Frieda Barkin Hennock served as a Federal Communications Commissioner from 1948 to 1955. Appointed by President Harry S. Truman, she was the first woman to serve as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In this position she was instrumental in securing the reservation of channels for non-commercial television stations, an FCC decision that enabled the development of the system of public broadcasting that exists in the United States today. - Joe Fullman