Dorothy Houston Jacobson 1967 - Original

Dorothy Houston Jacobson (a middle-aged white woman, wearing a suit) sits at her desk at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C. on May 22, 1967. Mrs. Jacobson was appointed as the USDA Assistant Secretary for International Affairs in 1964, which made her the first woman to serve in a subcabinet position in USDA. Jacobson was a native of Herman, MN and received her B.S. and M. A. degrees from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN. She taught political science for 10 years at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN before joining then Governor Freeman’s staff. Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.