In 1961, Bacon became one of the first six recipients of the Federal Woman's Award, "in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the formulation of United States foreign policy in the field of Far Eastern affairs." Her sister accepted the award in her place. She retired from the federal government in 1968. In 1974 she served on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, attended the World Conference on Women in 1975 in Mexico City, and was director of the US Center for International Women's Year from 1973 to 1976. She went on lecture tour in Africa in 1974, sponsored by the State Department, and visited South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia. In 1977 she was a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, lecturing at colleges from Vermont and Virginia to Hawaii.