Tania Long
Encyclopedia
Tatiana Long was an American journalist and war correspondent during WWII.
and his Russian wife, Tatiana Mouravieff. After several years of living in Scandinavian capitals and attending the Lorenz Lyceum in Berlin from 1920 to 1924, young Tania studied at the Ecole des Jeunes Filles at Saint-Germain-en-Laye
, near Paris, until 1927. From then until 1930, she was a student at the Malvern Girls' College
in England. In her post-graduate work at the Sorbonne
in Paris (1930-31), and at the Paris Ecole des Sciences Politiques
, she specialized in history and economics. By observing and assisting her father... she received her first journalistic training.
, where their son, Robert Merwin Gray, was born the following year. Circa 1935, Tania became an American citizen, and during the following year, she launched her journalistic career when she began working as a reporter for the Newark Ledger
.
with the intention of continuing to Berlin
. During the crossing, Prime Minister Chamberlain
began his visits to Hitler
and the situation looked very grim. When the ship landed first at Southampton
, I received a telegram from my father telling me to get off the ship and go to my godfather’s in London, where my father would meet me. My mother had been left in Bruges
, Belgium
, with some other British subjects who had left Berlin for fear of being caught after an outbreak of war. When I met my father I realized he was not well and had a bad case of bronchitis
. After picking up my mother in Bruges the family returned to Berlin. My father’s health grew worse, and after about ten days, when he had developed pneumonia
(there were no antibiotics then), he died."
Tania decided to stay in Berlin and look for a job. She was fortunate in getting one with the New York Herald Tribune
. According to her biography: Miss Long obtained a position with the New York Herald Tribune bureau in that city, largely because of her previous long residence in the German capital ... a consequent wide circle of friends and contacts ... combined with her linguistic abilities and thorough knowledge of many other European countries. Her first duties consisted of reading approximately forty daily German newspapers, selecting significant articles from them, and rewriting these for the Tribune. Her skill in writing both quickly and well soon led her to becoming assistant chief correspondent.
I brought my son over from New York to join me and my mother and we remained there for close to a year. In August 1939, however, Hitler, who had recently gobbled up Czechoslovakia
and earlier, Austria
, was close to invading Poland
. War became fairly certain, so I decided to send my mother and son to France
to join my grandmother and aunt in Brittany
. I told my bosses at The Herald Tribune that if war came, I would have to leave Berlin, to be on the right side of the wartime border. This was acceptable and I was merely asked to wait in Berlin until my replacement arrived.
During that period, Berlin was an eerie city. The people were very quiet and clearly unhappy. There were air raid simulations, with the beams of searchlights playing in the skies and every now and then catching a plane that was trying to evade them. One night bags of flour fell onto the roof of Hermann Goering’s Air Ministry, in a simulated bombing.
The sound of goose-step marching was pervasive and almost surreal, and she noticed that people were disappearing suddenly from her apartment building. After about ten days, she left for Denmark
. Tania spent two weeks in Copenhagen
taking down by hand the news copy from the Polish front sent by Joseph Barnes, Herald-Tribune correspondent, who had no other way of getting his copy to New York. Then she was ordered to Paris
where she was told she would be permanently assigned.
Leaving my heavy trunks and suitcases with American Express, I flew to Brussels, flying low so as to be recognized as a neutral plane by the Germans and then began a nightmare journey. I learned that all travellers to France required a special visa. I went to the French consulate (in Brussels) only to find thousands of Frenchmen and others lining up to get into the building. It looked hopeless. I then went to the US consulate, talked to a young consul, showed my credentials, explained my case, and he wrote me a note to his French colleague at the French consulate asking him to give me priority, etc. He told me to approach the French building from the rear and to tell the man at the door that I had a letter from the American consul and hoped he’d let me in. He did and before long I left the consulate with my new visa.
