15 Pioneering Female Journalists
10. Marguerite Higgins
Like many in her field, Marguerite Higgins made a name for herself covering conflict and war throughout the world. And though she was not the first female war correspondent by any means, she still made great strides for both herself and for the female journalists that followed her.
While a student at the University of California, Berkeley, Higgins served as writer and editor for The Daily Californian. Higgins graduated from Berkeley in 1941. She went on to New York’s Columbia University, where she earned a master’s degree in journalism.
After finally completing her education, Higgins worked hard to become a war correspondent. Eventually, after Higgins had worked with them for two years, the New York Herald Tribune sent her on assignment to Europe. Not only did she cover the liberation of Dachau, but she also covered the subsequent Nuremberg trials and the blockade of Berlin by the Soviet Union.
Higgins would later travel to Japan and Korea, covering the Korean War in the 1950s. In fact, she was one of the first reporters to travel to Korea after the outbreak of the war. After escaping injury as a result of the Hangang Bridge bombing, Higgins was very nearly sent out of the country. General Walton Walker argued that women had no real place so close to war.
However, Higgins was not willing to give up just yet. She wrote personally to General MacArthur, Walker’s superior, requesting permission to stay. MacArthur subsequently sent a telegram to the Herald Tribune, which read: Ban on women correspondents in Korea has been lifted. Marguerite Higgins is held in highest professional esteem by everyone.
Higgins would later win the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for her reporting in Korea, along with five other male correspondents.