15 Facts About Cissy Patterson

Cissy Patterson was one of the first women to head a major daily newspaper, the Washington Times-Herald in Washington, DC.

Elinor Josephine Patterson was born in Chicago, Illinois, on November 7,1881, to the daughter of Robert and Elinor "Nellie" Patterson.

Cissy Patterson was educated at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut, graduating in 1901.

Cissy Patterson went with the Count to his home, a vast feudal manor in Russian Poland.

Cissy Patterson took their child, hiding her in a house near London, but the Count pursued her and kidnapped their daughter, hiding her in an Austrian convent.

Cissy Patterson filed for divorce, which took thirteen years to obtain.

Cissy Patterson published two novels, romans a clef, Glass Houses and Fall Flight, part of her feud with former friend Alice Roosevelt Longworth.

Cissy Patterson died four years later, and in 1930, Mrs Schlesinger legally changed her name to Mrs Eleanor Medill Patterson.

Cissy Patterson tried to buy Hearst's two Washington papers, the morning Washington Herald and the evening Washington Times.

Cissy Patterson added a lot of local features, a lot of local color.

Cissy hired several women to write for the Times and her changes had the effect of propelling the Washington Herald to one of the leading newspapers in Washington, DC It wasn't long before Cissy Patterson had doubled the circulation of the Herald, a feat William Randolph Hearst himself had not been able to accomplish.

Cissy Patterson encouraged society reporting and the women's page and hired many women as reporters, including Adela Rogers St Johns and Martha Blair.

Cissy Patterson feuded with her daughter, who publicly "divorced" her in 1945, and with her former son-in-law, Drew Pearson, by whom she had a granddaughter, Ellen Cameron Pearson Arnold.

Cissy Patterson left the paper to seven of her editors, who sold it to her cousin Colonel McCormick within the year.

Cissy Patterson held onto the paper for five years, and although he seemed close to returning it to profitability for several years, it eventually proved too significant a financial drain.