Then to the railway station. Complete chaos. Nobody knew anything about trains to Paris. People rushing hither and yon trying to get news of train movements. I finally sat down somewhere to rest and overheard a couple saying something about a train to Paris in an hour on Track 5. I made my way to Track 5 and found a conductor who confirmed the news and in about half an hour a train pulled in and was announced over the loudspeaker. Suddenly, it seemed like thousands were rushing for the train, which filled up in no time. I had gotten a seat next to a pleasant looking woman. I was starving hungry by then and asked her to guard my seat while I went in search of a sandwich. She asked me to bring her one. The station was still like an ant heap that had been disturbed, with people rushing hither and yon, but I eventually found a stall that was selling waffles. I bought four and went back to the train. The train left, then the trip became nerve-racking, as it would stop every now and then. Whistles would blow, shouts would be heard, and then off we’d go for another while. We arrived in Paris after nearly four hours, and I went straight to the Tribune and thence to a hotel across the street.
In September 1940, Tania was busy covering the bombing of London among other things. Among Miss Long’s best stories [on the bombing of London]: the bombing of the Savoy Hotel
while she was living there. Of the bombing of her hotel she wrote in a dispatch to the Tribune: ‘I was sitting in my third-floor room ready to get into bed when I heard the bombs coming. The second or third of the sticks landed in the street right outside my window. Only a split second later the next bomb hit the cornice of the hotel and went off, and almost immediately after that the other one hit the rear of the building. When one hears bombs coming that close there is no time to do anything. One hasn’t time to be afraid, that comes later.’
In February 1941, an article appeared in the New York Herald-Tribune: The 19th annual Front Page Ball of the New York Newspaper Women’s Club was held last night [at] ... the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
. Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt
, wife of the President, was the special guest of honor. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of two awards ... by Mrs. Roosevelt for outstanding work by New York City newspaper women during 1940. The prize winners in the contest sponsored by the club were Miss Tania Long, war correspondent of the New York Herald-Tribune, and Miss Kay Thomas ... of The New York Sun.
Soon after arriving in London in late 1939, Tania, by then divorced, met her future husband, Raymond Daniell, London correspondent for The New York Times
. Before meeting Tania, Ray had considered newspaper work in London, a man’s job; but, he wrote later, she provided us with as much competition as any man in London.
One of the two American newspaperwomen in London, she looked after us all with a sort of motherly care. Her calm and courage during the frightful early days of the blitzkrieg helped us all to keep our nerves steady.
In November 1941, Ray Daniell published his book, Civilians Must Fight. Already one of the most respected American journalists of his time, he provided his fellow countrymen with some serious food for thought. “Before Pearl Harbor
, his calm dispassionate book ... pointed out to Americans that their only choice lay between fighting Nazism and accepting the terms of "a Hitler astride three-quarters of the world." On November 22, 1941, Tatiana Long and Raymond Daniell were married in London.
Having united in marriage with a member of the competition, Tania appropriately left the Herald-Tribune and joined forces with the New York Times in February 1942. Remaining based in London for the duration of World War II
, Ray and Tania, despite the dangers of crossing the Atlantic, nevertheless managed to return twice to their home in Westport, Connecticut
, where they could savour two months vacation in the States. Here Tania was reunited with her son and her mother.
, forerunner of the CIA) and was assigned to the headquarters of the First Army
in Spa, Belgium
, just over the border with the bit of Germany that was already occupied by US forces. Because of my fluent German, I was supposed to uncover any attacks on the US troops, by such as the ‘Werewolves
,’ a group of German youth who strung thin metal wires across the roads at night to cut the throats of GIs travelling by jeep, for instance, or dug trenches that would trap US transport. The scheme never worked properly because of a change in First Army plans. It had been intended to have the army occupy a wide area of Germany around Aachen
permanently, until the end of the war. This would have given me time to develop contacts, etc. But the First Army was suddenly ordered to move eastward and I kept being left behind, not knowing where the new army headquarters was. The whole thing became a farce and I resigned and returned to London.
As war correspondents for The New York Times, Tania Long and Ray Daniell followed the Allied forces into Berlin in 1945. Ray Daniell arrived there the day the Allies entered Berlin, and Tania followed the day after. During World Wars I and II, Tania’s and her parents’ possessions, including the Long Family papers and photos, had been stored in a downtown Berlin warehouse, and although the warehouse had been bombed, by some miracle, everything they owned survived intact. With the termination of the war, Tania remained in Germany and assisted her husband in the New York Times coverage of the Nuremberg Trials
. Then Miss Long turned her attention to conditions in conquered Germany. Her articles in the New York Times Magazine, and her news stories, attracted considerable comment for the picture she presented of the dangerous effect of fraternization by American troops in Germany on the American occupation policy.
, heiress to the British throne, and Prince Philip of Greece
.’ Tania, as London correspondent of The New York Times, attended the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip on November 20, 1947, and on June 2, 1953, Tania Long and Ray Daniell carried out their final assignment as London correspondents of The New York Times, with Ray writing the main story of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II while Tania covered the coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey
.
. Three years later, Tania reported the following: Life in Ottawa is a peculiar mixture of the easy and the informal, and the very formal indeed. At the other extreme in our social life is the extremely formal - and darn good, too - dinner party at Government House [in Ottawa]. The Governor-General, Vincent Massey, a charming and completely simple man himself, nevertheless runs his establishment as a sort of court which, of course, it is. As he is the Queen’s representative in Canada, I must curtsy to him, while Ray bows from the waist. Ray and I, I believe, have been singularily honored by the Governor-General, for he has also invited us to his very small Sunday night suppers... At one of these, Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson
(Prime Minister of Canada, 1963-1968) and Mrs. Pearson and Ray and I were the only guests.
in 1964, the Daniells moved to New York City
, thus enabling Tania to pay frequent visits to her mother in Westport, Connecticut
. In 1967, Tania and Ray returned to Ottawa, Canada. Ottawa became his home by chance. Assigned here by the mighty New York Times in the early 1950s, he stayed on for 12 years before accepting an appointment to the paper’s United Nations staff. And when it came time to retire, Ray and Tania returned to a city where they had many friends and where they had spent many good and interesting years. Comfortably settled into their new home, Ray and Tania were to enjoy only two years of retirement together when Ray fell ill and died on April 12, 1969, at the age of sixty-seven. Comforted by the presence of her mother who had come to live with them in Ottawa, Tania found the strength to carry on.
in Ottawa. I began as a volunteer, as a member of the usual women’s committee formed to assist a new artistic undertaking, and soon became a member of the staff. The job was stimulating and demanding - I don’t think I ever worked as hard at it as I did then, really doing the job of two persons, working long days and often nights and just about every weekend. My main work was to publicize the newly created National Arts Centre Orchestra, a fully government subsidized ensemble and the only such a one in North America.
The orchestra’s debut concert in New York in 1971 was a tremendous success and received glowing reviews - of great importance to a new orchestra’s future. The ensemble then went on its first European tour later in 1971, playing in Poland, the then Soviet Union, France and Italy. It was warmly welcomed wherever it played, but nowhere as in Warsaw where the audience at the end of the second concert rushed to the stage to embrace the players. It was an emotional moment few of the forty-eight musicians will forget. The orchestra had its second tour of Europe, after more New York concerts and a tour of the US, in 1978, this time in Sicily and Germany. I went along on both European tours. This was my first visit to Russia and I was of course fascinated with both Leningrad and Moscow.
Tania’s mother, Tatiana Mouravieva Long had come a long way from Tamboff
, Russia
. She had come to Canada via Berlin
, Brittany
and Connecticut
, and now, just a few days short of her 94th birthday, she fell ill with pneumonia
and departed this life on March 29, 1978. Tania suffered personal tragedy again in 1981, when her son Robert Gray died at the age of forty-six. Although he had been married, he had no children.
Eventually Tania’s inner resolve once again gave her the strength to carry on since she has never been one to suffer life’s adversities lying down. With the help of time, and the support of good friends, her zest for life ultimately returned. For several years she has made annual visits to New York and Paris, home of her Aunt Vera and cousin Tatiana. And having visited Wisconsin
in the late 1980s, she has had occasion to meet several of her Long cousins, one (Theron D. Long) of whom she said resembled her father.
