1. Jill Elizabeth Ruckelshaus is a former special White House assistant and head of the White House Office of Women's Programs and a feminist activist.
16 Facts About Jill Ruckelshaus
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Jill Ruckelshaus served as a commissioner for the United States Commission on Civil Rights in the early 1980s.
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Jill Ruckelshaus is a graduate of Indiana University, where she obtained her undergraduate degree, and of Harvard University, where she received a master's degree in English.
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Jill Ruckelshaus was one of the founding members of the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971, and one of its most prominent Republican members.
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Jill Ruckelshaus would serve as the NWPC spokesperson to the 1972 Republican National Convention.
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Jill Ruckelshaus resigned in 1974, having been part of the White House staff for a little more than a year.
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Jill Ruckelshaus was later appointed by President Gerald Ford as presiding officer of the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year in 1975.
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Jill Ruckelshaus was one of the four representatives in the US Delegation to the United Nations World Conference of the International Women's Year in Mexico City, which was from June 19 to July 2, in 1975.
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Jill Ruckelshaus resigned from her position as presiding officer in June 1976 as her family moved to Washington state, remaining as an ordinary member for the rest of the year.
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Jill Ruckelshaus attended the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston as the former presiding officer of the commission that would be the organizing body of the conference.
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Jill Ruckelshaus's participation included leading delegates in a collective pledge from the opening ceremonies.
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Jill Ruckelshaus was photographed by Diana Mara Henry as part of her participation in the conference.
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Jill Ruckelshaus attended the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, leading a march of roughly 4,500 supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment to rally for the Republican Party's reaffirmation of support for the proposed amendment.
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Jill Ruckelshaus married William Ruckelshaus in 1962, and they raised five children together, including two from William's previous marriage.
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Jill Ruckelshaus is a main character in the 2020 FX on Hulu mini-series, Mrs America, where she is portrayed by Elizabeth Banks.
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Jill Ruckelshaus's character is used as the centerpoint for the Republican Party's transition from a party generally supportive of issues like the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to a more socially conservative position, influenced in part by Phyllis Schlafly's campaigning on the ERA and other Evangelical Christian factions, such as the Moral Majority, that become more dominant political forces.