Cowan, Ruth (1901–1993)

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Cowan, Ruth (1901–1993)

American journalist. Name variations: Ruth Baldwin Cowan; Baldwin Cowan; Ruth C. Nash. Born June 15, 1901, in Salt Lake City, Utah; died Feb 5, 1993, in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; only dau. of William Henry Cowan (mining prospector) and Ida (Baldwin) Cowan; graduate of University of Texas at Austin, 1923; m. Bradley D. Nash (politician), 1956.

Taught at Main Avenue High School in San Antonio (1924–27); as Baldwin Cowan, became a reporter for San Antonio Evening News (1928); began working for United Press (UP, 1929), until they discovered that Baldwin Cowan was a woman; joining Associated Press (AP), covered crime in Chicago (1930s); transferred to AP's Washington bureau (1940), then to London (1941); as one of the 1st women war corresponents of WWII (1943), was sent to Algiers with Women's Auxiliary Army Corps; later covered operations in North Africa, invasion of Normandy, liberation of Paris, and Battle of the Bulge.