Pamela married American statesman W. Averell Harriman on September 27, 1971, becoming Pamela Harriman and gaining US political prominence.
On September 27, 1971, Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward married W. Averell Harriman, the wealthy American businessman, diplomat, and former Governor of New York, becoming his third wife. Harriman had known her since the early 1940s, when as U.S. envoy to Britain he had begun a wartime affair with her.
The marriage, which took place in New York, reunited the two after nearly three decades and cemented Pamela's transition from European society figure to American political insider. Averell Harriman was one of the most storied figures in twentieth-century American diplomacy, having served as Ambassador to the Soviet Union and to the United Kingdom, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and a key architect of Cold War foreign policy.
Through this marriage, Pamela gained not only vast wealth but entrée into the innermost circles of the Democratic Party establishment. She became a US citizen and began building the political apparatus — including the influential fundraising vehicle PamPAC and Democrats for the '80s — that would make her one of the most powerful fundraisers in the party's history. The marriage lasted until Averell Harriman's death in 1986, after which Pamela inherited his substantial fortune and continued to use it in the service of Democratic politics, culminating in her own ambassadorial appointment. This union stands as a pivotal turning point that redirected her life's trajectory from European socialite to American political powerbroker.