Caroline Clendening Laise (November 14, 1917 – July 25, 1991)[1] was an American civil servant, ambassador to Nepal and the first female Assistant Secretary of State.

[3] She received a Bachelor of Arts in public administration in 1938 from American University,[3] where she was a member of the Gamma Delta chapter of Phi Mu fraternity.

She had a position in the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration for a short time before joining the State Department in 1948.

After a year in New Delhi, President Lyndon B. Johnson named her ambassador to Nepal in 1966, a position she held until 1973.

[7] In October 1973, she became Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, and in 1974 became director general of the Foreign Service, until her retirement in 1977.