Virginia Cowles

Harriet Virginia Spencer Cowles was born on August 24, 1910, in Brattleboro, Vermont. Her parents were Dr. Edward Spencer Cowles and Florence Wolcott Cowles née Jacquith.

In the 1930s, Cowles began her career as a journalist in the United States. She initially wrote for Boston and New York newspapers, focusing on gossip columns that covered fashion, love, and societal events. Later, she transitioned to foreign reporting.

In 1936, Cowles traveled to Spain intending to become a war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War. Her coverage included reports from Republican sources and interviews, notably with Pepe Quintanilla, the chief executioner of Madrid. She contributed to the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Times, and Hearst newspapers. Her first book, *Looking For Trouble*, was published in early 1941 and recounts her experiences during the war and details the community of foreign war correspondents present there, including Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn. The book also expressed her advocacy for U.S. involvement in World War II, including an account of her experience at a Nuremberg Rally.

During the lead-up to and during World War II, Cowles reported from various European countries such as Russia, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Finland, and France during 1939 and 1940. She observed the initial days of The Blitz and continued coverage of the Battle of Britain from Dover. From 1942 to 1943, she worked for John G. Winant, the American Ambassador in London. She later reported from North Africa for the Sunday Times and the Chicago Sun, and resumed journalism in Italy and France in 1944–45.

Throughout the subsequent decades, Cowles authored numerous biographies centered on political figures and prominent families, including Winston Churchill, Edward VII, David Stirling, and the Romanovs, among others. Her historical analyses drew criticism for lacking sharpness and reliability but were praised for insights into human nature. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1947.

In 1945, Cowles married Aidan Crawley, a British politician, journalist, television executive, and author. They had three children: two sons, Andrew and Randall, and a daughter, Harriet.

Virginia Cowles died on September 17, 1983, in an automobile accident while traveling with her husband. The incident left her husband severely injured.

Selected bibliography of her works includes *Looking for Trouble* (1941), *How America Is Governed* (1944), *No Cause for Alarm* (1949), and biographical titles such as *Winston Churchill: The Era and the Man* (1953), *Gay Monarch* (1956), and *The Romanovs* (1971). Cowles also co-authored the play *Love Goes to Press* with Martha Gellhorn.

She contributed articles to periodicals including Vogue, Harper's, and The American Mercury.