Milly Bennett
Milly Bennett | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mildred Jacqueline Bremler May 22, 1897 San Francisco, California |
| Died | November 7, 1960(aged 63)[1] |
| Other names | Mildred Mitchell Mildred Amlie |
Milly Bennett(May 22, 1897 – November 7, 1960) (bornMildred Jacqueline Bremler,also known asMildred MitchellandMildred Amlie) was an American journalist and writer who covered political conditions in China, social conditions in the Soviet Union, the Spanish Civil War, and various events in the United States.[2]
Personal life
[edit]Bennett was born on May 22, 1897, inSan Francisco, California.[2]She was graduated from Girls' High School in San Francisco in 1915 and then attended theCollege of Hawaiifrom 1915 to 1917.[2]
In 1921 she married Mike Mitchell, but they were divorced in 1926.[2]She moved to theUSSRin 1931, and around that time she marriedEvgeni Konstantinovin Moscow.[2]After Konstantinov was arrested for being a homosexual, she struggled to maintain her faith in the communist party.[3]She visited him in hisSiberian prison.[4]They divorced in or before November 1936.[5]
She lived in the USSR until December 1936[2][6]when she moved to Spain tofight the fascists.[4]On December 1, 1937,[7]she marriedHans Amlie,a commander in the volunteerAbraham Lincoln Brigadeand brother ofThomas Amlie.[8][2][6][7]While in the USSR and briefly after she moved to Spain, she had an affair withHermann Joseph Muller.[6]She also had an affair in Moscow withLindsay Parrott.[9]While in Spain, Bennett had a brief love affair with Wallace Burton, an ex-pat fighting in the Spanish Civil War.[10]Previously, while in China in the 1920s, she had an affair with his twin brother, Wilbur.[10]She was pregnant while in Spain.[7]
In January 1938, Bennett returned to the United States with Amlie.[11]They set up a home inMill Valley, California.[11]She died in 1960.[2]
Career
[edit]As a journalist and a writer, Bennett, who was born Mildred Jacqueline Bremler, worked around the world under thepseudonymMilly Bennett.[2]She also used her married names for her bylines, Mildred Mitchell and Mildred Amlie.[2]She spent much of her career producing propaganda for the English language newspapers of communist governments in theUSSRand China.[12]
Bennett was a reporter atThe Daily Newsin San Francisco from 1917 to 1921 and atThe Honolulu Star-Bulletinfrom 1921 to 1926.[2]While in San Francisco, she covered the trial ofThomas Mooney.[12]
She was then the editor of the Chung-Mei News Agency inBeijing, Chinafrom 1926 to 1927.[2][12]During the years 1927 to 1931, Bennett was a reporter forThe Daily News,theScripps-Howard News Service,and theUnited Press.[2]She also worked on thePeoples TribuneinHankou, ChinawithRayna Prohme.[2]From 1931 to 1935, she was a reporter for the newMoscow News.[2][13][12][14]For a time, she ran the Moscow bureau of theInternational News Servicefrom her apartment.[14]
In 1935 and 1936, she was a reporter for theNewspaper Enterprise Association,The New York Times,and theInternational News Service.[2][14]In 1936 and 1937, she reported from Spain for theAssociated Press,theUnited Press,and theLondon Times.[12][15]She was also a staff member for the English-language section of the Press and Propaganda Service of the Spanish Government, working alongside her friendKate Mangan.[16]Taking the job in Spain allowed her to reclaim her ideals, instead of working for the "capitalist press," and to let her cover a war, which interested her personally.[14]
In her memoir,On Her Own,Bennett describes living in the Soviet Union just beforeWorld War IIbroke out, living through theSpanish Civil War,life in China during theNorthern Expedition,and her various other posts as a reporter.[17]She also discusses her many love affairs and other highlights and disappointment in her life.[17]
Communism
[edit]In late May 1937, her application for membership in theCommunist Party of the United Stateswas denied.[6]Though she was instructed to wait until she had returned to the United States to apply again, she sent another application in October of that year while still in Spain.[12]Though she attempted several times, she was never admitted as a party member.[6][7]
After Bennett and Amlie returned to the United States, they were investigated and surveilled by theFederal Bureau of Investigation.[18]The FBI believed Bennett to be a spy for the Spanish Republic.[19]
Selected publications
[edit]- Bennett, Milly (1935-11-10)."SOVIET RUSSIA DISCOVERS 'HOME, SWEET HOME'; The New Place of Women in the State Reflected in Stricter Social Laws".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2022-12-29.
