Vera Glaser: Women’s Page Journalist & Political Columnist
I have been working on my women and politics book – focusing today on Vera Glaser.
Glaser began her career in magazine, newspaper, and radio journalism before turning to governmental public relations work in the 1950s, including overseeing the women’s division for the Republican National Committee. Glaser became a reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance in the 1960s. Then she became the Washington Bureau Chief for the Alliance in the 1960s. Her articles typically ran in the women’s pages.
Glaser became a partner of Malvina Stephenson on election night in 1968. The two women snuck into Richard Nixon’s inner sanctum on the 35th floor of Waldorf Towers while hundreds of other reporters were stuck in the press room on the third floor of the hotel. By the time they were spotted by Nixon’s director of public relations, they already had numerous exclusive interviews and had found a copy of the campaign director’s confidential guide to election returns. Then they broke the story. This was a formula that they perfected during their tenure together.
One of their big stories included writing about First Lady Jackie Kennedy’s view of the White House – scooping her own secretary’s tattletale book. From an unnamed source, Glaser and Stephenson were leaked memos from the First Lady’s Office. They wrote that Mrs. Kennedy worried about the drunken behavior of guests and damage to the Red Room Rug. They documented her battles with her social secretary. They wrote about the First Lady’s view of women reporters at White House social events:
Their notebooks bother me, but perhaps they should be allowed to keep them, at least, then you know they are the press. But I think they should be made to wear big badges and be whisked out of there once we sit down to dinner.
One of their biggest scoops was learning that former First Lady Kennedy had renounced
her widow’s pension. The request had been hidden and when it was finally revealed, the date was blackened out. They wrote: “The hush-hush attitude of the Treasury appears strangely protective.” They further noted that many people had been surprised that she had applied for the pension after she received $10 million from her late husband’s estate. They went on to analyze Kennedy’s new wealth now that she had married billionaire Onassis. Glaser and Stephenson concluded: “The Kennedys could now be called Jackie’s poor kinfolk, but they hold political clout, and with Teddy’s drive now under way, may one day be back in the White House.”
Next I will look at Vera’s activism which I will speak about at AEJMC in San Francisco next week.
