[3] Marjorie Millace Whiteman was born in Liberty Township, Henry County, Ohio, in 1898.

[3][5] For part of this period, she served as special assistant to Green Hackworth, then the department's legal adviser.

[5] She helped to draft the charter of the United Nations in 1945 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights three years later.

When the State Department was reorganized in 1949, Whiteman was named the first assistant legal adviser for American republic affairs.

[3] Known as the "Whiteman Digest", it continues to be a leading reference work in the field for government officials and scholars of international law.