Escaping The Women's Pages
Female journalists in Vietnam
Hello! Welcome to Inside Story where I write about the people, places, and events that inform my historical novels and the novels I love to read. I’m glad you found me.
My latest novel, A SEASON IN SAIGON is informed by the women who covered the war in Vietnam from 1965 until the fall of Saigon in April of 1975. Some of them worked in-county for years, some, like Martha Gellhorn, were there for only a few months. As I delved into their biographies, I noticed a common thread connecting many of them: a desire to escape the confines of the women’s pages to which they were often relegated.
At the time, most newspaper offices were male bastions of bawdy talk, spittoons, and a blatant, and sometimes gleeful disrespect for women in the newsroom. In Vietnam, dismissed by the male reporters as war groupies, thrill seekers, and husband hunters, these women fought to establish their right to work and to prove their mettle in an unforgiving environment.
Ann Bryan ( later Mariano) was a beautiful redhead, a Texas native, a graduate of Texas Tech University whose first job after college was with the San Angelo, ( Texas) Standard Times. Eventually she was promoted the editor of the women’s pages where she reported on recipes, clothing trends, and family issues. When it became clear that she wouldn’t be allowed to cover the news, she left for New York and worked briefly as a flight attendant ( they were called stewardesses back then) before heading to Germany to work for Overseas Weekly, a tabloid for US servicemen serving in the Pacific region. Ann was eventually recruited to serve as bureau chief of the Pacific region for the Weekly in Saigon where she interviewed soldiers about their experiences and wrote about issues the military sought to suppress. She became a mentor and first editor to several women journalists including Cynthia Copple and Kate Webb.
A shy, demure Princess Diana lookalike, Kate Webb was a reporter for the Sydney, Australia Daily Mirror when she chose to leave the paper behind in favor of reporting from the front. She became famous for surviving 23 days of captivity at the hands of the Viet Cong and for her ability to establish rapport with the soldiers on the ground. After her death she was honored with a postage stamp and by the establishment of a yearly award to a journalist who embodies her courage and spirit.
Tall, alluring, and brittle, Gloria Emerson worked on and off as a model in New York and as a women’s page reporter for the New York Times where she complained that all she was allowed to write about was “food, furnishings, fashion, and family.” Eventually the Times sent her to Vietnam where she focused her reporting on the costs of the war to the civilian population. After Vietnam she wrote an award-wining book based on interviews with the men and women who served in the war.
Denby Fawcett was a 24 year old reporter for the Honolulu (Hawaii) Advertiser when she left to cover the war in Vietnam. Originally assigned to “local color” stories about life in Saigon, she eventually became the Advertiser’s chief Vietnam correspondent which took her into combat zones. She was one of the contributors to a book called War Torn: Stories of the War From the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam. It was a valuable resource as I wrote the novel.
Despite the challenges, the women who covered the war distinguished themselves by winning some of the most coveted professional awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, several George Polk Awards, the Overseas Press Club Award, the National Book Award, and the Bancroft Prize for history.
A SEASON IN SAIGON is my tribute to their talent, tenacity, and triumphs that helped transform the notion of women war reporters from a novelty to a norm.
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