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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly firom the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be firom any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrougb, substandard margins, and hnproper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI University Microfilms international A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 Nortfi Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 91S0480 The life and career of journalist Charlotte Curtis: A rhetorical biography Greenwald, Marilyn Sue, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1991 Copyright ©1991 by Greenwald, Marilyn Sue. All rights reserved. UMI SOON. Zeeb Rd Ann Aibor, MI 48106 THE LIFE AND CAREER OF JOURNALIST CHARLOTTE CURTIS: A RHETORICAL BIOGRAPHY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Marilyn Sue Greenwald, B.A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1991 Dissertation Committee: Approved by G.F. Berquist J . Darsey Advise P.V. Peterson apartment of Communication Copyright ty Marilyn Sue Greenwald 1991 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Several people have played important roles in the completion of this dissertation, and to them I am extremely grateful. To Dr. Goodwin Berquist, a true teacher, who encouraged me to start this project and who stayed with me until its completion despite several obstacles; to Dr. James Darsey, for his patience, creativity and insistence on excellence; and to Dr. Paul Peterson, for his enthusiasm and suggestions. I would also like to thank the Ohio State University Women's Study Center for its financial contribution. I am particularly grateful to many of my colleagues at Ohio University who rearranged their schedules and went out of their way to help me on this project. They include Diane Campbell, Ralph Izard, Don Lambert and Tom Peters. And to my friends, for their sense of humor and continual encouragement: Sally Walters, Nancy Lewis, Fred Heintz, Sam Winch, Dave London and Pat Washburn. Finally, to my husband, Tim, for his confidence in me and his never-ending patience. XI VITA September 15, 1954 ............Born - Cleveland, Ohio 1975 ...........................B.A., School of Journalism The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio 197 6-1978 ..................... Copy Editor and Reporter Painesville Telegraph Painesville, Ohio 1978-1985 ..................... Reporter Columbus Citizen-Journal Columbus, Ohio 1984 .......................... M.A., School of Journalism The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio 1986-1987 ..................... Reporter Columbus Dispatch Columbus, Ohio 1987-Presen t .................. Asst. Professor of Journalism Ohio University Athens, Ohio PUBLICATIONS "The Consumer Videotex Market: Has It Reached Its Potential?" in Telecommunication. Values and the Public Interest, Sven Lundstedt, ed., Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corp., 1990. "Gender Representation in Newspaper Business Sections," Newspaper Research Journal, Winter 1990, pp. 68-74. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Communication ii i PREFACE This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of many individuals who knew Charlotte Curtis and who considered her a major figure in American journalism. I am particularly appreciative to Dr. William E. Hunt for his openness in allowing me to examine the papers Curtis left, and for talking to me frankly about her life and career. I am also grateful to many of Curtis's co-workers and friends, who also were kind enough to talk with me. They include Marylin Bender, Richard Clurman, Jane Horrocks, Harrison Salisbury, Liz Smith and C.J. Satterwhite. I was unable to reach Curtis's friend and mentor, Clifton Daniel, but hope to do so in the future. Curtis's papers are housed in the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College. References made to these holdings appear with the letters "SL" in the endnote sections. Another important source of information was a lengthy interview conducted with Curtis in 1983 as part of an oral history project sponsored by the New York Times. The tape and transcript are housed at the Times offices in New York. This location is referenced in the endnote sections of this study as "NYT.” iv t a b l e o f c o n t e n t s ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................ ii VITA............................................iii PREFACE........................................ iv CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION............................. 1 Curtis as Sub j ec t ................... 4 Methodology and Format.............. 6 Evidence and Documentation.........10 Justification and Goals of Study .. 11 Notes...............................12 II. A WRITER'S TRAINING GROUND..........15 The Private Rhetor................. 19 Pull Toward Respectability.........28 Scorn for Accepted Social Beliefs . 43 Notes...............................58 III. EARLY YEARS ON THE TIMES.............. 62 A New Level of Sophistication......64 Part of the New Journalism.........81 Notes...............................93 IV. CHRONICLING TWO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS....... 95 A Growing Force at the Times.......98 Impact of Civil Rights Movement .. 108 Coverage of the Feminist Movement 117 Notes............................ 137 V. NEW RHETORICAL OUTLETS................ 142 A New Confidante.................. 144 Appointment to Op-Ed.............. 149 A Personal Setback............... 161 N otes............................ 172 VT. CHANGE IN RHETORICAL DIRECTION........ 175 N o t e s ..............................198 VII. CONCLUSION............................. 200 N o t e s ..............................209 LIST OF REFERENCES.............................210 VI CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The most important thing to me was the pursuit of truth, and it still is. I'm really not much interested in fantasies, but in looking through fantasies to see where reality is and what the reality is, cind what the reality means.. .Different people have different obligations, obviously, but mine is to at least try to establish what's true in society and then act upon it. ^ When journalist Charlotte Curtis said she was interested in the pursuit of truth, she had a different definition of the term than most journalists. To Curtis, a reporter, editor and self-described sociologist, "truth" meant more than just fairness and accuracy. It meant seeing through the sometimes false motives and actions of her subjects, examining superficial claims and often opposing the prevailing way of thinking. And, perhaps most difficult, it meant conveying her findings using the most mundane of vehicles — the daily newspaper. This meant making even the most unpalatable findings acceptable to readers and her own editors. 1 2 This study is a rhetorical biography tracing the life of Curtis through her discourse and outlining how her life affected her rhetoric, and, in some cases, vice versa. It is inevitable that one's life experiences to some degree shape one's life work. The biographer of a rhetor, however, faces numerous challenges not met by other biographers. First, the rhetorical biographer must determine how much of the subject's vast amount of discourse was influenced by specific life events; second, the biographer must select from the vast amount of rhetoric to determine what is representative and significant. Curtis's life is particularly compelling for a rhetorical biographer because of the contradictions that shaped its core. The two biggest influences in her life were essentially at odds with each other: she spent four decades working in the gritty, real world of newspapering, but she was raised in a privileged environment that instilled in her a sense of propriety and respect for appearances. These two forces in her life created an ambivalence that she tried to reconcile through her rhetoric. She spent much of her career as a women's page and society writer — a job that according to most journalistic conventions meant the benign coverage of weddings and engagements, interviews with fashion designers, and tips on such pragmatic subjects as how to pack suitcases. Curtis, however, turned the job around and mocked the very people and conventions that defined society 3 coverage. It was a way to reconcile her mixed feelings about her own upbringing with her job as one who reveals the "truth." Further, as a top editor at a national newspaper, Curtis served as a role model for thousands of women who were striving to prove that women could rise to the top of their professions;