AsianFEDS

Beginning this month, Asian Fortune starts an occasional column, Asian Feds, which will feature bits of work, history, fun events or tidbits about AAPI employees in federal agencies and departments.

Last month, we teased the column by publishing a photo Dan Treadwell of the Federal Aviation Administration dug out of agency archives. (He is the historian of the National Asian and Pacific American Association, an FAA employee association.) The photo was taken in 1973 and we asked readers if they could identify the famous Asian woman, still a D.C. resident, in the photo. Jeff Kao of Potomac was the first to correctly identify her as Anna Chennault, the widow of World War II aviation hero Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, and a longtime Republican Party activist, public servant and Asian-American community supporter.

We got in touch with Mrs. Chennault about this photo. She was not certain which swearing-in ceremony the photo shows. Although she was never appointed to any official posts at the DOT/FAA, she did work closely with the DOT and former Secretary of Transportation John Volpe while serving as Vice President for International Affairs at the Flying Tigers Line, an air cargo service line. Mrs. Chennault may have been not only the first Asian American, but the first woman to be a senior corporate officer of a major airline company in the U.S.

Among her many appointments, from Chair of the Chinese Refugees Relief Committee, appointed by President Kennedy, to Vice Chair of the President’s Export Council, appointed by President Reagan, to International Chair of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Commission, appointed by President Clinton, and numerous other federal boards and commissions, Anna Chennault blazed a pathway in public service for Asian Americans. Mrs. Chennault is quietly gratified to know that she made these achievements in times that were not conducive to Asian American advancement. And we’re gratified that she did it with grit, grace and firm determination.

It is especially significant that we honor Anna Chennault during Women’s History Month.

We welcome federal agencies to submit story ideas and photos to be featured in Asian Feds. Send material by the 15th of each month to: editor@asianfortune.com.