Tania died on 4 September 1998.
Early life
She was the daughter and only child of Irish journalist Robert Edward Crozier LongRobert Edward Crozier Long
Robert Edward Crozier Long , was a noted Anglo-Irish journalist and author.-Early life:...
and his Russian wife, Tatiana Mouravieff. After several years of living in Scandinavian capitals and attending the Lorenz Lyceum in Berlin from 1920 to 1924, young Tania studied at the Ecole des Jeunes Filles at Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
, near Paris, until 1927. From then until 1930, she was a student at the Malvern Girls' College
Malvern Girls' College
Malvern St James is a leading independent school for girls in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, England. Renamed in 2006 from Malvern Girls' College following a succession of amalgamations with other independent schools for girls in the Malvern area, it continues to occupy the same campus as...
in England. In her post-graduate work at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris (1930-31), and at the Paris Ecole des Sciences Politiques
Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris
The Institut d'études politiques de Paris , simply referred to as Sciences Po , is a public research and higher education institution in Paris, France, specialised in the social sciences. It has the status of grand établissement, which allows its admissions process to be highly selective...
, she specialized in history and economics. By observing and assisting her father... she received her first journalistic training.
Early career
While studying in Paris, Tania met and fell in love with an American, Merwin Mallory Gray, and after their marriage in Paris in 1932, they moved to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where their son, Robert Merwin Gray, was born the following year. Circa 1935, Tania became an American citizen, and during the following year, she launched her journalistic career when she began working as a reporter for the Newark Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
.
Berlin
In September 1938, as the crisis leading to Munich developed, I began to worry about my parents’ safety. I had a premonition I would be needed in Berlin. I got a leave of absence from The Ledger and left by ship for BremenBremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
with the intention of continuing to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. During the crossing, Prime Minister Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
began his visits to 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...
and the situation looked very grim. When the ship landed first at Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, I received a telegram from my father telling me to get off the ship and go to my godfather’s in London, where my father would meet me. My mother had been left in Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, with some other British subjects who had left Berlin for fear of being caught after an outbreak of war. When I met my father I realized he was not well and had a bad case of bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
. After picking up my mother in Bruges the family returned to Berlin. My father’s health grew worse, and after about ten days, when he had developed pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
(there were no antibiotics then), he died."
Tania decided to stay in Berlin and look for a job. She was fortunate in getting one with the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
. According to her biography: Miss Long obtained a position with the New York Herald Tribune bureau in that city, largely because of her previous long residence in the German capital ... a consequent wide circle of friends and contacts ... combined with her linguistic abilities and thorough knowledge of many other European countries. Her first duties consisted of reading approximately forty daily German newspapers, selecting significant articles from them, and rewriting these for the Tribune. Her skill in writing both quickly and well soon led her to becoming assistant chief correspondent.
I brought my son over from New York to join me and my mother and we remained there for close to a year. In August 1939, however, Hitler, who had recently gobbled up Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and earlier, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, was close to invading Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. War became fairly certain, so I decided to send my mother and son to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to join my grandmother and aunt in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. I told my bosses at The Herald Tribune that if war came, I would have to leave Berlin, to be on the right side of the wartime border. This was acceptable and I was merely asked to wait in Berlin until my replacement arrived.
During that period, Berlin was an eerie city. The people were very quiet and clearly unhappy. There were air raid simulations, with the beams of searchlights playing in the skies and every now and then catching a plane that was trying to evade them. One night bags of flour fell onto the roof of Hermann Goering’s Air Ministry, in a simulated bombing.
The sound of goose-step marching was pervasive and almost surreal, and she noticed that people were disappearing suddenly from her apartment building. After about ten days, she left for Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. Tania spent two weeks in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
taking down by hand the news copy from the Polish front sent by Joseph Barnes, Herald-Tribune correspondent, who had no other way of getting his copy to New York. Then she was ordered to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where she was told she would be permanently assigned.
Leaving my heavy trunks and suitcases with American Express, I flew to Brussels, flying low so as to be recognized as a neutral plane by the Germans and then began a nightmare journey. I learned that all travellers to France required a special visa. I went to the French consulate (in Brussels) only to find thousands of Frenchmen and others lining up to get into the building. It looked hopeless. I then went to the US consulate, talked to a young consul, showed my credentials, explained my case, and he wrote me a note to his French colleague at the French consulate asking him to give me priority, etc. He told me to approach the French building from the rear and to tell the man at the door that I had a letter from the American consul and hoped he’d let me in. He did and before long I left the consulate with my new visa.
Then to the railway station. Complete chaos. Nobody knew anything about trains to Paris. People rushing hither and yon trying to get news of train movements. I finally sat down somewhere to rest and overheard a couple saying something about a train to Paris in an hour on Track 5. I made my way to Track 5 and found a conductor who confirmed the news and in about half an hour a train pulled in and was announced over the loudspeaker. Suddenly, it seemed like thousands were rushing for the train, which filled up in no time. I had gotten a seat next to a pleasant looking woman. I was starving hungry by then and asked her to guard my seat while I went in search of a sandwich. She asked me to bring her one. The station was still like an ant heap that had been disturbed, with people rushing hither and yon, but I eventually found a stall that was selling waffles. I bought four and went back to the train. The train left, then the trip became nerve-racking, as it would stop every now and then. Whistles would blow, shouts would be heard, and then off we’d go for another while. We arrived in Paris after nearly four hours, and I went straight to the Tribune and thence to a hotel across the street.
London
However, Tania was soon transferred to London (in late September 1939) where a shortage of staff had developed due to the illness of the bureau chief, Ralph Barnes. This was supposed to be a temporary position but became permanent. By early 1940, it became evident that Hitler would invade the Low Countries and France, and Tania got her family out of France and [over] to Ireland, safe from possible bombing attacks. At that time all American civilians were ordered out of the European war zone by the United States government which then sent three ships to Ireland to pick them up, and taking Tania’s son and mother to the United States.In September 1940, Tania was busy covering the bombing of London among other things. Among Miss Long’s best stories [on the bombing of London]: the bombing of the Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
while she was living there. Of the bombing of her hotel she wrote in a dispatch to the Tribune: ‘I was sitting in my third-floor room ready to get into bed when I heard the bombs coming. The second or third of the sticks landed in the street right outside my window. Only a split second later the next bomb hit the cornice of the hotel and went off, and almost immediately after that the other one hit the rear of the building. When one hears bombs coming that close there is no time to do anything. One hasn’t time to be afraid, that comes later.’
In February 1941, an article appeared in the New York Herald-Tribune: The 19th annual Front Page Ball of the New York Newspaper Women’s Club was held last night [at] ... the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...
. Mrs. Franklin D. 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...
, wife of the President, was the special guest of honor. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of two awards ... by Mrs. Roosevelt for outstanding work by New York City newspaper women during 1940. The prize winners in the contest sponsored by the club were Miss Tania Long, war correspondent of the New York Herald-Tribune, and Miss Kay Thomas ... of The New York Sun.
Soon after arriving in London in late 1939, Tania, by then divorced, met her future husband, Raymond Daniell, London correspondent for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Before meeting Tania, Ray had considered newspaper work in London, a man’s job; but, he wrote later, she provided us with as much competition as any man in London.
One of the two American newspaperwomen in London, she looked after us all with a sort of motherly care. Her calm and courage during the frightful early days of the blitzkrieg helped us all to keep our nerves steady.
In November 1941, Ray Daniell published his book, Civilians Must Fight. Already one of the most respected American journalists of his time, he provided his fellow countrymen with some serious food for thought. “Before Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, his calm dispassionate book ... pointed out to Americans that their only choice lay between fighting Nazism and accepting the terms of "a Hitler astride three-quarters of the world." On November 22, 1941, Tatiana Long and Raymond Daniell were married in London.
