Cissy Patterson
Encyclopedia
Eleanor Josephine Medill "Cissy" Patterson (November 7, 1881 - July 24, 1948) was an American journalist
and newspaper
editor, publisher and owner. Patterson was one of the first women to head a major daily newspaper, the Washington Times-Herald
in Washington, D.C.
.
and Elinor "Nellie" (Medill) Patterson. She would change the spelling of her first name to "Eleanor" as an adult, but would always be known as "Cissy," the name her brother gave her in childhood. Biographers believed that she deeply admired Eleanor Roosevelt
and this could have been a motivation to change the spelling of her first name. Patterson said of Roosevelt, of whom she was a close friend that she is the noblest of women I have known. I admire her above all women. Her grandfather Joseph Medill
was Mayor of Chicago
and owned the Chicago Tribune
, which later passed into the hands of her first cousin Colonel Robert R. McCormick
, Joseph Medill's grandson. Her older brother Joseph Medill Patterson
was the founder of the New York Daily News
.
in Farmington, Connecticut
. When her uncle Robert S. McCormick was named ambassador to Austria-Hungary
, she accompanied him and his wife, Cissy's maternal aunt Kate, to Vienna
. There she met Count Josef Gizycki and fell in love with him, a romance not interrupted even by her return to America, where she lived in Washington, D.C.
. In Washington, she was a leading light in society, where the press labeled Alice Roosevelt (daughter of Theodore
), Marguerite Cassini (daughter of the Russian ambassador), and Cissy the "Three Graces." Count Gizycki came to America and they were married in Washington on April 14, 1904 despite the objections of her family, which later proved well-founded.
A daughter was born to them September 3, 1905, and was named Leonora Felicia (1905–1999). Cissy went with the Count to his home, a huge feudal manor in Russia
n Poland. Their family life did not go well. According to some accounts, the Count was an inveterate gambler and womanizer, violent with his servants, and eventually violent with Cissy. They separated and then rejoined several times, but eventually Cissy set herself on leaving. The count tried to keep her in Europe. She fled with their child, hiding her in a house near London, but the Count pursued her and kidnapped the little Countess, hiding her in an Austrian convent while demanding a million dollars in ransom. Cissy filed for divorce, which took thirteen years to obtain. President William Howard Taft
and Czar Nicholas II
were personally involved in the 18-month effort to secure the release of Felicia. The Czar ordered the Count to return the child to her mother. Gizycki was imprisoned, and reportedly never contacted Cissy or their daughter.
, a Chicago suburb, but she returned to Washington in 1913. In 1920, her brother Joseph finally succumbed to his sister's entreaties and allowed her to write for his New York Daily News
, founded the previous year. She also worked for William Randolph Hearst
. She published two novels, romans a clef
, Glass Houses (1926) and Fall Flight (1928), part of her feud with former friend Alice Roosevelt Longworth. The friendship with Alice Longworth ended when at a dinner party hosted by the Longworths, Eleanor and Nicholas
were caught on the floor of a bathroom, with the light on and the door unlocked. Alice then retaliated by having a lasting affair with Senator William Edgar Borah
, which at its height, produced a child Paulina Longworth
. Eleanor also had an affair with Borah, but Alice won out reportedly because Eleanor frequently gloated about their experiences unlike Alice.
In 1925, Eleanor married Elmer Schlesinger, a New York lawyer. He died four years later and in 1930, Mrs. Schlesinger legally changed her name to Mrs. Eleanor Medill Patterson.
Patterson tried to buy Hearst's two Washington papers, the morning Washington Herald and the evening Washington Times. However, Hearst hated to sell anything, even when he needed the money. Although he had never made money from his Washington papers, he refused to give up the prestige of owning papers in the capital. However, at the urging of his editor Arthur Brisbane
, Hearst agreed to make Patterson the papers' editor. She began work on August 1, 1930. Patterson was a hands-on editor who insisted on the best of everything—writing, layout, typographic, graphics, comics, everything. She encouraged society reporting and the women's page and hired many women as reporters. In 1936, she was invited to join the American Society of Newspaper Editors
. Patterson made her paper popular with all strata of Washington society and doubled its circulation. She also shifted the papers' editorial stance sharply to the right.
