201:. Ida began traveling to find a job, but Nash requested to stay put. Her mother agreed, and found boarding her for at Ursuline Academy, a boarding school. Nash never again returned to living with her mother. Instead, she supported herself with odd jobs while living in San Antonio and attending two other schools, St. Michael's Academy and Main Avenue High School. She worked as a clerk, a librarian, and in the book section of a department store while in high school. When she enrolled in the Main Avenue High School, they found her to be an advanced student and allowed her to graduate high school in two years. During her time there, however, Nash met Elva Cunningham, the president of the San Antonio
309:. Together they were the first women to ever be accredited as United States Army War Correspondents. It is possible that Robb and Nash were utilized as tools to recruit more women for WACs, or garner more support for the war from American women. While reporting, Nash was required to wear the same uniform as the WAC women, and was required to adhere to all the regulations of a member of the Armed Forces.
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femininity, I need a job, want one with the AP, and can hold it." Cooper promptly hired Nash, and she would go on to work for the
Associated Press for the next 27 years as a reporter, writing about many important historical events, although she was often pressured by her superiors to cover the news from the "woman's angle."
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middle name
Barbara, but she changed it to Baldwin, her mother's maiden name, shortly thereafter to please her. When Nash graduated in 1923, she became an algebra teacher at Main Avenue High School, the same high school that she had attended herself. While teaching, she lived with the Cunninghams once again.
324:, manager of the AP office in North Africa who would go on to become president and General Manager of AP, was hostile to her work, even going so far as to put her in a position that he knew would be bombed. However, not all were hostile to her work. Shortly after her arrival in Algeria, Nash met General
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at the
Associated Press had begun the practice of hiring women during his tenure as general manager beginning in 1925. Upon being fired from United Press for her sex, Nash wrote a letter to Cooper that began: "Dear Mr. Cooper. First, I am a girl. Sight unseen I pass for a man. But notwithstanding my
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After covering the establishment of WACs, Nash requested to follow their first contingent overseas. Her request was approved by her long-time friend, Oveta Culp Hobby, who was then the director of the WACs. Shortly after, AP also approved her request, and Nash left for North Africa, where she would
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at Austin in 1919, and moved out of the
Cunningham home in order to do so, but they remained like a second family to her. While there, Newman lived in a Catholic dormitory, Newman Hall. While there, she continued to work odd jobs to support herself. It was during this time that she gave herself the
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in
Florida. They were required by the government to live on the property in order to retain their homestead status, and they lived there for about two years trying to raise grapefruit and orange trees. At the end of that time, Nash and her mother returned to Salt Lake City, where Nash attended St.
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In May 1943 Nash was assigned to
England, where she covered the arrival of WACs there and the preparations for the European invasion. Then, in September 1944, Nash moved to France and was present for the liberation of Paris. She also covered the Battle of the Bulge. Nash covered the war without a
280:'s trial. While covering the case, she recalled having a "feature instinct," a result of Mr. Capone limping down the courtroom aisle. Nash asked, "New shoes. They hurt, don't they?" to which Mr. Capone responded, "Yes," which Nash used as the hook for her report. She was later assigned to
229:. Nash recalled in an oral history interview that she particularly liked getting "night assignments... because they didn't think I should have them." She also started offering her services as a free-lance journalist, and wrote for other papers, such as the
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offered her a job in
January 1929, which she accepted. Not long after, an executive from United Press came to the newsroom looking to praise the work of Baldwin Cowan — when it became clear that there was no such man, only Ruth Cowan Nash, she was fired.
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break from 1943 to 1945, mixing hair dye in her helmet to keep her blonde hair neat. Many of her stories were about women and the war effort, but she also wrote about wounded soldiers, new medical treatments, and the effects of war on civilians.
288:'s press conferences. Nash would eventually become friendly with the then-First Lady, and correspond with each other often. While in Washington, Nash spent May 1942 covering the introduction and eventual passage of the bill that established the
348:, and general military news until 1956. In 1956, she was forced to retire from AP, whose policy stated that women could not work after their 55th birthday. The compulsory retirement age for men at that time was 65.
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205:. Because Nash's mother never lived anywhere consistently, Cunnginham invited Nash to live with the Cunningham family, which consisted of Elva and her husband, John, their sons, and Elva's sister, Mary Carter.
