REPORTED ON
Great Depression
Spanish Civil War
Rise of Adolf Hitler
World War 2
D-Day in Normandy
Liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp
Vietnam War
Arab-Israeli Conflicts
Civil Wars in Central America
US Invasion of Panama
Poverty in Brazil
Born with a Passion
She was an early suffragist, activist, author, legendary journalist, and one of the first female war correspondents. Martha Gellhorn was born in 1908 St. Louis, and she was determined to become a foreign correspondent, so at the age of 22, she went to France with a typewriter and $75 in hand. As was standard in the pre-MeToo world, she was fired after reporting sexual harassment by a man connected with the agency she worked for.
Martha stayed in Europe, writing for newspapers and covering fashion for Vogue and then became active in the pacifist movement. She returned to the states, and The Roosevelts invited her to live at the White House. She spent evenings there helping the First Lady write correspondence and her “My Day” column. Then she was hired to work for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), created by Roosevelt to help end the Great Depression.
Gellhorn traveled around the US. to report on how the Depression was affecting the country, and she worked with Dorothea Lange, a photographer, to document the everyday lives of the hungry and homeless. Their reports became part of the official government files for the Great Depression. They were able to investigate topics that were not usually open to women of the 1930s. While in Idaho, Gellhorn convinced a group of workers to break the windows of the FERA office to draw attention to their crooked boss. Although this worked, she was fired from FERA.
The Rise
In 1936 she met Ernest Hemingway and they were married from 1940-1945. They spent time all over Europe, where she reported on the Spanish Civil War, the rise of Adolf Hitler, and World War II. She also reported from Finland, Hong Kong, Burma, Singapore and England.
Martha wanted to report on the Normandy Landings, so she applied to the British government for press accreditation, but she was denied, just like all other female journalists were. Despite this and despite her husband trying to block her from going, she was determined to go. She posed as a nurse and was allowed onto a hospital ship where she locked herself in a bathroom to hide. Upon landing two days later, she saw the many wounded and became a stretcher-bearer. She was the only woman to land at Normandy on D-Day, and she was also one of the first journalists to report from Dachau Concentration Camp after it was liberated.
Mr. Martha Gellhorn
Hemingway became increasingly frustrated with her travel, and he wrote to her asking “Are you a war correspondent, or wife in my bed?” Apparently she couldn’t be both, so she chose war correspondent, and they divorced. She went on to cover the Vietnam War, the Arab-Israel conflicts in the 60s and 70s, the Civil Wars in Central America, and the US invasion of Panama in 1989.
Martha finally retired from journalism in 1991, but went on one last overseas trip to Brazil in 1995 to report on poverty in that country.
Her work, which includes photographs, news articles, and novels, was a major contribution to world history and she’s celebrated every year, when one outstanding journalist receives an award in her honor.