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Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Peggy Hull: First Female War Correspondent

"In 1916, 25-year-old reporter Peggy Hull blew into El Paso to cover the U.S. military response to Pancho Villa’s attacks for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Eager to be taken seriously by her editors, Hull crafted her own uniform of khaki pants, knee-high boots and a brown hat, modeled after the Ohio National Guard soldiers whom she followed to Texas to cover the border conflict.
While embedded with the soldiers, Hull wrote compelling stories, and El Paso newsmen soon took notice. The El Paso Herald described how the young but seasoned reporter had fought a “real battle” with her editors at the Plain Dealer.
Hull pushed to work with the Ohio troops, but her editors refused to send a woman to the conflict. In response, she funded her own way to Texas in the first of several daring moves that propelled her to become first documented American female war correspondent....."

Coverage of WWI soon followed: