Who couldnd cspan, want for more . Thank you so much for having me everyone who to possible, theing gracious paula matthews, the lively Monica Higgins who seems clocks run on time. Friends, thankr so very much. Myow me to introduce you to nist as it any fac were. Dorothy thompson on the right left. Becca west to your here they are at the height of careers in the 1930s. Their beauty if might add. They dont know it yet, but they are about to embark upon a selfdefining morality play. Can almost hear them talking another. Dorothy first with her high pseudo british accent, becky, dont you think it was divine intervention that swayed susan to write our story . Have repliedould drawl,best betty davis cock. Oppy let the old girl talk. About you dottie, i possiblyn she couldnt persona to polished the core. Right. They are both nonetheless, i am glad you are here and frankly that they are not. [laughter] begin. I burge researching the lind story i became aware of how periods between the defining wars was in the great moral issues of the womens right, nationalism versus democracynalism, ism. Us tow tail tear constrained by her husbands fame and later by her infamy, this time i wanted to write about the women who had to to confront the on. Es of their day head while combing through the daily magazines and newspapers in and america, two names kept cropping up, Dorothy Thompson and rebecca west. Their bold,know why uncompromising voices seemed to newspapers,e, in periodicals, magazines, books, even on the radio. The more i learned, the more i theintrigued by extraordinary women who seemed nowhere from of selfeducated, bent ons and hell changing the course of history. Odds of breaking maledominated media, west and thompson were able to poverty, defyir inial convention and succeed a way many women had not done before. Forging a path in literature and journalism for women today. Rebecca west took storm pouring her books ragenning from criticism from biology to history. Addressing a dizziness array of issue, the dangers of naturalism, the ethnics of war, of treason, war justice. D s tenureothy thompson longertop would last no than two decades and her vehicles were broadcast journalism. She would address the same depth andh equal International Scale earning the respect of ministers. And prime a part on opposite the atlantic, both of. Ritish Heritage West and thompson came of age in two decades of Political Economic and social pushed the worldhed toward con fill investigation time. E second western civilization was in crisis and they were among the and first to recognize of fascismthe threat that were sweeping through the 1930s. While most of their colleagues, female, refused to blatant finds of imperialism. West and thompson fought the could, not on the military battlefield but in the ideas. F risk everything and literary and social way. In their west was nothing if not nistic. Sisly the youngest of three daughters. A giftedr was journalist soon revealed to be a notorious gambler, thief, and womanizer, abandoned their family went she was only 8 years old. Was unable to reconcile hiso the shame into his leaving had cast them. Believe, was the life. Ng moment of her her fathers betrayal forever her faith in people god. N permeating every aspect of her life, including her writing. Him in allearch for her relationships with men and own way she set out to become him. Aware that her beauty, intelligence, and verbal acuity she must casts, aside attachments in service to overarcking ambition. Became a game of chess. Such asg of a woman herself was a waste of time, she classicalerself in history and moral philosophy. Time she was 19 years , know known as rebecca west, protagnist in a freefleeing writingnking alexandr drama was essays and book reviews for a magazine. Foe wouldfamous become an enabler, in 1912 she scathing review of h. G. Recent novel marriage. Denigrated women as gold parasites. Sacredred to blast the icon as a flagrant mow sog any fact who knew nothing about the true nature of women or the institution of marriage. Frequent reader of unconventional publication was blindsided by this. Ant by enchanted by her intelligent. 46yearold wells invited in ateenager to his home suburb of london where he lived parasiticold digging wife and the two undisciplined sons. Within the course of the afternoon, west fell head over him, see seducedh by his intelligent and sexuality. As having thehim walk of a matador into the an arena when he is fight the bull to the finish. The bull. D to be [laughter] oncoming fight and we say,o be, shall finished. Fully understand the mutual know whoon, one must 1912. Was in he was possibly the most author in the englishspeaking world. Hisad already published famed Science Fiction novels machine, the man, war of the worlds, aimed at awakening the public to the dangers of science unmitigated by moral philosophy. Wells in short was an star. Igent rock yet he had a strange selfdestructive flaw, perhaps one that rebecca anticipated. An insashable lust for intelligent women. Wells had several affairs before rebecca but this time he reald he had found the thing. His intelligent equal with a sexual desire that matched his own. Within two years, rebecca would son anthonyo their h. G. Ike it or not, she and life. Ound for now in august of 1914, when rebecca was giving birth to her dorothy, a more conventional sort had chose on a university in upstate new york. Graduation, she was looking work. Me meaningful for dorothy, nothing could have than makinganingful sense of her mothers death. Rebecca, dorothy, too, lost the age ofarent at 8. Stances molded her toward the world and her drive succeed. Empower womeno and to give them voice, she ked at the new york state amongelligible] and later a female breed of correspondents. In trigs of her father, a preacher, she would treat her readers and her just aboutnd everyone else as lost souls in need of faithful guidance. Thompson had sailed to england with 151 in her pocket ad dreams of becoming correspondent. While she was making her way acai of fleetgher street, she met rebecca west already a journalist on both sides of the atlantic, the mistress, the mother of a feisty boy. Rold but when they were to meet years later in equals. They met as thompson had become the first head of a news bureau onponsible for reporting countriesal european post. New york from hug hungaryed digging cad, she was about to embark upon her own her literarywith hard Harry Sinclair lewis. She met red as he was berlin,at the bar in wass unbeknowned to dorothy on a drunken brawl through europe and running from clergy. Ons from the simultaneously drowning his. Orrows not only bystruck and radiant face loneliness but also by his international celebrity. Immediately drawn to this lost soul. Aile thompson was ascent,onal on the lewis was probably the most Famous International sadist in world. Soon to be the First American to win the nobel prize for literature. By the time he met dorothy, published main street, classic works that america between the wars. Like wells, had a flaw antructive ofoholic on the verge divorce and confident of nothing acept his ability to spin tale. Lewis was drawn to dorothys strength of character and overarcking drive to succeed. Relentlessly pursue her him. She agreed to marry upon which, dorothy believing the man she had life,earching for all her the man for whom she had been divinely ordained quit her job the New York Post and prepared to find fulfillment in and motherhood. Although, her friend rebecca and else who knew him had warned her that lewis was a drunk. This daughter of a methodist naively believed that with her at his side, the kiss death, he would conquer his hisholickism and salvage great literary career. Three days into dorothy tomoon for realize that red would never change and that she never survive without an independent income. F unfortunately or fortunately, the lady became pregnant. Trapped in news nightmarish his harbored hope for their marriage until the birth of michael in 1930. Lewisnt neither cured alcoholism nor quelled ambition to influence history. E of world so once again, she sailed to career. O reignite her she would cross the atlantic times in the early 1930s guarderring an interview in 1931 hitler. Lf the first journalist, male or so and while she shethe madness of the man, missed the power of his that wouldnstincts sweep him to victory. Nonetheless, her interview book ihe basis of a very few people ever seen germany had hitler. Would this book that catapult her to national and fame. Ational when she returned to berlin one later, hitler, now wise to contempt demanded that thompson leave the country or face incarceration. At the west side dock herosyork city to a welcome, her newfound celebrity be the death note of her marriage. Fulfillment of a more that she had begun earlier. Ears the unfulfillment of their marriages and bring up they struggled with their personal lives while of professional success. Eventsce of historical would convert these friends into allies. L 1930s, as the nazi momentum andained a Second World War seemed inevitable rebecca west understood that western democracies were diluting themselves by prospects of peace appeasement. Slov yangusing convinced her that oppression warfare were all under nazi siege. Premise that she wrote what would become her magnum opus black lamb and gray falcon. A call to her countrymen to confront the exstennial threat hitlers threat for european domination or risk the westernion of civilization. Important, in the discovered a new genre that would mark the watershed of her career. History, biography, sociology. Falcon falcon was and to study the social of her day. H eyepolitical issus in 1946, on assignment from the yorker west covered the new trials, they read more philosophical treaties on good and evil. Concluded that the victors equallyban qished were guilty by virtual of their humanity. With merely a batter of and degree. Conclusionrange considering the genocidal game nazi regime but quite thatstent with her belief violence and cruelty were entreensic to human natural, you can kill the people but not the evil impulses harbor. Entrensic to humanity. Its probut brilliant in found probing of legal national character, human frailty and the meaning of justice. Rent burgge of inure earned her a reputation for observation. Cultured see a world of and history and social status in and demeanor of an individual. Quite a gift. Gave her entree into the subject thatson, a permitted to bring her own scars of betrayal of her father into the arena of espionage. Litical these articles written for the yorker and published in meaning ofooks, the treason in 1947 and the new treason revealed the tots that motivated people abandon democratic ideals in service to savage utopian creeds. Meaning of, the new wouldn in 1964 she articulate a reality that still rings true, the implications of in a post war nuclear irrevocable and catastrophic. When black lam and gray falcon in published in the states 1941, dorothy was engaged in a fullscale crusade for american intervention. Now friends for more than 20 begged rebecca to to join her in the fight. Had risen to the height of her influence in the 1930s in the late 1930s with a twice weekly column in the new york tribune read my millions day and radio anddcast with National International reach. Nazi brutalityce firsthand when she headed germany in the early too, understood the behind hitlers dom nonce. Early 1940, fearing britain was on the verge of dorothy found franklin the perfect mesh of principle statesman and politician who persuaded the need to the public to embrace what saw as europes war. The first of her generation to be born in america, she understood both intelligently that the loss of unthinkablesimply and must like west, thompson had calling. Rightwingk of her colleagues at the herald reading along with her canceled their subscriptions, thompson turned from Wendell Wilke and backed f. D. R. For election in and 1944. Needless to say she lost her job but she gained access to the house and capitol hill that would mark the pinnacle of career. F. D. R. And even more important, her beloved was thewells, lewis who son she never had, she never in michael. His death in the battle of the the descents of her rise. In another traumatic reversal a pacifistcame raging against unconditional the war, and after andinst american and ofking to bring junes out occupied europe. Final blow would come took up the palestinian cause and the major newspapers bill syndicate that theied her column after Herald Tribune began to drop her one until she was muzzled silence. Find loveorothy would the end ofmarriage at her life and regain her faith in god. Rebecca, her work would always trump her commitment to most intimate of her relations. Too late that their ambitions eroded their relationships with their husbands and sons. And anthony west terrible price. Rate anthony would evice his gift as a writer, spewing articles inks and attempts to bring his mother down. Comfort and even failure. N an undisciplined and mildly actor, he like his die an abusive drunk. Thompsons motive ultimately that distinguished them from one another. Was certain she served a higher good. Because she felt she the worlded to make with god morendem perfect. Wrote because she simply couldnt help it. Mind was so quick and fertile and her interests were far ranging that not to do so would tandem out to suicide. They both reach the height of their professions, west was clearly the more gifted of the two women. Agreed, thompson, i souled say agreed. Deemed by many as the greatest 20th century writer in the language, rebecca west aloneas if her words could save the world. One reads the glorious black lam and gray her articles and essays agree. Ld almost while thompson was the public one, fix sated on the world whoings of the contemplated a run for the out ency, west was animal. L she was interested in the issues of the day and had the clear voi voiance to follow them into the future. Thompson believing her accomplishments alone were that women could as aa woman could succeed man, west might have marched down fifth avenue handinhand with gloria intelligence equality. In 1983 at the age of having written 30 books and essays. Of columns and a portrait of two extraordinary women who made tragic errors in judgment that perm lives even fame, tragicd to errors. The decisions that women make in theirurse of fulfilling lives as professionals have interest. N my learn, to understand the flow of history and the and political of individuals as they seek to or survive theess force of its current. Certain, theim dilemma of a gifted and woman remains the same. Than ever as women andme increasingly educated are expected to follow our professional path, the dangers abide. I believe that the lives of these two pioneering women offer into this age old, yet, contemporary challenge. Thank you for listening. [applause] questions . Ave anyone . [unintelligible] helen, she was hired by ogden reed. Actually, as a kind of antidote a way to Walter Whitman with shared this column on alternative days. Week, he three times a too. To helen reed hired her because she thought she would teach women how to think. Would never have been satisfied with that. Of her tenure there, to 10 million per day. Nd female readers they were her because for Wendell Wilke. As simple as that. Claire were republicans. And when she made that switch to f. D. R. , she was no longer welcome. Yes . What was her relationship Eleanor Roosevelt . Eleanor roosevelt didnt like her. She didnt like her, especially her pacifist metta thank mooreist because thompson had organized this what she thought would this International Womens movement. Movement inace which she says cant we all be friends . Andn an ur guns Eleanor Roosevelt believed that highly avon was a military. E o stateoftheart meaningally, she Eleanor Roosevelt, denounced ofothy thompson on the floor was whenn she roosevelt was the head humanitarian commission. You. Was justhompson embarrassed. Ry as a matter of fact, after that, her movement died on the vine. Resigned. We have time for one last question. Given us an amazing portrait of each of these two women. Say a little bit more about their relationship with another. Do they encourage each other . Did they compete with each other . Did they see each other as women with difficulty sons . How do they relate to each other . Well, i think initially they related to one another as women were bent on doing the same break intoh was to this maledominated world of literature. I think their relationship was complicated because of their different personalities. West was quite cagey and what she said in public was not necessarily what she wrote in letters or said in private conversations to friends. While on the surface she was loving toand she saw dorothy as word an intelligent lightweight. Couldntdorothy understand what her work was all about. Dorothy would have said that rebecca was more talented than she. She would have agreed. Dorothy, could write certainly would have. But dorothy was a straight shooter. She wasnt manipulative. Said she meant. Herreally valued relationship with rebecca. Would have been heartbroken of aar that it was a bit charade but they did none the when their sons were in trouble and when they you were professionally down hearted, help and enable one another. Relationship was as complicated as the personalities. You very much. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] on history bookshelf, hear from the countrys best known for the pastrs decade every saturday 4 00 p. M. Earn. Programs anye time, visit our website. Youre watching American History tv all weekend, every weekend on 3. Pan now you can keep in touch from Current Events from the capitol with cspan radio on audio now. Call to hear congressional and washington journal program. Also hear audio of the five networks sunday Public Affairs programs beginning at noon eastern. 2026268888. Long distance or phone charges apply. Next on American History tv, about the history operations in the united states. As a result of the water gate the Committee Led by Senator Frank Church held in 1975 o 1975. Part, former c. I. A. Assistant director and georgetown law professor. Sponsored by the National History center. It is about an hour and 10 minutes. Our attention will be on itself, on our own neighborhood but with an eye towards global implications. In 1973, a leading member of the Senate Subcommittee responsible calledrseeing activities quote, im not going to try the accent. No, my boy, dont tell me just