Having united in marriage with a member of the competition, Tania appropriately left the Herald-Tribune and joined forces with the New York Times in February 1942. Remaining based in London for the duration of 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...
, Ray and Tania, despite the dangers of crossing the Atlantic, nevertheless managed to return twice to their home in Westport, Connecticut
Westport, Connecticut
-Neighborhoods:* Saugatuck – around the Westport railroad station near the southwestern corner of the town – a built-up area with some restaurants, stores and offices....
, where they could savour two months vacation in the States. Here Tania was reunited with her son and her mother.
Europe
In 1944, Tania was asked to do a job for the OSS (the Office of Strategic ServicesOffice of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
, forerunner of the CIA) and was assigned to the headquarters of the First Army
U.S. First Army
The First United States Army is a field army of the United States Army. It now serves a mobilization, readiness and training command.- Establishment and World War I :...
in Spa, Belgium
Spa, Belgium
Spa is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liège. It is situated in a valley in the Ardennes mountain chain, some southeast of Liège, and southwest of Aachen. As of 1 January 2006, Spa had a total population of 10,543...
, just over the border with the bit of Germany that was already occupied by US forces. Because of my fluent German, I was supposed to uncover any attacks on the US troops, by such as the ‘Werewolves
Werwolf
Werwolf was the name given to a Nazi plan, which began development in 1944, to create a commando force which would operate behind enemy lines as the Allies advanced through Germany itself. Werwolf remained entirely ineffectual as a combat force, however, and in practical terms, its value as...
,’ a group of German youth who strung thin metal wires across the roads at night to cut the throats of GIs travelling by jeep, for instance, or dug trenches that would trap US transport. The scheme never worked properly because of a change in First Army plans. It had been intended to have the army occupy a wide area of Germany around Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
permanently, until the end of the war. This would have given me time to develop contacts, etc. But the First Army was suddenly ordered to move eastward and I kept being left behind, not knowing where the new army headquarters was. The whole thing became a farce and I resigned and returned to London.
As war correspondents for The New York Times, Tania Long and Ray Daniell followed the Allied forces into Berlin in 1945. Ray Daniell arrived there the day the Allies entered Berlin, and Tania followed the day after. During World Wars I and II, Tania’s and her parents’ possessions, including the Long Family papers and photos, had been stored in a downtown Berlin warehouse, and although the warehouse had been bombed, by some miracle, everything they owned survived intact. With the termination of the war, Tania remained in Germany and assisted her husband in the New York Times coverage of the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
. Then Miss Long turned her attention to conditions in conquered Germany. Her articles in the New York Times Magazine, and her news stories, attracted considerable comment for the picture she presented of the dangerous effect of fraternization by American troops in Germany on the American occupation policy.
Post-war Britain
During 1946, rumours began to circulate that a royal wedding was in the offing. Despite denials from the palace, the New York Times went front page on December 16: Raymond Daniell reported from London that ‘only politics, which has blighted so many royal romances, is delaying the announcement of the engagement of Princess ElizabethElizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, heiress to the British throne, and Prince Philip of Greece
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
.’ Tania, as London correspondent of The New York Times, attended the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip on November 20, 1947, and on June 2, 1953, Tania Long and Ray Daniell carried out their final assignment as London correspondents of The New York Times, with Ray writing the main story of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II while Tania covered the coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
.
Canada
That same year, Ray and Tania were transferred to the Times’ Canadian bureau in OttawaOttawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
. Three years later, Tania reported the following: Life in Ottawa is a peculiar mixture of the easy and the informal, and the very formal indeed. At the other extreme in our social life is the extremely formal - and darn good, too - dinner party at Government House [in Ottawa]. The Governor-General, Vincent Massey, a charming and completely simple man himself, nevertheless runs his establishment as a sort of court which, of course, it is. As he is the Queen’s representative in Canada, I must curtsy to him, while Ray bows from the waist. Ray and I, I believe, have been singularily honored by the Governor-General, for he has also invited us to his very small Sunday night suppers... At one of these, Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
(Prime Minister of Canada, 1963-1968) and Mrs. Pearson and Ray and I were the only guests.
