Molly Ivins facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Molly Ivins
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| Born | August 30, 1944 Monterey, California, U.S. |
| Died | January 31, 2007 (aged 62) Austin, Texas, U.S. |
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| Education | Smith College Columbia Graduate School of Journalism |
| Period | 1967–2007 |
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Mary Tyler "Molly" Ivins (August 30, 1944 – January 31, 2007) was an American newspaper columnist, author, political commentator, and humorist.
Born in California and raised in Texas, Ivins attended Smith College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She began her journalism career at the Minneapolis Tribune where she became the first female police reporter at the paper. Ivins joined The Texas Observer in the early 1970s and later moved to The New York Times. She became a columnist for the Dallas Times Herald in the 1980s, and then the Fort Worth Star-Telegram after the Times Herald was sold and shuttered (1991). Her column was subsequently syndicated by Creators Syndicate and carried by hundreds of newspapers.
A biography of Ivins, Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life, was co-written in 2010 by PEN-USA winning presidential biographer Bill Minutaglio and W. Michael Smith.
Early life
Ivins was born in Monterey, California, and raised in Houston, Texas. Her father, James Ivins, known as "General Jim" because of his rigid authoritarianism (or sometimes "Admiral Jim" for his love of sailing), was an oil and gas executive, and the family lived in Houston's affluent River Oaks neighborhood. Ivins graduated from St. John's School in 1962. In high school, she was active in extracurricular activities, including the yearbook staff. She had her first pieces of journalism published in The Review, the official student newspaper of St. John's School, though she never wrote any of the political columns that would become her specialty later in life. Ivins later became co-editor of the arts and culture section of the student paper. In addition, she frequently participated in theater productions and earned a lifetime membership in Johnnycake, the drama club.
Ivins enrolled in Scripps College in 1962, but was not happy there, and transferred to Smith College in 1963. During that time, she became romantically involved with Henry "Hank" Holland, Jr., a family friend and student at Yale whom she referred to as "the love of my life". After he was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1964, her friends would later say that she never seemed to find anyone else who could replace his memory. Some say that is why she never married. She spent her junior year at the Institute of Political Science in Paris and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1966. She earned a master's degree from Columbia University's School of Journalism in 1967.
Career
While at Smith, Ivins spent three summers as an intern at the Houston Chronicle. Her jobs there included the complaint department as well as "sewer editor", as she put it, responsible for reporting on the nuts and bolts of local city life. After graduating from Columbia, she took a job in the Twin Cities at the Minneapolis Tribune, where she covered "militant blacks, angry Indians, radical students, uppity women and a motley assortment of other misfits and troublemakers".
In 1970 Ivins left the Tribune for the city of Austin, Texas, hired by Ronnie Dugger, to be the co-editor and political reporter for The Texas Observer. She covered the Texas Legislature and befriended folklorist John Henry Faulk, Secretary of State Bob Bullock and future Governor Ann Richards, among others. She also gained increasing national attention through op-ed and feature stories in The New York Times and The Washington Post along with a busy speaking schedule inside and outside Texas. The Times, concerned that its prevailing writing style was too staid and lifeless, hired her away from the Observer in 1976, and she wrote for the Times until 1982. During her run there, Ivins became Rocky Mountain bureau chief, covering nine western states, although she was known to say she was named chief because there was no one else in the bureau.
Ivins also wrote the obituary for Elvis Presley in The New York Times for the August 17, 1977 edition.
Ivins wrote for the Dallas Times Herald for ten years and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize twice. By 1985 the editors had moved her to the paper's Austin bureau to reduce friction with Dallas city leaders. Her freelance work and speaking engagements continued to grow, and she hired Elizabeth Faulk, John Henry Faulk's widow, as a personal assistant. In 1991, her book Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? was published, and spent 29 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Also in 1991, rival newspaper, The Dallas Morning News bought the Times Herald and closed it down. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram immediately made Ivins an offer and said she could stay in Austin. Ivins accepted, and wrote a column for the Fort Worth paper from 1992 until 2001, when she became an independent journalist. Her column, syndicated by Creators Syndicate, eventually appeared in nearly 400 newspapers nationwide. Ivins also remained a board member and contributor to the Texas Democracy Foundation, which publishes the Texas Observer in Austin.
Plagiarism allegations
In 1995, humorist Florence King wrote an article in The American Enterprise claiming that Ivins had plagiarized King's work in a 1988 Mother Jones article. Like Ivins, King—who was referred to as the "Queen of Mean" by National Review, which published her columns—pulled no punches in her writing. David Rubien, writing in Salon, described the incident: "In a 1995 article for Mother Jones on Southern manners and mores, she extensively quoted, with affectionate attribution, statements from Florence King's book Southern Ladies and Gentlemen. But for some careless reason Ivins still fails to comprehend, she left the attribution off a few King statements." Ivins had also included her own words in a quotation she attributed to King. Ivins wrote a letter of apology to King.
Health issues
In 1999, Ivins was diagnosed with stage III inflammatory breast cancer. The cancer recurred in 2003 and again in late 2005. In January 2006, she reported that she was again undergoing chemotherapy. In December 2006, she took leave from her column to again undergo treatment. She wrote two columns in January 2007 but returned to the hospital on January 26 for further treatment.
Death
Ivins died at her Austin, Texas, home in hospice care on January 31, 2007, at age 62.
After her death, George W. Bush, a frequent target of her barbs, said in a statement, "I respected her convictions, her passionate belief in the power of words. She fought her illness with that same passion. Her quick wit and commitment will be missed."
From August 23 to October 28, 2012, actress Kathleen Turner portrayed Molly Ivins in the play Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins by twin sisters and journalists Margaret and Allison Engel at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. and at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California. Janice Engel (no relation) produced and directed a documentary, "Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins," inspired by the play.
Beliefs
Writing from an unabashedly populist perspective, Ivins repeatedly described herself as a populist and, on some occasions, as a left-libertarian. Ivins peppered her columns with colorful phrases to create the "feel" of Texas. Her writings often employ irony and satirical humor to make a very serious point.
When outraged by instances of what she considered malfeasance or stupidity on the part of public officials, she couched her argument in an air of stunned amusement. She enjoyed telling stories about the Texas Legislature, which she simply called "The Lege", calling it one of the most corrupt, incompetent, and funniest governing bodies in the nation.
In 2003, she coined the term "Great Liberal Backlash of 2003", and was a passionate critic of the 2003 Iraq War. She is also credited with applying the nicknames "Shrub" and "Dubya" to George W. Bush. Ivins supported affirmative action and denounced President Bush for choosing Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday to announce his opposition to the use of racial quotas at the University of Michigan.
Awards
- William Allen White Award from the University of Kansas (2001)
- Smith Medal from Smith College (2001)
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2001)
- Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service (2003)
- Pringle Prize for Washington Journalism from Columbia University (2003)
- Eugene V. Debs Award in the field of journalism (2003)
- David Brower Award for journalism from the Sierra Club (2004)
- David Nyhan Prize for Political Journalism from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University (2006)
- The Molly National Journalism Prize from the Texas Democracy Foundation (2006)
- Otis Social Justice Award from Wheaton College, MA (2004)
In addition to these formal awards, Ivins said that she was particularly proud of two distinct honors—having the Minneapolis police force's mascot pig named after her, and being banned from the Texas A&M campus.
