Ruth Bryan Owen was endowed with intelligence, beauty, charm, and tremendous physical energy, and she knew how to use them all. Together with a burning ambition and a drive toward center stage, these qualities fueled a career that was a remarkable one for her time and place. She was the eldest daughter of William Jennings Bryan, who was Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson and three-time nominee of the Democratic Party to be President of the United States. Gifted with her father's oratorical skills and the exceptional talent needed for public life, she was the first woman elected to the...