New York
When Ray was assigned to the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in 1964, the Daniells moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, thus enabling Tania to pay frequent visits to her mother in Westport, Connecticut
Westport, Connecticut
-Neighborhoods:* Saugatuck – around the Westport railroad station near the southwestern corner of the town – a built-up area with some restaurants, stores and offices....
. In 1967, Tania and Ray returned to Ottawa, Canada. Ottawa became his home by chance. Assigned here by the mighty New York Times in the early 1950s, he stayed on for 12 years before accepting an appointment to the paper’s United Nations staff. And when it came time to retire, Ray and Tania returned to a city where they had many friends and where they had spent many good and interesting years. Comfortably settled into their new home, Ray and Tania were to enjoy only two years of retirement together when Ray fell ill and died on April 12, 1969, at the age of sixty-seven. Comforted by the presence of her mother who had come to live with them in Ottawa, Tania found the strength to carry on.
Ottawa
In late 1969, Tania began her second career (which lasted for ten years), as the publicist for the Music Department of the National Arts CentreNational Arts Centre
The National Arts Centre is a centre for the performing arts located in Ottawa, Ontario, between Elgin Street and the Rideau Canal...
in Ottawa. I began as a volunteer, as a member of the usual women’s committee formed to assist a new artistic undertaking, and soon became a member of the staff. The job was stimulating and demanding - I don’t think I ever worked as hard at it as I did then, really doing the job of two persons, working long days and often nights and just about every weekend. My main work was to publicize the newly created National Arts Centre Orchestra, a fully government subsidized ensemble and the only such a one in North America.
The orchestra’s debut concert in New York in 1971 was a tremendous success and received glowing reviews - of great importance to a new orchestra’s future. The ensemble then went on its first European tour later in 1971, playing in Poland, the then Soviet Union, France and Italy. It was warmly welcomed wherever it played, but nowhere as in Warsaw where the audience at the end of the second concert rushed to the stage to embrace the players. It was an emotional moment few of the forty-eight musicians will forget. The orchestra had its second tour of Europe, after more New York concerts and a tour of the US, in 1978, this time in Sicily and Germany. I went along on both European tours. This was my first visit to Russia and I was of course fascinated with both Leningrad and Moscow.
Tania’s mother, Tatiana Mouravieva Long had come a long way from Tamboff
Tambov
Tambov is a city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tsna and Studenets Rivers southeast of Moscow...
, 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...
. She had come to Canada via Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, and now, just a few days short of her 94th birthday, she fell ill with pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
and departed this life on March 29, 1978. Tania suffered personal tragedy again in 1981, when her son Robert Gray died at the age of forty-six. Although he had been married, he had no children.
Eventually Tania’s inner resolve once again gave her the strength to carry on since she has never been one to suffer life’s adversities lying down. With the help of time, and the support of good friends, her zest for life ultimately returned. For several years she has made annual visits to New York and Paris, home of her Aunt Vera and cousin Tatiana. And having visited Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
in the late 1980s, she has had occasion to meet several of her Long cousins, one (Theron D. Long) of whom she said resembled her father.
Tania died on 4 September 1998.
Personal life
A long-time resident of Ottawa, Canada, Tania Long was an activist who believed strongly in participatory democracy. At the grassroots level, Tania was known to organize petitions designed to improve the quality of life in her neighborhood. Brought up in the classical tradition of Europe, Tatiana enjoyed attending the opera, ballet, and symphony concerts; her hobbies included reading, swimming and gardening. Almost aristocratic in demeanour, Tania nevertheless exuded a down-to-earth friendly American quality. Without a doubt, Tatiana Long embodied many of the finest traits one could hope for from a 20th Century descendant of Richard and Charity Long of Longfield.Sources
- Article based on section of "The Longs of Longfield," privately published in Toronto in 1998 by Count Caragata.