March Fong Eu

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = March Fong Eu

| image = March Fong Eu.jpg

| caption =

| office = United States Ambassador to Micronesia

| term_start = May 18, 1994

| term_end = July 5, 1996

| president = Bill Clinton

| predecessor = Aurelia E. Brazeal

| successor = Cheryl Ann Martin

| office1 = 24th Secretary of State of California

| term_start1 = January 6, 1975

| term_end1 = May 17, 1994

| governor1 = Jerry Brown
George Deukmejian
Pete Wilson

| predecessor1 = Jerry Brown

| successor1 = Tony Miller

| state_assembly2 = California

| district2 = 15th

| term_start2 = January 2, 1967

| term_end2 = November 30, 1974

| predecessor2 = Nicholas C. Petris

| successor2 = S. Floyd Mori

| birth_name = March Kong

| birth_date = {{birth date|1922|3|29}}

| birth_place = Oakdale, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|12|21|1922|3|29}}

| death_place = Irvine, California, U.S.

| party = Democratic

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Chester Fong|1941|1970|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Henry Eu|1973|}}

}}

| children = 2, including Matt

| education = University of California, Berkeley (BA)
Mills College (M.Ed.)
Stanford University (Ed.D.)

| signature =

| module =

| occupation = Dental hygienist

{{infobox Chinese|child=yes|c={{linktext|余|江|月桂}}|j=Jyu4 Gong1 Jyut6 Gwai3|p=Yú Jiāng Yuèguì}}

}}

March Fong Eu ({{nee|Kong}}; March 29, 1922 – December 21, 2017) was an American diplomat and politician who served as the 24th secretary of state of California for five terms from 1975 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the California State Assembly from 1967 to 1974 and later as the United States ambassador to Micronesia under Bill Clinton from 1994 to 1996.

The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Eu was the first Asian American woman to hold statewide constitutional office in the United States and was also the first woman to serve as Secretary of State of California. She is the adoptive mother of Matt Fong, a Republican who served one term as treasurer of California.

Early life and education

Eu was born March Kong on March 29, 1922, in Oakdale, California, a city in the San Joaquin Valley, where her Chinese immigrant parents Yuen Kong and Shiu Shee ran a hand-wash laundry.{{cite web|url=https://oakland.chapelofthechimes.com/obituaries/March-Fong-32955/#!/Obituary |title=March Fong Eu |publisher=Oakland.chapelofthechimes.com |date= |accessdate=July 4, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/news-releases-and-advisories/2017-news-releases-and-advisories/honorable-march-fong-eu-former-california-secretary-state-and-ambassador-federated-states-micronesia-dies/|title=The Honorable March Fong Eu, Former California Secretary of State and Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia, Dies|publisher=California Secretary of State|date=December 22, 2017|accessdate=March 27, 2019}} Her grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Huaxian County (now Huadu District) in the South China province of Guangdong.{{cite news|url=https://www.apnews.com/2e9c56cae6b540849b0bea42704db63e|title=California political trailblazer March Fong Eu dies at 95|work=Associated Press|last=Har|first=Janie|accessdate=March 27, 2019|date=December 22, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gzsdfz.org.cn/gzrw/ddmr/hqhr/201411/t20141114_15747.html|title=余江月桂|date=November 14, 2014|publisher=City of Guangzhou|language=Chinese|accessdate=March 27, 2019}}{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/makingitinameric00bark|url-access=registration|quote=march fong eu guangdong.|last=Tong|first=Benson|chapter=Eu, March Fong (née Kong) (1922- )|editor-last=Barkan|editor-first=Elliott Robert|title=Making it in America: A Sourcebook on Eminent Ethnic Americans|pages=[https://archive.org/details/makingitinameric00bark/page/118 118]–119|place=Santa Barbara, California|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2001|isbn=1576070980}} The family later moved to Richmond, California.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-march-fong-eu-20171222-story.html|title=March Fong Eu, pioneering Asian American politician who was longtime California secretary of state, dies at 95|last=Luther|first=Claudia|date=December 22, 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=January 6, 2018}}

Eu earned a Bachelor of Science in dental hygiene from the University of California, Berkeley in 1943 and a Master of Education from Mills College. She earned an Ed.D. from the Stanford Graduate School of Education in 1954.

Career

File:March Fong Eu, 1975.jpg.]]

She became a dental hygienist working in the Oakland Unified School District and served a term as president of the American Dental Hygienist Association. She served on the Alameda County Board of Education from 1954 to 1964.

= California State Assembly =

In 1966, Eu was elected as a Democrat to the California State Assembly from the 15th District, representing Oakland and Castro Valley. She served four terms. She is perhaps best known for her successful campaign to ban pay toilets, arguing that they discriminated against women since urinals were free.

[https://www.mylifetime.com/she-did-that/april-26-1969-assemblywoman-march-fong-eu-smashed-a-toilet-to-protest-the-inequity-of-pay-toilets March Fong Eu smashed a toilet to protest the inequity of pay toilets], mylifetime.com. Accessed February 9, 2024.