In 1937, Hearst's finances had gotten worse and he agreed to lease the Herald and the Times to Patterson with an option to buy. Eugene Meyer
, the man who had outbid Hearst and Patterson for The Washington Post
in 1933, tried to buy the Herald out from under Patterson, but failed. Instead, she bought both papers from Hearst on January 28, 1939, and merged them as the Times-Herald.
Along with her brother at the New York Daily News and her cousin at the Chicago Tribune, Patterson was an ardent isolationist and opponent of the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1942, after the Battle of Midway
, the Times-Herald ran a Tribune story that revealed American intelligence was reading the Japanese naval code. Roosevelt, furious, had the Tribune and the Times-Herald indicted for espionage but backed down because of the publicity, charges he was persecuting his enemies, and the likelihood of an acquittal (since the Navy's own censors had twice cleared the story before it was published). During World War II
, she and her brother were accused by their enemies of being Nazi
sympathizers. Representative Elmer Holland of Pennsylvania
on the floor of the United States House of Representatives
said Cissy and Joseph Patterson "would welcome the victory of Hitler
."
, by whom she had a granddaughter, Ellen Cameron Pearson Arnold (July 27, 1926 - September 10, 2010). Alienated from her family and friends, she turned to alcohol
, and died of a heart attack
at her home, aged 66, Mt. Airy Mansion
(sometimes referred to as Dower House), near Rosaryville, Maryland
. She left the paper to seven of her editors who within the year sold the paper to her cousin Colonel McCormick. He held onto the paper for five years, and although for several years he seemed close to returning it to profitability, it eventually proved to be too much of a financial drain. After quietly sounding out several other publishers, McCormick opted to sell the paper to the rival Post, which promptly closed it.
As Countess Gyzicki, Patterson was a frequent visitor to her ranch in Jackson Hole
, Wyoming
in the 1920s where Donald Hough
records an unexpected aspect of her personality: the ability to speak effectively to horses in language worthy of a native cowboy. The Flat Creek Ranch
is now on the National Register of Historic Places
.
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
editor, publisher and owner. Patterson was one of the first women to head a major daily newspaper, the Washington Times-Herald
Washington Times-Herald
The Washington Times-Herald was an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C.. It was created by Cissy Patterson, when she bought the Herald and the Times from William Randolph Hearst, and merged them. The result was a '24 hour' newspaper, with 10 editions per day, from morning to...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
Early life
Elinor Josephine Medill Patterson was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of RobertRobert Wilson Patterson
Robert Wilson Patterson was an American newspaper editor and publisher. He was born in Chicago, attended Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois, and graduated from Williams College in 1871, and then began the study of law...
and Elinor "Nellie" (Medill) Patterson. She would change the spelling of her first name to "Eleanor" as an adult, but would always be known as "Cissy," the name her brother gave her in childhood. Biographers believed that she deeply admired Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
and this could have been a motivation to change the spelling of her first name. Patterson said of Roosevelt, of whom she was a close friend that she is the noblest of women I have known. I admire her above all women. Her grandfather Joseph Medill
Joseph Medill
Joseph Medill was an American newspaper editor and publisher, and politician. He was co-owner and managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, and was Mayor of Chicago.-Biography:...
was Mayor of Chicago
Mayor of Chicago
The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. He or she is charged with directing city departments and agencies, and with the advice and consent of the Chicago City Council, appoints department and agency leaders.-Appointment...
and owned the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, which later passed into the hands of her first cousin Colonel Robert R. McCormick
Robert R. McCormick
Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick was a member of the McCormick family of Chicago who became owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune newspaper...
, Joseph Medill's grandson. Her older brother Joseph Medill Patterson
Joseph Medill Patterson
Joseph Medill Patterson was an American journalist and publisher, grandson of publisher Joseph Medill, founder of the Chicago Tribune and a mayor of Chicago, Illinois.-Family:...
was the founder of the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
.
Education and marriage
She was educated at Miss Porter's SchoolMiss Porter's School
Miss Porter's School, sometimes simply referred to as Porter's or Farmington, is a private college preparatory school for girls located in Farmington, Connecticut.- History :...
in Farmington, Connecticut
Farmington, Connecticut
Farmington is a town located in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census. It is home to the world headquarters of several large corporations including Carrier Corporation, Otis Elevator Company, and Carvel...
. When her uncle Robert S. McCormick was named ambassador to Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, she accompanied him and his wife, Cissy's maternal aunt Kate, to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. There she met Count Josef Gizycki and fell in love with him, a romance not interrupted even by her return to America, where she lived in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. In Washington, she was a leading light in society, where the press labeled Alice Roosevelt (daughter of Theodore
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
), Marguerite Cassini (daughter of the Russian ambassador), and Cissy the "Three Graces." Count Gizycki came to America and they were married in Washington on April 14, 1904 despite the objections of her family, which later proved well-founded.
A daughter was born to them September 3, 1905, and was named Leonora Felicia (1905–1999). Cissy went with the Count to his home, a huge feudal manor in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Poland. Their family life did not go well. According to some accounts, the Count was an inveterate gambler and womanizer, violent with his servants, and eventually violent with Cissy. They separated and then rejoined several times, but eventually Cissy set herself on leaving. The count tried to keep her in Europe. She fled with their child, hiding her in a house near London, but the Count pursued her and kidnapped the little Countess, hiding her in an Austrian convent while demanding a million dollars in ransom. Cissy filed for divorce, which took thirteen years to obtain. President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
and Czar Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
were personally involved in the 18-month effort to secure the release of Felicia. The Czar ordered the Count to return the child to her mother. Gizycki was imprisoned, and reportedly never contacted Cissy or their daughter.
Business dealings and social life
After her experience abroad, she moved to Lake Forest, IllinoisLake Forest, Illinois
Lake Forest is an affluent city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The city is south of Waukegan along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest was founded around Lake Forest College and was laid out as a town in...
, a Chicago suburb, but she returned to Washington in 1913. In 1920, her brother Joseph finally succumbed to his sister's entreaties and allowed her to write for his New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
, founded the previous year. She also worked for William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
. She published two novels, romans a clef
Roman à clef
Roman à clef or roman à clé , French for "novel with a key", is a phrase used to describe a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction...
, Glass Houses (1926) and Fall Flight (1928), part of her feud with former friend Alice Roosevelt Longworth. The friendship with Alice Longworth ended when at a dinner party hosted by the Longworths, Eleanor and Nicholas
Nicholas Longworth
Nicholas Longworth IV was a prominent American politician in the Republican Party during the first few decades of the 20th century...
were caught on the floor of a bathroom, with the light on and the door unlocked. Alice then retaliated by having a lasting affair with Senator William Edgar Borah
William Edgar Borah
William Edgar Borah was a prominent Republican attorney and longtime United States Senator from Idaho noted for his oratorical skills and isolationist views. One of his nicknames later in life was "The Lion of Idaho."...
, which at its height, produced a child Paulina Longworth
Paulina Longworth
Paulina Longworth Sturm was the only child of Alice Roosevelt, and the granddaughter of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt....
. Eleanor also had an affair with Borah, but Alice won out reportedly because Eleanor frequently gloated about their experiences unlike Alice.
In 1925, Eleanor married Elmer Schlesinger, a New York lawyer. He died four years later and in 1930, Mrs. Schlesinger legally changed her name to Mrs. Eleanor Medill Patterson.
Patterson tried to buy Hearst's two Washington papers, the morning Washington Herald and the evening Washington Times. However, Hearst hated to sell anything, even when he needed the money. Although he had never made money from his Washington papers, he refused to give up the prestige of owning papers in the capital. However, at the urging of his editor Arthur Brisbane
Arthur Brisbane
Arthur Brisbane was one of the best known American newspaper editors of the 20th century.-Biography:...
, Hearst agreed to make Patterson the papers' editor. She began work on August 1, 1930. Patterson was a hands-on editor who insisted on the best of everything—writing, layout, typographic, graphics, comics, everything. She encouraged society reporting and the women's page and hired many women as reporters. In 1936, she was invited to join the American Society of Newspaper Editors
American Society of Newspaper Editors
The American Society of News Editors is a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of media-related foundations and training organizations...
. Patterson made her paper popular with all strata of Washington society and doubled its circulation. She also shifted the papers' editorial stance sharply to the right.
In 1937, Hearst's finances had gotten worse and he agreed to lease the Herald and the Times to Patterson with an option to buy. Eugene Meyer
Eugene Meyer
Eugene Isaac Meyer was an American financier, public official, publisher of the Washington Post newspaper. He served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1930 to 1933. He was the father of publisher Katharine Graham.-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, he was one of eight children of...
, the man who had outbid Hearst and Patterson for The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
in 1933, tried to buy the Herald out from under Patterson, but failed. Instead, she bought both papers from Hearst on January 28, 1939, and merged them as the Times-Herald.
Along with her brother at the New York Daily News and her cousin at the Chicago Tribune, Patterson was an ardent isolationist and opponent of the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1942, after the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
, the Times-Herald ran a Tribune story that revealed American intelligence was reading the Japanese naval code. Roosevelt, furious, had the Tribune and the Times-Herald indicted for espionage but backed down because of the publicity, charges he was persecuting his enemies, and the likelihood of an acquittal (since the Navy's own censors had twice cleared the story before it was published). During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, she and her brother were accused by their enemies of being Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
sympathizers. Representative Elmer Holland of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
on the floor of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
said Cissy and Joseph Patterson "would welcome the victory of Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
."
Family difficulties
She feuded with her daughter, who publicly "divorced" her in 1945, and with her former son-in-law, Drew PearsonDrew Pearson (journalist)
Andrew Russell Pearson , known professionally as Drew Pearson, was one of the best-known American columnists of his day, noted for his muckraking syndicated newspaper column "Washington Merry-Go-Round," in which he attacked various public persons, sometimes with little or no objective proof for his...
, by whom she had a granddaughter, Ellen Cameron Pearson Arnold (July 27, 1926 - September 10, 2010). Alienated from her family and friends, she turned to alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
, and died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at her home, aged 66, Mt. Airy Mansion
Rosaryville State Park
Rosaryville State Park is a state park in Greater Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County, Maryland. It includes the restored Mount Airy Mansion, an event facility that Pineapple Alley Catering, Inc. operates...
(sometimes referred to as Dower House), near Rosaryville, Maryland
Rosaryville, Maryland
Rosaryville is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States beside U.S. Highway 301. The population was 12,322 at the 2000 census, including housing developments and rural open space. It was named for a local Roman Catholic church...
. She left the paper to seven of her editors who within the year sold the paper to her cousin Colonel McCormick. He held onto the paper for five years, and although for several years he seemed close to returning it to profitability, it eventually proved to be too much of a financial drain. After quietly sounding out several other publishers, McCormick opted to sell the paper to the rival Post, which promptly closed it.
As Countess Gyzicki, Patterson was a frequent visitor to her ranch in Jackson Hole
Jackson Hole
Jackson Hole, originally called Jackson's Hole, is a valley located in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the western border with Idaho. The name "hole" derives from language used by early trappers or mountain men, who primarily entered the valley from the north and east and had to descend along...
, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
in the 1920s where Donald Hough
Donald Hough
Donald Hough was an American humorist and author of several books and film scripts. He was born in St. Paul Minnesota June 29, 1895 and died around 1965. He was the son of Mr. & Mrs. Sherwood Hough. His wife's name was Berry; they had one son named Sherwood....
records an unexpected aspect of her personality: the ability to speak effectively to horses in language worthy of a native cowboy. The Flat Creek Ranch
Flat Creek Ranch
Flat Creek Ranch was a private retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, now a guest ranch. The original ranch was established by Cal Carrington between 1901 and 1918 at the base of Sheep Mountain, also known as the Sleeping Indian. In 1923 a new owner, socialite and journalist Cissy Patterson built the...
is now on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.