28 Facts About Elizabeth Peer

Elizabeth Clow Peer Jansson, often just Liz Peer, was a pioneering American journalist who worked for Newsweek from 1958 until her death in 1984.

Elizabeth Peer began her career at Newsweek as a copy girl, at a time when opportunities for women were limited.

When forty-six of Newsweek female employees filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Elizabeth Peer remained on the sidelines.

Elizabeth Peer was passed over for promotion to senior editor in 1973 for reasons that remain unclear.

Elizabeth Peer returned to Paris in 1975 as bureau chief, and became Newsweeks first female war correspondent in 1977 when she covered the Ogaden War.

Elizabeth Peer's reporting there won her recognition, but she suffered a debilitating injury from which she never recovered, leading to her suicide in 1984.

Elizabeth Peer attended the Connecticut College for Women, graduating in 1957.

Elizabeth Peer majored in philosophy and showed a strong interest in the arts.

Elizabeth Peer started out as a reporter for the student newspaper, the Connecticut College News, before shifting to become its cartoonist as a sophomore.

Elizabeth Peer recalled later that she "never meant to have a career", but after an inconclusive engagement with an unnamed man the spring of her senior year at Connecticut, she followed up on her experience at Connecticut by enrolling in the theater program at Columbia University.

Elizabeth Peer's parents disapproved of her decision and declined to pay for the degree, and Peer dropped out from Columbia.

At the time, Elizabeth Peer wrote later, she had no intention of staying more than a couple years before finding a suitable husband.

Newsweek, a prominent weekly news magazine, had no more than a couple women writers from its founding in 1933 and none when Elizabeth Peer arrived in 1958.

Elizabeth Peer was a gifted writer and versatile reporter who covered everything from politics and the arts to fashion and food.

In 1969 Elizabeth Peer returned to the United States to take up a post in Newsweeks Washington, DC bureau.

Still annoyed at Newsweek over the lack of a raise, Elizabeth Peer had them ship her extensive collection of French wine back to the States.

In Washington Elizabeth Peer's beat included the State Department, White House, and Central Intelligence Agency.

Elizabeth Peer's attitude was ambivalent; she did not join the forty-six women who filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, though Povich, who did, described Elizabeth Peer as "especially" supportive.

Elizabeth Peer moved up to New York City in 1973, where she continued writing for Newsweek.

Elizabeth Peer had acted as one in early 1974 while the incumbent was on vacation.

Newsweek gave Elizabeth Peer a tryout in late 1974, the result of which is a matter of dispute.

Elizabeth Peer later claimed that she was offered the job but turned it down.

Regardless of the reasons why, Elizabeth Peer did not become a senior editor.

Elizabeth Peer added another first in 1977 when Newsweek dispatched her to cover the Ogaden War between Ethiopia and Somalia.

Elizabeth Peer's reporting would win her the Overseas Press Club's "Ed Cunningham Award" for best magazine reporting from abroad, but it would prove the highpoint of her career.

Elizabeth Peer married John P Jansson, an architect, whom she had first met in 1975.

Elizabeth Peer continued writing for Newsweek, serving as a senior writer and general editor, but constant pain from her injury interfered with her ability to work.

Elizabeth Peer's papers are at the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming.