It was in one of Mary Louise Becker's classes at Radcliffe, a coordinate college of Harvard University, that a professor spoke about the great figures of the twentieth century. One of the people he cited was Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Mary Becker did not recognize the name and approached the professor and asked him to tell her about 'Jinnah'. It was from this first encounter that the young graduate student became interested in the figure of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the creation of Pakistan, and the All-India Muslim League. Mary Louise Becker was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She attended local schools until she entered the renowned private university in St. Louis, Washington University, where she received an undergraduate degree in business and administration and a Master's degree in political science.

Thereafter she pursued a doctorate in international relations at Radcliffe. As a result of her interest, she received a Fulbright Fellowship for Pakistan so she could conduct her doctoral research on Jinnah and the All-India Muslim League. After returning from her sojourn in South Asia, she received her doctorate in 1957 for her dissertation The All-India Muslim League, 1906-1947, A Study of Leadership in the Evolution of a Nation, and went to work for the United States government. Following three years in the Department of State, she spent twenty-five years with the United States Agency for International Development She retired in 1991 but continued to follow events in the subcontinent and to conduct research on South Asia. She had always been heavily involved with a number of organizations connected with South Asia and following her retirement served for some fifteen years on the Board of Directors of the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area. She also served for a number of years on the Board of Directors of the South Asia Muslim Studies Association.