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Both Nash and her husband
Bradley Nash were active in their retirement, and Bradley Nash was the mayor of Harper's Ferry, West Virginia for many years. They donated portions of their land to the
225:. She got the job through Mary Carter, sister of Elva Cunningham, who knew the managing editor of the paper and worked in the news room. In 1926 they hired her for a full-time position at the
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on June 15, 1901, the only child of parents
William Henry and Ida (Baldwin) Cowan. Her father was a mining prospector who died in 1911, at which point Cowan's mother, Ida, bought a
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363:, where they owned High Acres Farm. Nash used her retirement to continue writing, this time working on her memoir about her experiences during the war. Her manuscript, titled
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328:. He reportedly asked her what the first rule of war was, to which Nash responded: "You kill him before he kills you." Patton afterwards stated, "She stays."
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408:
Ruth Cowan Nash died on
February 5, 1993, of respiratory arrest in her sleep. She was 91 years old. She had no children. Her papers are currently held at
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194:. Ida Cowan had previously been a teacher, and felt that private schools provided a better education, so Nash completed seventh and eighth grade there.
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Ida Cowan disliked the cold weather in Salt Lake City, and used the money that she saved from the sale of their homestead to move to
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graduate and expert in government operations who had worked as the Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce. They moved together to
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233:, under the name Baldwin Cowan in order to disguise her gender. While working doing work for the Houston Chronicle, Nash met
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367:, was rejected by the publishing company she sent it to in 1946 due to the market's over-saturation with war books.
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MC 417. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
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Ruth Cowan Nash, interview by Margot H. Knight, 29 March 1990 in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, transcript.
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report on WACs, hospitals, and military operations. She was accompanied by one other woman reporter,
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Nash's journalism career began in 1924, when she began writing part-time as a movie reviewer for the
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In April 1945, Nash was reassigned to AP's Washington Bureau, and after the war she covered
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Impressed with her work there, which she had written under her pen name of Baldwin Cowan,
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Beginning in September 1958, Nash served as the confidential administrative assistant to
316:, beginning January 1943, Nash was met with considerable resistance both from within the
374:, and from May 1957 to August 1958 she served as a public relations consultant for the
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165:. She is famous for her coverage of World War II, during which she followed the
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Mary's Academy, a convent school, despite the fact that Nash's family was not
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and her coworkers at the Associated Press. She suspected that
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Ramirez, Maria. Nieman Reports, Nieman Foundation at Harvard.
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and they became fast friends. She continued to work at the
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For the American historian of biology and technology, see
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Ruth B. Cowan, 91, A.P. Correspondent During World War II
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Washington Press Club Foundation Oral History Collection
161:(June 15, 1901 - February 5, 1993) was the first woman
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Ruth Cowan Nash Papers, ca.1905-1990: A Finding Aid.
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Pioneering War Correspondent Ruth Cowan Dies at 91.
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Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services
241:until 1929, during which time she covered the 1928
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351:Early into her forced retirement, Nash married
591:"Go to War I Did, and at Considerable Trouble"
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673:American war correspondents of World War II
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272:She was initially assigned to
243:Democratic National Convention
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376:Republican National Committee
361:Harper's Ferry, West Virginia
92:Harper's Ferry, West Virginia
290:Women's Army Auxiliary Corps
181:Ruth Cowan Nash was born in
167:Women's Auxiliary Army Corps
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307:International News Service
203:Parent Teacher Association
103:R. Baldwin Cowan (penname)
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650:Journalist Ruth Nash Dies
612:5 February 1993. AP News.
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418:Cambridge, Massachusetts
239:San Antonio Evening News
223:San Antonio Evening News
353:Bradley De Lamater Nash
296:World War II journalism
152:Bradley De Lamater Nash
693:Journalists from Utah
398:National Park Service
378:'s women's division.
251:Franklin D. Roosevelt
208:Nash enrolled in the
183:Salt Lake City, Utah
73:Salt Lake City, Utah
654:The Washington Post
410:Schlesinger Library
210:University of Texas
112:University of Texas
34:American journalist
29:Ruth Schwartz Cowan
631:The New York Times
414:Harvard University
357:Harvard University
312:While deployed in
276:where she covered
199:San Antonio, Texas
18:Ruth Baldwin Cowan
629:6 February 1993.
286:Eleanor Roosevelt
274:Chicago, Illinois
231:Houston Chronicle
217:Journalism career
163:war correspondent
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131:Years active
123:War correspondent
16:(Redirected from
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100:Other names
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86:(1993-02-05)
688:1993 deaths
683:1901 births
266:Kent Cooper
264:Meanwhile,
667:Categories
424:References
177:Early life
126:Journalist
65:1901-06-15
318:U.S. Army
305:from the
303:Inez Robb
278:Al Capone
187:homestead
114:at Austin
652:. 1993.
192:Catholic
139:Employer
314:Algeria
344:, the
149:Spouse
416:, in
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81:Died
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