“All that is my Washington and I love it. Madhouse or not, I’d rather live here than anywhere else in the world.” - Hope Ridings Miller, June 27, 1943, The Washington Post.
Although some levels of misogyny still persists, women have made great strides in journalism. So much so that the trailblazers have been forgotten about. Although she is not a first pager such as Margaret Fuller or Ida B. Wells, deserving of our attention is Hope Ridings Miller (1905-2005). We enjoyed learning about her in, “Washington’s Golden Age, Hope Ridings Miller, the Society Beat, and the Rise of Women Journalists.”
One of the strengths of the book is that the author, Joseph Dalton, knew Miller (cousin) and had access to her unpublished memoir. Footnoting comes from a bibliography of 83 works. Photos touch across the span of her long and prolific life and include poses with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (who she covered during the first part of the New Deal), LBJ (fellow Texan), Vice President Nixon, and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn (major background source).
Miller came out of Texas, the state that gave us journalistic greats such as Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer. She might have climbed that same "hard news" ladder, but norms kept women out of those higher beats and seats.
Nevertheless, Miller carved out an illustrative career behind a typewriter. Beginning in 1937, she began her watchful eye on Washington society and life. Her resume, which includes Society Editor with the Washington Post, Editor of Diplomat magazine, and over 1,800 columns with some syndication — was as sterling as the tableware she expertly reported on.
Don’t let the lighter side fool you. As Dalton points out:
Society editors get little more than a passing aside in the histories of the press. It’s a misconception. Coverage required knowledge keen and quick perception, a flair for analysis, and a way with words.
Miller supervised a staff responsible for two pages every day. In 1934, the City Room at the Post consisted of Miller and 49 men. She quickly earned the respect of her peers. After one year, Miller was elected as President of the Women’s National Press Club.
She also found time to write three books (“Embassy Row: The Life and Times of Diplomat Washington,” “Scandals in the Highest Office,” and “Great Houses of Washington DC.”
The latter was a standout. Miller, who had started out her career with the Post writing reviews of books, poured all her insider knowledge and vocabulary into it. The hardcover (1969) benefits greatly from the photography of Charles Baptie. Especially noteworthy are the large, color interior shots, numbering more than 100, and some perhaps never before seen. The nomination form (National Register for Historic Places) for the Ringgold-Carroll House in Washington cites this book as a major bibliographical reference.
Researchers will benefit from "Washington’s Golden Age." For example, Dalton points out that, in 1969, the women’s section of the Post got replaced by the Style section.
“A dedicated forum for the systematic coverage of the women’s movement had been yanked awy. It would take time and a new generation of unflinching women reporters to move issues like day care, abortion, and pay equality out of the realm of “soft news.”
This book includes some terrific anecdotes. Miller said she never took notes at social events, but — “Many times I would take myself off to the ladies room and whip out a pencil and notebook from my bosom.”
If Miller had published her memoirs, it would have been a best seller in the city of A-listers she knew so well. Unforgettable was the party thrown by Evelyn Walsh McLean on New Years’s Eve 1938. McLean, the Kim Kardashian of her day and then some, owned and often whimsically wore the Hope Diamond. Her memoir was titled, “Father Struck it Rich.” 900 lucky guests were lavishly entertained that night and into the morning at Friendship (demolished), the family estate that “provided its owners with every luxury imaginable.” Miller, of course, provided all the details of the party on page 8.
“Golden Age” is always a bit of a problem in describing eras. Golden for who?
As Dalton shows throughout the book, Miller and some of her counterparts often held back and did not always go for the goofs, gotchas, and gaffes approach. Whether or not that made it a Golden Age, we leave it up to each reader to decide.
What can be said is that for Hope Ridings Miller and others like her, a starting point had been made by Eugene Myers, publisher of The Washington Post. When he bought the paper in the early 1930s, it brought up the rear behind the Evening Star and three others. Myers made his move and hired more and more women.
These women had just as much fire in the belly as their male counterparts. Malvina Lindsay, the woman’s page editor of the Post and later a columnist, recalled a conversation with Meyer. It took place when he had just hired Miller. He told Lindsay that Miller "might be good enough to become a society editor."
Lindsay pushed back, saying, “Oh, surely she can become much more.”
Hope Ridings Miller did indeed do exactly that.
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