer
* Emma Lazarus
* Ruth Patrick
* Rebecca Talbot Perkins
* Susan Solomon
* Kate Stoneman

2010–2019

| 2011|

* St. Katharine Drexel
* Dorothy Harrison Eustis
* Loretta C. Ford
* Abby Kelley Foster
* Helen Murray Free
* Billie Holiday
* Coretta Scott King
* Lilly Ledbetter
* Barbara A. Mikulski
* Donna E. Shalala
* Kathrine Switzer

|

2013|

* Betty Ford
* Ina May Gaskin
* Julie Krone
* Kate Millett
* Nancy Pelosi
* Mary Joseph Rogers
* Bernice Sandler
* Anna Schwartz
* Emma Willard

2015|

* Tenley Albright
* Nancy Brinker
* Martha Graham
* Marcia Greenberger
* Barbara Iglewski
* Jean Kilbourne
* Carlotta Walls LaNier
* Philippa Marrack
* Mary Harriman Rumsey
* Eleanor Smeal

2017|

* Matilda Cuomo
* Temple Grandin
* Lorraine Hansberry
* Victoria Jackson
* Sherry Lansing
* Clare Boothe Luce
* Aimee Mullins
* Carol Mutter
* Janet Rowley
* Alice Waters

2019|

* Gloria Allred
* Angela Davis
* Sarah Deer
* Jane Fonda
* Nicole Malachowski
* Rose O'Neill
* Louise Slaughter
* Sonia Sotomayor
* Laurie Spiegel
* Flossie Wong-Staal

2020–2029

| 2020|

* Aretha Franklin
* Barbara Hillary
* Barbara Rose Johns
* Henrietta Lacks
* Toni Morrison
* Mary Church Terrell

|

2022|

* Octavia E. Butler
* Judy Chicago
* Rebecca S. Halstead
* Mia Hamm
* Joy Harjo
* Emily Howland
* Katherine Johnson
* Indra Nooyi
* Michelle Obama

2024|

* Patricia Bath
* Ruby Bridges
* Elouise P. Cobell
* Kimberlé Crenshaw
* Peggy McIntosh
* Judith Plaskow
* Loretta Ross
* Sandy Stone
* Anna Wessels Williams
* Serena Williams

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* 2
* WorldCat

National|

* United States

Other|

* IdRef
* NARA
* SNAC
* Yale LUX

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