Madeleine Kunin

Madeleine Kunin (born Madeleine May Kunin; September 28, 1933) is a Swiss-born American politician, diplomat, and author who served as the 77th Governor of Vermont from 1985 to 1991. A Democrat, she was the first woman elected governor of Vermont and the first Jewish person to hold the office. Born in Zürich to Jewish parents who fled Nazi persecution, Kunin immigrated to the United States in 1940. She was also the first woman in the United States to be elected to three terms as governor. During her governorship, Kunin emphasized education reform and environmental policies, including chairing the New England Governors' Conference. Prior to her executive role, she served three terms in the Vermont House of Representatives and as Lieutenant Governor from 1979 to 1985. Following her time as governor, she held positions as Deputy Secretary of Education from 1993 to 1996 and U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland from 1996 to 1999. Kunin has authored several books on politics and leadership, including her memoir Living a Political Life published in 1994.

Madeleine Kunin was born Madeleine May on September 28, 1933, in Zürich, Switzerland, to Ferdinand May, a German-Jewish shoe importer who had immigrated to Switzerland after suffering gassing and trauma in World War I trenches, and Renee Bloch, his Swiss-born wife. Ferdinand May died by suicide in 1936, drowning in a lake near Zürich amid ongoing depression, leaving Renee a widow with two young children: Edgar, aged seven, and Madeleine, nearly three.

Fearing Nazi expansion into neutral Switzerland as World War II escalated—with German forces overrunning neighboring countries and antisemitic policies intensifying across Europe—Renee May arranged the family's escape in 1940, when Madeleine was six and Edgar ten. The threat stemmed from the family's Jewish heritage and the realistic risk of invasion or collaboration, despite Switzerland's fortified defenses and banking neutrality, which later drew scrutiny for dormant Holocaust-era accounts. They departed via ship, arriving in New York where relatives met them.

The family first settled in Forest Hills, Queens, assimilating into urban Jewish-American life, including attendance at a reform temple where Madeleine participated in group bat mitzvah ceremonies. Economic pressures as refugees prompted moves: briefly to California in hopes of prosperity, then back east to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, near relatives in the Berkshires, where Madeleine finished high school amid her mother's efforts to sustain the household through work. These relocations reflected post-immigration hardships, including language barriers and financial strain, while Swiss cultural ties faded rapidly in the American environment.