Herrick, Genevieve Forbes (1894–1962)

American newspaper reporter . Name variations: Mrs. John Origen Herrick. Born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 21, 1894; died in New Mexico in 1962; daughter of Frank G. Forbes and Carolyn D. (Gee) Forbes; attended Lake View High School; Northwestern, B.A., 1916; University of Chicago, M.A., 1917; married John Origen Herrick, on September 6, 1924; no children.

Like many early female newspaper reporters, Genevieve Herrick started out as a schoolteacher. She joined the Chicago Tribune in 1918 and first gained national recognition in 1921, with a story about immigrant women, which she wrote while traveling incognito in steerage. Her later testimony before Congress led to an investigation of the practices of immigration officials on Ellis Island.

Despite her excellent education and background, Herrick spent most of the 1920s covering the crime beat. One of her biggest coups was an interview with the notorious mobster Al Capone. She met her husband, a fellow reporter, when they were both covering the Leopold-Loeb trial in 1924. Continuing to work after her marriage, Herrick was assigned to Washington during the Depression and participated in Eleanor Roosevelt 's famous women-only press conferences. However, the strongly anti-Roosevelt Tribune did not appreciate Herrick's admiration of the New Deal Democrats, and she was forced to resign in 1934. Injuries suffered in an accident the following year prevented her from finding a comparable job, although she continued to write for other newspapers throughout the 1930s. During World War II, Herrick provided publicity for several government agencies and eventually became head of the magazine and book division of the Office of War Information. She and her husband John Origen Herrick retired to New Mexico in 1951, and she died there in 1962.