Edith Cummings (March 26, 1899 – November 1984) was one of the premier amateur golfers of her generation. She was one of the
Big FourChicago's Big Four were a quartet of debutantes in the Chicago social scene during World War I, described as "the four most attractive and socially desirable young women in Chicago."-Background:...
debutantes in Chicago, at the end of the First World War. She became nationally famous following her 1923 victory in the
United States Women's Amateur Golf ChampionshipThe U.S. Women's Amateur is the leading golf tournament in the United States for female amateur golfers. It is played annually and is one of the 13 United States national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association . Female amateurs from all nations are eligible to compete...
. On August 25, 1924, she became the first golfer and first female athlete to appear on the cover of
TimeTime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
magazine.
Her father was David M.
Edith Cummings (March 26, 1899 – November 1984) was one of the premier amateur golfers of her generation. She was one of the
Big FourChicago's Big Four were a quartet of debutantes in the Chicago social scene during World War I, described as "the four most attractive and socially desirable young women in Chicago."-Background:...
debutantes in Chicago, at the end of the First World War. She became nationally famous following her 1923 victory in the
United States Women's Amateur Golf ChampionshipThe U.S. Women's Amateur is the leading golf tournament in the United States for female amateur golfers. It is played annually and is one of the 13 United States national golf championships organized by the United States Golf Association . Female amateurs from all nations are eligible to compete...
. On August 25, 1924, she became the first golfer and first female athlete to appear on the cover of
TimeTime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
magazine.
Her father was David M. Cummings, a wealthy Chicago socialite, who sent her to
boarding schoolA boarding school is a school where some or all pupils not only study, but also live during term time, with their fellow students and possibly teachers. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board", that is, food and lodging...
at the
Westover SchoolThe Westover School, often referred to simply as "Westover," is an independent college-preparatory day and boarding school for girls. Located in Middlebury, Connecticut, USA, the school offers grades 9-12...
in
MiddleburyMiddlebury is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 6,451 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 18.5 square miles , of which, 17.8 square miles of it is land and 0.7 square miles ...
,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
. Cummings was in the class of 1917. Though the school had been founded only in 1909, it attracted many young socialites. Cummings' classmates included fellow Chicago socialite
Ginevra KingGinevra King was an American socialite, a Chicago, Illinois, debutante and the inspirational muse for several characters in the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald.-Early life:...
, future philanthropist Katharine Ordway,
Isabel RockefellerIsabel Rockefeller Lincoln was born in Ardsley-on-the-Hudson, New York on 23 June 1902. Her father, Percy Avery Rockefeller, was one of the richest financiers and industrialists of his time. Percy was the son of William Rockefeller, who made a fortune from the Standard Oil Co...
(of the
Rockefeller familyThe Rockefeller family, the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller , is an American industrial, banking, and political family of German American origin that made the world's largest private fortune in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th...
, a granddaughter of
William RockefellerWilliam Avery Rockefeller, Jr. , American financier, was a co-founder with his older brother John D. Rockefeller of the prominent United States Rockefeller family. He was the son of William Avery Rockefeller, Sr. and Eliza Rockefeller.-Youth, education:Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York,...
), and
Prescott BushPrescott Sheldon Bush was a Wall Street executive banker, and a United States Senator representing Connecticut from 1952 until January 1963. He was the father of the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush and the grandfather of 43rd President George W...
's sisters Mary and Margaret (aunts to U.S. President George H.W. Bush and great aunts to
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
).
In 1915, Cummings met a young student at
PrincetonPrinceton University a private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and is considered one of the Colonial Colleges....
named
F. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the Twenties...
, who had fallen in love with her friend Ginevra and would later
immortalize them both.The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published on April 10, 1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City during the summer of 1922 and is a critique of the American Dream....
Following her graduation in 1917, Cummings pursued tournament golf where she would earn the nickname "the Fairway
FlapperThe term flapper in the 1920s referred to a "new breed" of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to the new jazz music, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior...
". In 1921, she competed in the
British Ladies Amateur Golf ChampionshipThe British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union of Great Britain. Until the dawn of the professional era in 1976, it was the most important golf tournament for women in Great Britain and would eventually begin to draw golfers from continental Europe...
along with other famous female golfers such as
Alexa StirlingAlexa Stirling was a North American amateur golf champion.Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Alexa Stirling won three consecutive United States Women's Amateur Golf Championships, taking her first in 1916...
and Marion Hollins. The next year Cummings entered the U.S. Women's Amateur Golf Championship, where she was in match play against
Glenna CollettGlenna Collett was an American Hall of Fame golfing champion whom the Hall calls the greatest female golfer of her day, and who dominated American women's golf in the 1920s....
, then an 18-year-old out of
Rhode IslandRhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, who would become known as one of the greatest female golfers of the 1920s. Cummings lost on the final hole. She returned to the tournament the next year. This time, she won, earning her the cover photo on
Time magazine, in addition to profiles in
VogueVogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine published in 16 countries + Latin America by Condé Nast Publications. Each month, Vogue publishes a magazine addressing topics of fashion, life and design.-Style and influence:...
,
Ladies' Home JournalLadies' Home Journal is an American magazine which first appeared on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th Century in the United States...
, and many newspapers.
Her literary fame, however, would endure because in F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel
The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published on April 10, 1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City during the summer of 1922 and is a critique of the American Dream....
, the character of Jordan Baker was modeled directly after Cummings, just as the character Daisy Buchanan was modeled after Cummings' friend King. Buchanan and Baker were socialites and friends. Baker "wore all her dresses like sports clothes -- there was a jauntiness about her movements as if she had first learned to walk upon golf courses on clean, crisp mornings," Fitzgerald wrote. In
The Great Gatsby, Baker is the love interest of the novel's narrator Nick Carraway. In
Gatsby, Baker cheats at golf, although there is no evidence that Fitzgerald drew this detail from Cummings.
Cummings never won another tournament, but remained a well-known figure. In 1934 she married a wealthy businessman named Curtis B. Munson. Munson was later selected by Franklin Roosevelt to investigate the sympathies of Japanese-Americans living in the United States just before the U.S. entered
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He found very little hostility among the Japanese-American community, but despite the warnings of his
Munson ReportIn 1941 Curtis B. Munson, a "Businessman-turned-Spy," was commissioned by United States President Roosevelt to investigate and report upon the sympathies and loyalties of Japanese Americans living in California and Hawaii....
, Roosevelt pursued a policy of
Japanese American internmentJapanese American internment refers to the forcible relocation and internment in 1942 of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese residing in the United States to housing facilities called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment of...
.
Cummings and Munson largely faded from the spotlight later in life, except for forays into philanthropy. Cummings remained a committed golfer into her 80's. She was enthusiastic about all outdoor activities, especially hunting and fishing. She and her husband traveled extensively throughout their marriage until her husband’s death in 1979. In his honor, she made a significant contribution to the
Decatur HouseDecatur House is one of the oldest surviving homes in Washington, D.C., and one of only three remaining houses in the country designed by neoclassical architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Completed in 1818 for naval hero Stephen Decatur and his wife, Susan, the Federal Style house is prominently...
renovation in Washington, DC.
Today the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation funds a number of conservation programs. She has an award named after her, the
Edith Cummings Munson Golf AwardThe Edith Cummings Munson Golf Award is an annual award inspired by Edith Cummings Munson that is given to one of the top collegiate female golfers who excels in academics. The award is presented by the National Golf Coaches Association . The award goes to the student-athlete who is both a NGCA...
, given annually to one of the top female collegiate golfers who excels in academics. The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation donates $5,000 to the general scholarship fund of the winner's school.
External links