Anne Armstrong, who died on July 30 at age 80, was a long-time Republican leader and adviser to presidents from Richard Nixon to George H. W. Bush

National Review, Sept 1, 2008

Anne Armstrong, who died on July 30 at age 80, was a longtime Republican leader and adviser to presidents from Richard Nixon to George H. W. Bush. She attained her greatest public prominence in 1976, when Gerald Ford named her ambassador to Great Britain. Though she served in that role for only a year, she made the most of her time; Henry Kissinger, in his memoirs, calls her "the splendid American ambassador to London" and quotes her penetrating analysis of Britain's Rhodesia policy, which was a great help to him in defusing a potential crisis.

The New York Times said the British had "taken an instant liking to her," but she could also be blunt when necessary. Adecade later, when secretary of state George P. Shultz bristled at being strapped to a lie detector, Armstrong (by then head of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board) told him, "I took a polygraph test, and I didn't get on my high horse." During her long and busy life, she also chaired the Republican National Committee and found time to raise five children. R.I.P.