Dorothy Thompson

(1893 - 1961)

The first American journalist expelled from Germany after the rise of the Nazis, Dorothy Thompson—who in a 1931 profile of Hitler asked whether he would come to power, “and if he does, will it make any difference?”—came back to the United States and began writing a popular newspaper column. “No people ever recognize their dictator in advance,” she wrote. “When our dictator turns up, you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys.” In 1939 Thompson was named second on Time’s list of America’s most influential women—Eleanor Roosevelt came in first.