| Antonia Handler Chayes | |
| Birth Date: | 21 July 1929 |
| Birth Place: | New York City |
| Known For: | US Lawyer, United States Under Secretary of the Air Force, Academic |
| Children: | Sarah Chayes and 4 other children |
| Awards: | Air Force Distinguished Service Medal |
Antonia "Toni" Handler Chayes (born July 21, 1929) is a United States lawyer and educator who served as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) from 1977 to 1979 and as United States Under Secretary of the Air Force from 1979 to 1981.
Antonia Handler was born in New York City on July 21, 1929.[1] She married Abram Chayes on December 24, 1947; they had five children, including journalist Sarah Chayes. She was educated at Radcliffe College, receiving a B.A. in 1950.[2] She then attended Yale Law School before transferring to the Georgetown University Law Center and receiving her law degree in 1953.[1]
From 1959 to 1961, Chayes was executive assistant to Erwin Griswold, the Dean of Harvard Law School.[1] In 1961, she joined the staff of the White House, where she worked drafting correspondence.[1] She was then a consultant to a Baltimore community development firm 1962-63, and a social science adviser to the National Institute of Mental Health 1964-65.[1] From 1966 to 1968, she was director of education and urban development for the Model Cities Program's Action for Boston Community Development program.[1] In 1968, she became the dean of the Jackson College for Women (later incorporated into Tufts University).[1] From 1970 to 1972, she was an associate professor of political science at Tufts.[1] Chayes then spent 1972-73 as the law clerk of Judge Charles Edward Wyzanski Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.[1] In 1974, she joined the Boston law firm of Csaplar & Bok as a partner.[1]
In 1977, President of the United States Jimmy Carter nominated Chayes to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Manpower and Reserve Affairs).[1] She held this position until 1979, when she became United States Under Secretary of the Air Force, a position she held until 1981.[3]
Chayes joined the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1981, teaching there until 2003.[3] There, she became Chair of the Project on Compliance and International Conflict Management at the Program on Negotiation.[3] She also served on the Board of Directors of the United Technologies Corporation from 1981 to 2002. She also continued to practice law with Csaplar & Bok.[3] In 2003, she became Professor of Practice of International Politics and Law at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.[3]