The daughter of Danish immigrants, Esther Eggertsen grew up in a family who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Provo, Utah.

In 1948, the State Department offered Peterson's husband a position as a diplomat in Sweden.

The family returned to Washington, D.C., in 1957 and Peterson joined the Industrial Union Department of the AFL–CIO, becoming its first woman lobbyist.

[6] She was Assistant Secretary of Labor and Director of the United States Women's Bureau under fellow Bostonian President John F.

[7][8] In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson named Peterson to the newly created post of Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs.