Malvina Stephenson

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Malvina Stephenson
BornOctober 17, 1911
Paris, Texas
DiedFebruary 16, 1996(1996-02-16) (aged 84)
OccupationJournalist

Malvina Stephenson (1911-1996) was an American journalist noted for her coverage of Washington politics. She is considered to be one of the pioneering women reporters to break on the national scene.[1] Stephenson also served as the press secretary and the biographer of Senator Robert Samuel Kerr.[2]

Biography[edit]

Stephenson was born on October 17, 1911, in Paris, Texas.[3] Her family relocated to Hugo, Oklahoma where her father, Robert E. Stephenson, practiced law.[1]

Stephenson graduated from Sapulpa High School.[1] She took an associate's degree in history at the Southeastern State Teachers College (now Southeastern Oklahoma State University).[3] After graduating in 1932, she taught for three years.[3] She then obtained a master's degree in journalism at the University of Oklahoma before working as a feature writer for the Tulsa World.[4][5] She then relocated to Washington, D.C. and started covering Washington politics.[6] In an interview, Stephenson said that she went to Washington with $700 savings.[7]

Stephenson founded her own independent news bureau and became a regular correspondent for several newspapers such as the Tulsa World, Tulsa Tribune, Cincinnati Times-Star, The Kansas City Star, ABC Radio, and United Feature, among others.[4] In 1944, she became part of the weekly radio program with Ray Henle.[1]

By 1951, Stephenson was selected as Senator Kerr's press secretary, a job she kept until 1963.[3] She was a co-author of his book Land, Wood, and Water. After Kerr died in 1963, Stephenson resumed her work as a journalist and became part of the female political columnist team that produced Washington Offbeat.[3] She regularly contributed an op-ed column for the Tulsa World. Some of her noted works were written with Vera Glaser and these included reports about Clark Mollenhoff, a special counsel to Nixon's White House, and his collection of the 250 names of State Department employees who criticized Nixon's policies during the Vietnam War.[8]

In 1995, Stephenson published Kerr's biography. She died a year later, on February 16, 1996.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Famous Sapulpans: Sapulpa's Malvina Stephenson was 'real' newswoman". sapulpatimes.com. 2016-12-17. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  2. ^ Memorial Services Held in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: Together with Remarks Presented in Eulogy of Robert Samuel Kerr, Late a Senator from Oklahoma. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1963. p. 167.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Malvina Stephenson Papers" (PDF). The State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Columbia. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Feeley, Kathleen; Frost, Jennifer (2014). When Private Talk Goes Public: Gossip in American History. New York, NY: Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-44230-7.
  5. ^ Quicklinks. "Browse by Political Collection". www.ou.edu. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  6. ^ "Malvina Stephenson | The Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame". Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  7. ^ McClendon, Sarah (1991-03-03). "World Columnist Stephenson Ends Noted Washington Career". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  8. ^ "Vera Glaser, veteran Washington reporter, dies at 92". Los Angeles Times. 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
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