Teddy's Child

During and after World War II, VIRGINIA VAN DER VEER HAMILTON became a pioneer in journalism and academe--two careers in which only a small minority of women then participated. Hired as a typist in the Washington, DC bureau of The Associated Press (AP), she rose to become the AP reporter for the "women's beat" at the Truman White House. While a wife and mother, she became the second woman to earn a PhD from the History Department of The University of Alabama. She taught at The University of Alabama at Birmingham, chaired its history department for ten years and wrote eight award-winning books as well as numerous articles in scholarly journals, American Heritage, and The New York Times.