= California Secretary of State =

Eu was elected Secretary of State of California in 1974, becoming the first Asian American woman ever elected to a state constitutional office in the United States. She remained the only woman to serve as California Secretary of State until 2006, when voters elected Debra Bowen. Eu was elected Secretary of State five times. In 1978 she won every county in the state, even heavily Republican Orange County, making her one of only five Democrats to win the county in a statewide race in the last half century. She resigned in 1994 when President Bill Clinton nominated her for an ambassadorship.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-11-mn-21734-story.html|title=March Fong Eu Quits as Secretary of State|last=Gillam|first=Jerry|date=February 11, 1994|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=February 3, 2016}}

Innovations she introduced during her 19 years as Secretary of State included voter registration by mail; providing absentee ballots to anyone who requested them; posting results on the Internet; and including candidate statements in ballot pamphlets.{{cite news|url=http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mail-45569-election-results.html|title=O.C. resident March Fong Eu left legacy of change for elections|last=Giasone|first=Barbara|date=November 4, 2006|work=Orange County Register|accessdate=February 3, 2016}} In 1976, she became the first woman to serve as Governor of California, serving as acting governor while Governor Jerry Brown was out of the state.{{cite web|url=http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5634411 |title=For At Least A Few Hours, California Has Its First Gay Governor | HuffPost |publisher=M.huffpost.com |date=July 30, 2014 |accessdate=April 3, 2019}}

= Later career =

In 1987, Eu was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, running against Leo McCarthy for the right to challenge the Republican incumbent, Pete Wilson. Amid poor fundraising totals and her husband's unwillingness to release details of his business interests, Eu dropped out later that year.{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-29-mn-17495-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | title=Eu Drops Out of Senate Race | date=October 29, 1987}}

President Bill Clinton appointed Eu as United States Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia in 1994. She served in that post until 1996, when she resigned to work on Clinton's re-election campaign.{{cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/eu-march-fong|title=Office of the Historian|work=U.S. Department of State|accessdate=February 3, 2016}}

Eu campaigned for her son Matt in the 1998 U.S. Senate election, when he was the Republican nominee against incumbent Democratic senator Barbara Boxer. In 2002, Eu, then age 79, ran again for Secretary of State, saying she was doing so because "Florida made me angry", referring to the voting problems in Florida during the 2000 United States presidential election.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Florida-Made-Her-Mad-At-79-March-Fong-Eu-wants-2942518.php|title=Florida Made Her Mad / At 79, March Fong Eu wants to run California elections again|last=Salladay|first=Robert|date=March 14, 2001|work=San Francisco Chronicle|accessdate=February 3, 2016}} She lost in the Democratic primary to Kevin Shelley,{{cite news |last1=Salladay |first1=Robert |title=Shelley beats veteran Eu in secretary of state race / Assemblyman wins Democratic primary |url=https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Shelley-beats-veteran-Eu-in-secretary-of-state-2867260.php |access-date=January 24, 2022 |work=SFGATE |date=March 6, 2002}} who went on to win the election.{{cite news |title=Shelley to be new Secretary of State |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2002/11/04/daily42.html |access-date=January 24, 2022 |work=www.bizjournals.com |date=November 6, 2002}}

Personal life and death

Eu resided both in California and Singapore with her second husband Henry Eu, a multimillionaire industrialist. Eu was assaulted by a burglar who broke into her Hancock Park home in 1986.{{Cite web |title=Desert Sun 11 November 1986 — California Digital Newspaper Collection |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19861111.2.19&srpos=6&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Hancock+Park%22------- |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=cdnc.ucr.edu}} Her adopted son, Matt Fong, was a Republican activist who served as California State Treasurer for a four-year term that began January 1995.{{cite web|title=March Fong Eu|url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0880736.html|work=infoplease.com|accessdate=April 3, 2014}} She also had a daughter, Suyin. Her hobbies in retirement included Chinese brush painting and calligraphy. Eu died in Irvine, California, on December 21, 2017, following a fall; she was 95 years old.

Recognition

In 2019 California's Secretary of State building in Sacramento was named after Eu (as the March Fong Eu Secretary of State Building); this made it the first state-owned building to be named for an Asian-American woman.{{cite web|url=http://www.capradio.org/articles/2019/03/26/no-california-didnt-just-name-a-building-after-a-woman-for-the-first-time-but-it-was-close/ |title=No, March Fong Eu Isn't The First Woman To Have A California State Building Named After Her (But It Was Close) |publisher=capradio.org |date=March 28, 2019 |accessdate=April 3, 2019}}

The National Notary Association gives an annual March Fong Eu Award to "the individual who or organization that, in the judgment of the Association's Executive Committee, has done the most to improve the standards, image and quality of the office of Notary Public." Eu was the first recipient of the award in 1979, named after her "for her extraordinary leadership in spearheading enactment of progressive Notary reform legislation, despite opposition from powerful lobbies who preferred lower notarial standards."{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalnotary.org/about-the-nna/award-programs|title=Award Programs|work=National Notary Association|accessdate=February 3, 2016}}