something i want to tell you and i can't. oh, you were asking me about how harvard. well, one of the hospitals, biggest one at that time in france, was the harvard hospital. and i think at that time, we were about ready to get into paris and we started on this detailed trip in to paris. and stopped at this hospital. and by that time, see, my hair was not naturally the color that i was wearing it, you see, and it had grown out a little bit, so i thought i ought to do something about it. i said, i'm not a golden haired person anymore, am i? somebody said, no, you're not, you have a streak around there, it's a little darker. so i went into this hospital and i said, any chance of getting a pail of water? and i had a bottle of the stuff i could put on it. and does anybody know about

putting some stuff on heads? yes, they did. so they gave me a dose of putting the bleach on my head and all that sort of thing and washed it. and when i came up, somebody said, oh, my god, it's not the right color. so here i was starting out with two layers of darker hair, then my real hair, i think. she put something on there. i don't know. and that's that part of that so i got into london i think -- not into london, into paris. one of the first things i did was to find a beauty parlor and got myself all in one tone up there. it was just fun. well, i was with one small hospital that particular time. they were going into paris, being transferred from out in the -- where the action was.

into paris. and i want to know if i can get a ride with them. and i did. i got a ride on the train into paris with this particular unit. and so i rode in the cab of the engine, climbed up in the cab of the engine to see what it was like up there. there wasn't much i didn't see or look into. >> this would be when paris was liberated in august of '44? >> no, no, it was earlier. oh, no, it was not -- we were still fighting in paris. and fighting for life. as it were. then every now and then i'd get with the unit. rejoined the unit. we went into paris in the car. automobile. one had enough rank to get a

car. we got in. and we got stationed in one -- we got quarters in one hotel and went up and pushed the window up and thought we'd wave with the american flag out. somebody began firing at us. we closed the window down and stopped. decided it was a little too early. >> you said in an interview that you were tsh that when you were assigned to do stories, you were assigned to do stories with a women's angle on it. >> yes, uh-huh. >> what does that mean? >> men in these days didn't know what to do with a woman reporter. could show go in and cover a murder trial. >> >> is that a story for her to cover? shouldn't she be protected from that type of thing? that was the early days. i was right out there where i wanted to find out what was going on. and what was the question?

>> women's angle. >> i always had to worry what about the woman's angle? something? that wasn't the real story. i was after a different story. >> what would a women's angle story be and what would another story be? >> a women's angle would be covering nurses. covering the hospitalization. covering whatever civilian things would carry over into the military. covering the food. but not covering fighting or battles. not going into -- when they were planning what kind of move they would make when t, when the mil was planning what kind of move they'd make. like i can remember that one of eisenhower's groups, the men came in and they were talking about what moves they would make in the particular maneuver they

were making. i was right in the back, standing right there. i never made, never intruded in anything. i never wanted to get thrown out, if i could help it. so that's -- that's -- i didn't see much of a woman's angle in it. i thought it was just -- it was a war. period. and i don't know that i'd been around when they were firing cannons and that sort of thing, but i didn't push my way in. >> and you preferred what kind of story? >> more or less human interest stories. what the whole thing was all about. i wasn't an authority on this thing, you know.

and what adventures, various -- i would go into a hospital in which they had casualties recovering and i would talk to them and get their stories. and write them and get -- push some of them back and file them. which a lot of these things didn't get printed, of course. they couldn't leave the country because they couldn't. it was giving too much away. that was their job, not mine. >> the editors that you passed -- >> right. sure. i knew pretty well that i could write the story or not. but if so-and-so person was wounded in such a battle that happened at such a place, perhaps that wasn't knowledgeable to the enemy. so i -- you don't do it. >> how would you actually physicalthy get these stories? did you type them, write them

longhand and send them on to an editor? how did they get to where they were supposed to get? >> i used the log -- they're pretty hard, those phones over there to handle. they have french operators and i spoke no french. but i managed to get through. then i used to write stories and if there were men correspondents that were going back or something like that, i'd give them something to turn into the "ap q "ap." usually i could find "ap" enough of us with over there i could send it back. all right. give it to some friend s of min. it got back all right. when i came back, i did some initial writing, but i was awfully tired. then say said i would be assigned to the london bureau. and that was all right with me. but i didn't go back. >> why didn't you go back? >> got my old job back in washington. i liked it better.