- Bennett, Milly (1993).On her own: journalistic adventures from San Francisco to the Chinese Revolution, 1917-1927.Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe.ISBN978-1-56324-182-6.OCLC1119537925.[20]
Legacy
[edit]Bennett's papers are held atStanford University'sHoover Institution.[2]The 2020 novel,Salt the Snowby Carrie Callaghan follows the story of Bennett.[21]
References
[edit]- ^Times, Special to The New York (1960-11-07)."M1LLY BEMETT, 64, FORMER REPORTER".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2022-12-29.
- ^abcdefghijklmnopq"Register of the Milly Bennett papers".Online Archive of California.RetrievedJanuary 16,2020.
- ^Kirschenbaum 2015,p. 74-75.
- ^abKirschenbaum 2015,p. 75.
- ^Kirschenbaum 2015,p. 77-78.
- ^abcdeKirschenbaum 2015,p. 175.
- ^abcdKirschenbaum 2015,p. 179.
- ^Preston, Paul (June 20, 2014)."Hotel Florida: Truth, Love and Death in the Spanish Civil War – review".The Guardian.RetrievedJanuary 16,2020.
- ^Kirschenbaum 2015,p. 76.
- ^abKirschenbaum 2015,p. 178.
- ^abKirschenbaum 2015,p. 187.
- ^abcdefKirschenbaum 2015,p. 174.
- ^Kirschenbaum 2015,p. 56.
- ^abcdKirschenbaum 2015,p. 77.
- ^Preston, Paul (2012-03-01).We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War.Little, Brown Book Group.ISBN978-1-78033-742-5.
- ^The Good Comrade, Memoirs of Kate Mangan and Jan Kurzke,International Institute of Social History(IISH), Amsterdam.
- ^abBennett, Milly (1993).On Her Own: Journalistic Adventures from San Francisco to the Chinese Revolution, 1917-1927.M.E. Sharpe.ISBN978-1-56324-182-6.RetrievedJanuary 16,2020.
- ^Kirschenbaum 2015,p. 217-218.
- ^Kirschenbaum 2015,p. 217.
- ^Reviews ofOn Her Own
- Vanlandingham, Beth (1995). Bennett, Milly; Grunfeld, A. Tom; Clifford, Nicholas R.; Stephens, Thomas B.; Lodwick, Kathleen L. (eds.)."There and Back Again: Foreigners and the Chinese Revolution".The Journal of American-East Asian Relations.4(2): 181–188.doi:10.1163/187656195X00336.ISSN1058-3947.JSTOR23612874.
- MacKinnon, Stephen R. (1994)."Review of On Her Own: Journalistic Adventures from San Francisco to the Chinese Revolution, 1917-1927".The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs(31): 187–189.doi:10.2307/2949939.ISSN0156-7365.JSTOR2949939.
- King, Marjorie M. (1994)."Review of On Her Own: Journalistic Adventures from San Francisco to the Chinese Revolution, 1917—1927".China Review International.1(1): 59–62.ISSN1069-5834.JSTOR23728654.
- ^Callaghan, Carrie (2020).Salt the Snow.Amberjack Publishing.ISBN978-1-948705-64-6.
Works cited
[edit]- Kirschenbaum, Lisa A. (July 28, 2015).International Communism and the Spanish Civil War.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1-107-10627-7.RetrievedJanuary 16,2020.
