Lee, Muna (1895–1965)

American poet, translator and international affairs expert. Name variations: Muna Lee de Muñoz Marín, Mrs. Luis Muñoz Marín; (pseudonym) Newton Gayle. Born Muna Lee on Jan 29, 1895, in Raymond, Mississippi; died April 3, 1965, in San Juan, Puerto Rico; dau. of Benjamin Floyd Lee (druggist) and Mary (McWilliams) Lee; attended Blue Mountain College, 1909–10, and University of Oklahoma, 1911–12; University of Mississippi, BS, 1913; m. Luis Muñoz Marín (poet, journalist, and PR politician), 1919 (div. 1946); children: Muna (b. 1920) and Luis (b. 1921).

An advocate of Pan-Americanism, was confidential Spanish translator for US government in NYC (1918–19); published poems, Sea-Change (1923), and children's stories, Pioneers of Puerto Rico (1945); trans. several Spanish works, including Jorge Carrera Andrade's Secret Country (1946); moved to Puerto Rico with family (1926); became director of bureau of international relations at University of Puerto Rico (1927); was director of national affairs for National Woman's Party (1931–33); as Newton Gayle, co-authored, with Maurice Guinness, several murder mysteries, including Murder at 28:10 (1936); became specialist in State Department's Division of Cultural Relations in Washington, DC (1941); with Archibald MacLeish, wrote scripts for radio series, "The American Story" (1944); with Ruth McMurry, co-authored The Cultural Approach: Another Way in International Relations (1947); became cultural coordinator at Office of Public Affairs (1951); retired from State Department (1965).