and i'd left my apartment in washington and so i just -- several had it. ann corac, do you know her? she was public relations. she's a very close friend of mine. we worked very good together. so when she came back a little ahead of me, she took my were still -- war was still on. >> you came back in summer of 45s is? >> something of that sort. i'd have to look up the dates. >> when did you start work back at the washington "ap" bureau? >> about two months or something. i went down to texas and stayed there. that's my home state, as it were. and stayed there about a few weeks. and then came back, rested a little bit more. then i wanted to go back to

work. >> now, you were involved, at that point, very involved with the women's national press club. >> oh, yes, i think i joined the national press club before i ever went overseas. and then along early in that deal i got elected president. >> tell me about your year as president. what you remember most about it. >> well, i had some -- i had some very good speakers. of course, i had mrs. r. and then when they were working out plans for peace and all that sort of thing, i had everybody that had a title, i think, in one of these departments. the head guy, i tried to get him to talk to the presses clu clubi had some very good programs

because i got good people. >> this was a time, during the time in which the women weren't allowed at the national press club? >> oh, lord, no. you could go in with somebody. you know, there's one little room off to the side there. as you only in the main door, there's a main room off there. i think it's a clerk room now. that was a dining room. and if you had some man member or some man that had connections with the press club, they'd invite you to go in there to lunch or dinner. and they got so they would let two or three women come in if one of them was married to a man that was a member of the press club. but you couldn't go beyond a certain place over there. you could hardly get a check cashed. that was funny. >> what happened when you had secretary of state marshall come to the national press -- to the women's national press club?

>> oh, that was a time that i had asked marshall if he would come and speak and he did. he said he would. and we got mixed up getting upstairs, but that didn't have any real serious thing to it. and but marshall made the first statement, first public statement to the women's national press club. now, a woman in the national press club going to invite a man to come if she wanted him as her guest, just as they would let the men invite us to a certain limited number of performances, types of performances they had. and the men just couldn't get in and here was marshall making his speech, you see, his first. and they were all out in the hallway. oh, it was adorable. >> turned about -- >> absolutely. marshall, a great person. >> were there any efforts when you were with the women's national press club to integrate the two clubs and merge them

during that time? >> no. not that i never knew anything about. i thought we were doing very well on our own. we were getting places that sometimes the men couldn't get. >> for example, what kind of stories do you think you were able to do that they couldn't? >> well, some of them -- mrs. roosevelt, of course, they wouldn't let -- the men didn't want women in the president's -- what do you call it -- you know, conferences. once in a while thyou'd get in t you were always having to stand at the back and that sort of thing. so mrs. r. didn't like the way so she had press conferences and she wont luldn't let the men in. funny days, those. >> you had started covering mrs. roosevelt when you worked in chicago? >> oh, i was in chicago when i covered her. yeah, she and i and one of her

secretary, we went down and got stuck there. had to get us up by inches almost. >> that was when she went to the orient mine? >> uh-huh. >> have you got that? >> i knew you were on that trip. >> yeah. >> i didn't know you'd gotten stuck. >> no, we got -- it was slow getting up. it was really a stick. we weren't barricaded down there or left down there, but it was very slow coming up. just skip that. and that was the time that i backed up against something, and it was summer, and i had a light wool dress, a knit wool dress or something like that on, and i was covering mrs. r.'s several functions in washington, in chicago at that particular time. see, that was when i was stationed out there. and i had to keep going from one

thing to another. and at the night show, the night performance of this group, some big women's club, they -- everybody was all duked up. and, of course, i showed. and here i had all this stuff that i'd gotten on me from this -- backing up against this thing in the elevator -- in the mine. and walked out to try to find a place to hear mrs. r. talk, and they just wouldn't let me on. and miss roosevelt saw it and she laughed and laughed. said, ruth, come on over here and sit down here. then i realized what was the business. so i said, no, but i was awful darn mad. i imagine i covered their meeting without any spite, but i would like to have wrung their necks. >> what other stories do you

remember covering of mrs. roosevelt that stick out in your mind? >> that what? >> that stick out in your mind? >> well, the first time i ever saw mrs. roosevelt was the first time she came out of the election and had mail in her hands and asked if anybody from the "ap" was there. i acknowledged i was. i moved upfront. she said, here, i brought these letters. i said, you're carrying our letters for us? she handed me a bag of mail. they were personal things, you see. they weren't really letters that went through the mail. so i took them into the office and i said, mrs. r. brought these things to us. some people had left her and she wanted people in the "ap" to see them or something. i don't know what was in the things. >> she had a very good relationship with the women reporters, didn't she? >> oh, yes, she was -- she liked them. she didn't like them being pushed around like they were.

and she would -- if you went to something to cover, some -- and you had maybe a little difficulty getting a chair or something like that, she was sitting up on the platform and would move down and point to a chair or something of that sort. she was very helpful. one of the most helpful people you could possibly imagine. she was helping the women and any time that she could say a good word for a woman, she did. and so the men, of course, didn't like that either. good stars would break through mrs. r.'s press conference. i imagine she and the president plotted that kind of stuff. it got to a place where they'd try to sneak in to us. one time she got up and ordered them out of the hallway. okay, i see you over there, get going. i was very fond of mrs. r. then when i first came back from

overseas, i went up to hyde park there for a little bit. she was -- she liked reporters and understood them. she liked men reporters, too, but they weren't going to keep the women from getting a break, too. this is early, you know. >> back in '33 when she first -- >> yes, right. this is when civilization was a little different. >> when you came back from the war and rejoined the "ap" in washington, was that still -- were you the only woman that was there? >> in the "ap?" >> no, they had a couple in the feature section. and then there was a gal taking my job while i was gone. and she then went back home to get married. and so things moved -- i just went -- got my same old desk and

shoved the stuff in. >> and you had a general -- >> huh? >> you had the same beat that you had before, covering generals? stories covering the white house? >> no, i was more or less -- well, i had some of that. if it was special stories, yes, i covered the white house from that first. and then i was assigned to the department of defense. they thought i knew a cannon from a shotgun. and i got along over there all right. because i knew so many of those people. >> and how much longer were you then at the "ap?" you worked there until the mid '50s? >> did what? >> you worked for the "ap" until about -- >> about '55. early '50s in there. i don't know, brad. >> '56? >> somewheres in there. yeah, i got fired. >> don't talk about that.

>> no, that's a joke. >> all this time. >> yes. >> was that a choice that you made? >> once in a while i did get an offer to change it. >> and? >> i didn't do it, of course. hmm? [ inaudible ] covered the press gallery of the defense committees. >> oh, yes, i did. right after the war. i then -- they learned maybe women could do some of these jobs. so i was assigned to the press gallery and to the house armed services committee in the house department. and naturally i would go into the press gallery to see what was happening to the bills i was concerned with in the committee meetings. >> i am interested, though, i've asked other women that i've

interviewed. in the choice you did make, did you think about marriage and think about having children and what that meant for your career? >> oh, i did, of course, going along the ways. i've had a few love affairs, but that was not -- everybody has those. inschool, you fall in love with somebody. what? >> i'm just curious. >> no, i was anxious to be a success in the writing business and that sort of thing. and i had a lot of fun in those days. >> did you think that getting married might change that, getting seriously involved with a man would change that. >> sure. in those days, the ap didn't want a married woman. that's one of the reasons, did you know of her, that was one of the reasons she lost out there,

got married, terrible crime. haha. hope you notice that as a joke. >> beth stewart followed her. >> then beth stewart married. i followed beth stewart in, you see. then beth stewart moved to some other place, and i was single. >> what about some of your other women journalist friends, do you think they had difficult making that decision? >> no, i don't think so. i think we were all more or less the same opinion, and just worked out that way for me. any time that i got -- i don't know, i was rather ambitious to get something done. and i don't know. i just went from one place to another. >> so what made you finally decide to get married? >> well, you had to be -- if you

