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Lorena Alice Hickok (March 7, 1893 – May 1, 1968) was an American journalist known for her close relationship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Born in East Troy, Wisconsin to a dressmaker and a dairy-farmer, Hickok had an unhappy childhood marked by isolation and abuse. After her mother's death when Hickok was fourteen, she left home, worked on her own, and completed high school with the help of a cousin. She went into journalism after failing out of college, and soon became a successful reporter for the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' and the Associated Press (AP), achieving several firsts for American women journalists. By 1932, she had become the nation's best-known female reporter. After being assigned to cover Roosevelt during her husband's first presidential campaign, Hickok struck up a close relationship with the soon-to-be First Lady. For several years, the two corresponded almost every day, traveled together, and professed emotional and physical affection for one another. The exact nature of this relationship has been widely discussed by historians; some have argued that the relationship was clearly romantic or erotic, while others have argued that historians have been misled by Roosevelt's exuberant letters. More than 3,000 letters from the pair's correspondence are preserved at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Compromised as a reporter by her personal relationship with Roosevelt, Hickok left the AP and began work as the chief investigator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), a department of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Hickok encouraged or inspired several of Eleanor Roosevelt's initiatives, including her syndicated column, her all-women press conferences, and her planned community at Arthurdale, West Virginia. As Hickok grew more demanding of the First Lady, however, the pair's initial closeness lessened. Following complications with her diabetes, Hickok resigned from FERA in 1936 and worked for three years promoting the 1939 New York World's Fair. From 1940 to 1945, she served as the executive secretary of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee, living at the White House for most of this time. As her diabetes steadily worsened, she lived out her final years at Hyde Park to be near Roosevelt, publishing several books. ==Early life and reporting career == Lorena Hickok, popularly known as "Hick", was born in East Troy in Walworth County, Wisconsin, the daughter of Anna Adelsa (née Waite) and Addison Hickok. Lorena's mother made dresses, while her father was a buttermaker. During childhood, Hickok experienced a troubled family life, characterized by abuse, unemployment, and repeated moves.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Lorena Alice Hickok (1893 - 1968) )〕 When Hickok was ten, the family moved to Bowdle, South Dakota. An introverted child, Hickok was embarrassed by her height, and later recalled that she spent most of her time in solitude, daydreaming or playing with the animals of her family's farm. At fourteen, she left home following her mother's death, and worked as a maid until her mother's cousin, Ella Ellis, took her in. While living with Ellis, Hickok finished high school and enrolled at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin.〔 Unable to fit in at college, Hickok failed out in her first year.〔 She was hired to cover train arrivals and departures and write personal interest stories at ''The Battle Creek Evening News'' for $7 a week. In an attempt to follow in the footsteps of her role model, novelist and former reporter Edna Ferber, she joined the ''Milwaukee Sentinel'' as its society editor, but moved on to the city beat where she developed a talent as an interviewer.〔 She interviewed celebrities, including actress Lillian Russell, pianist Ignacy Paderewski, and opera singers Nellie Melba and Geraldine Farrar, gaining a wide audience. She also became close friends with diva Ernestine Schumann-Heink. Hickok moved to Minneapolis to work for the ''Minneapolis Tribune''. She enrolled at the University of Minnesota, leaving upon being forced to live in a women's dormitory. She stayed with the ''Tribune'' where she was given opportunities unusual for a female reporter. She had a byline and was the paper's chief reporter, covering politics, sports, and preparing editorials.〔 During her tenure with the paper, she also covered the football team, becoming one of the first female reporters to be assigned a sports beat. In 1923, she won an award from the Associated Press for writing the best feature story of the month, a piece on President Warren G. Harding's funeral train. During her years in Minneapolis, Hickok lived with a society reporter named Ella Morse, with whom she had a six-year relationship. In 1926, Hickok was diagnosed with diabetes, and Morse persuaded her take a year's leave from the newspaper so the pair could travel to San Francisco and Hickok could write a novel. At the beginning of the leave, however, Morse unexpectedly eloped with an ex-boyfriend, leaving Hickok devastated. Unable to face a return to Minneapolis, Hickok moved to New York, landing a job with the ''New York Daily Mirror''. After working for ''The Mirror'' for about a year, Hickok obtained a job with the Associated Press in 1928, where she became one of the wire service's top correspondents. Her November 1928 story on the sinking of the SS ''Vestris'' was published in the ''New York Times'' under her own byline, the first woman's byline to appear in the paper. She also reported on the Lindbergh kidnapping and other national events.〔 By 1932, she had become the nation's best-known female reporter. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lorena Hickok」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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