{{Short description|American journalist and columnist (1901–1970)}} {{Infobox person | name = Doris Fleeson | image = Doris Fleeson.jpg | alt = Doris Fleeson with Eleanor Roosevelt | caption = Doris Fleeson (right) with Eleanor Roosevelt | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1901|05|20}} | birth_place = Sterling, Kansas, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|1970|08|01|1901|05|20}} | death_place = | other_names = Doris Fleeson Kimball | occupation = Journalist | alma_mater = University of Kansas | spouse = John O'Donnell | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Doris Fleeson''' (May 20, 1901 – August 1, 1970) was an American journalist and columnist and was the first woman in the United States to have a nationally syndicated political column.<ref name=CarolynSayler-bio-2010>{{cite book|last1=Sayler|first1=Carolyn|title=Doris Fleeson, Incomparably the First Political Journalist of Her Time|date=25 April 2010|publisher=Sunstone Press|location=Santa Fe|isbn=978-0-865-34759-5}}</ref>
== Early life == Fleeson was born in Sterling, Kansas, to clothing store manager, William Fleeson, and Helen Fleeson (née Tebbe).<ref name=FamilySearch-USCensus-1910>{{cite web|title=Dorris Fleeson - United States Census, 1910|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2ZH-LXL|website=FamilySearch|accessdate=11 July 2015}}</ref> She was the youngest of six children.<ref name=CarolynSayler-bio-2010 /> In 1918, she graduated from Sterling High School, where she was the class valedictorian.<ref name=Popmatters-BookReview-2010>{{cite news|last1=Burnes|first1=Brian|title='Doris Fleeson' Blazed a Trail for Women Journalists|url=https://www.popmatters.com/review/128341-doris-fleeson-blazed-a-trail-for-women-journalists/|accessdate=11 July 2015|work=Popmatters|date=26 July 2010}}</ref>
In 1918, Fleeson attended Sterling College, then known as Cooper College, for an academic year.<ref name=CarolynSayler-bio-2010 /> Fleeson went on to attend and receive a B.A. in economics from the University of Kansas in 1923.<ref name=UKansas-Papers-2010>{{cite web|title=Personal Papers of Doris Fleeson, 1912-1970. Doris Fleeson Collection, University Archives, PP 186|url=http://etext.ku.edu/view?docId=ksrlead/ksrl.ua.fleesondoris.xml|website=Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries|accessdate=11 July 2015|date=2010}}</ref>
== Career ==
=== Early career === Fleeson's first journalism job was at the ''Pittsburg Sun''. She moved to Evanston, Illinois, to become the society editor of the ''News-Index'' and then to Long Island, New York to be an editor at ''Great Neck News''. In 1927, she joined the ''New York Daily News'' as a general assignment reporter, eventually moving to the newspaper's Albany bureau to cover state politics.<ref name=BiographicalDictAmNewspCols-Bio-1995>{{cite book|last1=Riley|first1=Sam G.|title=Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists|date=1 January 1995|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-29192-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict0000unse_x5v0/page/89 89]|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict0000unse_x5v0/page/89}}</ref>
=== Washington career === Fleeson and her husband, fellow ''Daily News'' reporter John O'Donnell, moved to Washington D.C. to work on at Daily News' Washington Bureau in 1930. They started a column together called "Capital Stuff" in 1933 that was published until their divorce in 1942. She left the ''Daily News'' in 1943 to be a war correspondent for ''Woman's Home Companion''. She reported from France and Italy during the war before returning to Washington to write a political column for the ''Boston Globe'' and ''Washington Evening Star''. In 1945, the column was picked up by the Bell Syndicate and distributed across the country. At its height in 1960, her column ran in about 100 newspapers.<ref name=CJR-BriefEncountersReview-2010>{{cite web|last1=Boylan|first1=James|title=Brief Encounters|url=https://www.cjr.org/review/brief_encounters_julyaug10.php?page=all&print=true|website=Columbia Journalism Review|date= July 2010|accessdate=7 March 2015}}</ref>
== Honors and memberships == * 1957: Fleeson received an honorary degree (Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa) from The Sage Colleges, the former Russell Sage College.<ref name=Sage-HonoraryDegree-1957>{{cite web|last1=Froman|first1=Lewis A.|title=Doris Fleeson|url=http://library2.sage.edu/archive/images/1957X1Fleeson.PDF|website=The Sage Colleges|accessdate=11 July 2015|date=2 June 1957}}</ref> * 1954: Raymond Clapper Memorial Award, the American Society of Newspaper Editors<ref>{{cite news|title=Doris Fleeson, Columnist, Dies; Winner of Journalism Honors|date=Aug 2, 1970|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/02/archives/doris-fleeson-columnist-dies-winner-of-journalism-honors-secretary.html|quote=...the Raymond Clapper award in 1954 from the American Society of Newspaper Editors.}}</ref> * New York Paperwoman's Club for Distinguished Reporting<ref name=Sage-HonoraryDegree-1957 /> * Member, Women's National Press Club
== Personal life == In 1930, Fleeson married ''New York Daily News'' colleague, John O'Donnell, with whom she had a daughter, Doris O'Donnell. The marriage ended in divorce in 1942.<ref name=UKansas-Papers-2010 />
In 1958, Fleeson married Dan A. Kimball,<ref name=NYTimes-Wed-Kimball-1958>{{cite news|title=Dan A. Kimball to Wed Doris Fleeson, Writer|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1958/07/04/81886816.pdf|accessdate=11 July 2015|work=The New York Times|date=4 July 1958}}</ref> who had been Secretary of the Navy from 1951 to 1953, and later was President of Aerojet.<ref name=UKansas-Papers-2010 /><ref name=ArlingtonNationalCemetery-Kimball>{{cite web|title=Dan Able Kimball - First Lieutenant, United States Army Air Service Secretary of the Navy|url=http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/dakimball.htm|website=Arlington National Cemetery|accessdate=11 July 2015}}</ref> Eleanor Roosevelt attended the wedding, as did financier Bernard Baruch.<ref name=NYTimes-Wedding2-1958>{{cite news|title=Dan Kimball Weds Mrs. Doris Fleeson|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1958/08/02/82212475.pdf|accessdate=11 July 2015|work=The New York Times|date=2 August 1958}}</ref>
In 1970, Fleeson died of complications from a stroke.<ref name=NYTimes-FleesonObit-1970>{{cite news|title=Doris Fleeson, Journalist, Dies; Winner of Journalism Honors|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1970/08/02/355733602.pdf|accessdate=11 July 2015|work=The New York Times|date=2 August 1970}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * ''[http://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/4076913 Reminiscences of Doris Fleeson Kimball : oral history, 1966.]'' Adlai E. Stevenson project. Columbia University. Rare Book, Butler 6th Fl. East (Non-Circulating) NXCP89-A380. 1966. {{OCLC|122441411}} * Davis, Kenneth S. ''[http://etext.ku.edu/view?docId=ksrlead/ksrl.ua.fleesondoris.xml Personal Papers of Doris Fleeson, 1912-1970. Doris Fleeson Collection, University Archives, PP 186.]'' Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries. 2010. {{OCLC|60317189}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleeson, Doris}} Category:1901 births Category:1970 deaths Category:American columnists Category:University of Kansas alumni Category:People from Sterling, Kansas Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:20th-century American women writers Category:American women columnists