were not of a certain age in the ap, they put you on a more or less kind of a retirement basis, which was not much good. and i had met brad about that time. >> that's true. they had an after 55 retirement rule at the ap. >> they did what in. >> seeing rid arm was force today retire at 55. >> yeah. and who else was up there, i think beth sherman was, wasn't she? >> not sure if she left because she was married or hit by retirement. >> hit by what. >> had to be retired. >> i don't know either. i've forgotten. >> were there any reporters you worked with who were married and had families? >> the ap finally got some

sense. others in there, so many of those restrictions, it was very difficult for a woman in the teaching profession to ever become a principal. who ever heard of that. ages have changed, and it is amusing to see how much it changed in the last few years. >> when you look at journalism today, think about your career as a journalist, what do you see that's different in the field in what you read today in the papers? >> you mean the material, the content of the story? well, they're different type stories.

if a person is covering a committee hearing, there would be very little, if any at all, difference in the way it would be written by a man or by a woman. a woman can take a view point of that kind, it is a little more difficult for men to just see the woman's hairdo, that sort of thing, and her clothes. and i don't remember meeting and covering the white house social events. i don't remember seeing too many men there, if any at all. >> do you see any other changes in the journalism field that you noticed since you retired from journalism? >> well, i think that they're accepted, and men also accepted women. you see, men didn't let women in, sometimes they would get

some of the prize stories. none of it, men are accepting women and women are accepting men. okay. >> when you look back on your life as a journalist, what are you most proud of. >> what do i what? >> what are you most proud of in the work you did? >> i think some of the stories i did overseas. they seem to stay longer with me. and i was always proud when i got, well, because it was after i came back from overseas, i was

assigned over at the pentagon. i liked some of those stories. but a story to me was a story. >> how do you mean? >> it was a good story, told something, and it met some need, maybe there was some -- i think of a medical campaign, we would go to medical services, go to medical headquarters, get what they were doing, and that would be -- that had no sex. lots of stories don't have sex

and are worth covering. that's a joke. >> well, thanks. i think we'll wrap up for the day. >> all right. i hope it has been worthwhile for me. >> it has for me. the purchasing power of gold, specified as a weight unit, for example, of any national currency was constant for a period of four centuries. seems to me the record of the gold strt in some is a record by and large of growth and in the macro sense and of personal accountability in the banking or micro sense. >> this weekend on american history tv, lewis lar i man and grant look at arguments for returning to the gold standard. saturday evening, past 7:00 eastern. also more from the contenders, a series on key political figures that ran for president and lost but changed political history. sunday, charles evans hughes ran

against wilson and was the last justice nominated by a major party at 7:30 p.m. american history tv this weekend on cspan3. >> he writes about presidents. >> he goes to the white house, says to eleanor roosevelt, can i pray for you? she says no. we need to pray for you. >> their campaigns. >> there are a lot of promises made. said they would have to represent a large hall, much larger than this one to get all of the people jack kennedy promised the vice presidency to that year. >> and their ideals. >> calvin coolidge may indeed have been the last jeffersonian. a man that believed strongly enough in limits of governmental power, particularly federal power, to resist temptation to extend it. >> this sunday on book tv, your questions and comments for david live at noon eastern on in

depth. also this sunday, middle east expert on the obama administration's response to arab spring, afghanistan, iraq, and israel, palestinian peace process. sunday at 9:00. part of book tv on cspan2. next weekend, head to the state capital named in honor of thomas jefferson with book tv and american history tv in jefferson city, missouri, saturday noon eastern. lit rather live with book tv on cspan2. former senator and first lady jean carnahan. from her book "if walls could talk." a butcher's block, from university of mess pa tame i can't to other collections. the stories behind 8 clay tablets. and sunday on american history tv. >> at one time, 1967, this was called the bloodiest 47