Lucy W. Benson

{{Short description|American government official (1927–2021)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Lucy W. Benson

| office = 4th Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs

| termstart = March 28, 1977

| termend = January 5, 1980

| president = Jimmy Carter

| predecessor = Carlyle E. Maw

| successor = Matthew Nimetz

| office1 = Massachusetts Secretary of Human Services

| termstart1 = 1975

| termend1 = 1977

| predecessor1 = Peter C. Goldmark Jr.

| successor1 = Jerald Stevens

| governor1 = Michael Dukakis

| birth_name = Lucy Peters Wilson

| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|8|25}}

| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|7|17|1927|8|25}}

| death_place = Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.

| spouse = {{marriage|Bruce Buzzell Benson|1950|1990|end=d.}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108888801/marriage-of-benson-wilson/|title=Benson-Wilson Vows Are Read|work=Arizona Republic|date=April 9, 1950|access-date=September 3, 2022}}

| father = Willard O. Wilson

}}

Lucy Peters Wilson Benson (August 25, 1927 – July 17, 2021){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nKSGAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Lucy+Wilson+Benson%22+AND+%221927%22|title=Presidency|year=1978|publisher=Congressional Quarterly, Incorporated |isbn=9780871871312|accessdate=14 November 2015}}{{cite news|url=https://www.gazettenet.com/Lucy-Wilson-Benson-U-S-State-Department-official-in-1970s-Smith-College-alumna-dies-41664863|title=Storied Lucy Wilson Benson recalled as 'fearless, formidable'|work=Daily Hampshire Gazette|date=July 31, 2021|access-date=September 3, 2022}} was an American government official who served as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs from 1977 to 1980. When Benson was named to this post, it was the highest position ever held by a woman in the United States Department of State.[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/13/us/washington-talk-women-in-government-tales-of-the-pioneers.html "Washington Talk: Women in Government; The Pioneers", New York Times, Nov. 13, 1986]

Prior to joining the State Department, Benson served as President of the League of Women Voters (1968 to 1974) and Massachusetts Secretary of Human Services from 1975 to 1977.{{cite web|title=Lucy Wilson Benson (1943), H1974|url=https://www.amherst.edu/library/about/support/friends/oral_history/oral_history_interviews/benson|work=Amherst College|accessdate=2 July 2012}} She has also been a member of the Lafayette College Board of Trustees since 1985.{{cite book |last1=Gendebien |first1=Albert W. |title=The Biography of a College: A History of Lafayette College 1927 - 1978 |date=1986 |publisher=Lafayette College |location=Easton, PA}}