Margaret Kernochan Leech (November 7, 1893 – February 24, 1974) also known as
Margaret Pulitzer, was an American author and historian, who won two
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by Hungarian-American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City....
s in
historyThe Pulitzer Prize for History has been awarded since 1917 for a distinguished book upon the history of the United States. Many history books have also been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography...
, for her books
Reveille in Washington (
1942The year 1942 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*André Gide leaves France to live in Tunis.*Robertson Davies becomes editor of the Peterborough Examiner.*Thomas Mann emigrates to California....
) and
In the Days of McKinley (
1960The year 1960 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Lawrence Durrell publishes Clea, the final volume of the four-book collection titled The Alexandria Quartet that began in 1957....
).
She was born in
Newburgh, New YorkNewburgh is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 27,568 at the time of the 2000 census. Census figures in 2005 estimated the population at 30,508 making the town of Newburgh, for the first time ever, more populous than the adjacent city of Newburgh .-The "Crossroads...
, obtained a B.A. from
Vassar CollegeVassar College is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college situated in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, USA. Founded as a women's college in 1861, it became coeducational in 1969.-Overview:...
in 1915, and worked for fund-raising organizations during World War I, including the American Committee for Devastated France.
She started her writing career for the
Condé NastCondé Nast may refer to:* Condé Montrose Nast, the founder of Condé Nast Publications* Condé Nast Publications, a major magazine publisher...
publishing company before World War I.
Margaret Kernochan Leech (November 7, 1893 – February 24, 1974) also known as
Margaret Pulitzer, was an American author and historian, who won two
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by Hungarian-American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City....
s in
historyThe Pulitzer Prize for History has been awarded since 1917 for a distinguished book upon the history of the United States. Many history books have also been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography...
, for her books
Reveille in Washington (
1942The year 1942 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*André Gide leaves France to live in Tunis.*Robertson Davies becomes editor of the Peterborough Examiner.*Thomas Mann emigrates to California....
) and
In the Days of McKinley (
1960The year 1960 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Lawrence Durrell publishes Clea, the final volume of the four-book collection titled The Alexandria Quartet that began in 1957....
).
She was born in
Newburgh, New YorkNewburgh is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 27,568 at the time of the 2000 census. Census figures in 2005 estimated the population at 30,508 making the town of Newburgh, for the first time ever, more populous than the adjacent city of Newburgh .-The "Crossroads...
, obtained a B.A. from
Vassar CollegeVassar College is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college situated in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, USA. Founded as a women's college in 1861, it became coeducational in 1969.-Overview:...
in 1915, and worked for fund-raising organizations during World War I, including the American Committee for Devastated France.
She started her writing career for the
Condé NastCondé Nast may refer to:* Condé Montrose Nast, the founder of Condé Nast Publications* Condé Nast Publications, a major magazine publisher...
publishing company before World War I. Leech also worked in advertising and publicity. After the war, she became friendly with members of the
Algonquin Round TableThe Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle," as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929...
, including critic-raconteur
Alexander WoollcottAlexander Humphreys Woollcott was an American critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine, and a member of the Algonquin Round Table....
. She was an associate of some of the wittiest and most brilliant men and women of literature that spent time at the
Algonquin HotelThe Algonquin Hotel is a historic hotel located at 59 West 44th Street in Manhattan . The hotel has been designated as a New York City Historic Landmark....
in
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
.
In 1928 she married
Ralph PulitzerInfluential publisher and socialite Ralph Pulitzer was the son of newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer and upon Pulitzer's death acquired control of the New York World, an influential American newspaper. For decades, Ralph Pulitzer was one of the most influential men in American journalism.Pulitzer...
, publisher of the
New York WorldThe New York World was a newspaper published in New York from 1860 until 1931. It played a major role in the history of American newspapers.-Early years:...
. (His father,
Joseph PulitzerJoseph Pulitzer , né Politzer József, was a Hungarian-American publisher best known for posthumously establishing the Pulitzer Prizes and for originating yellow journalism .- Biography :Pulitzer was born in Makó, Hungary to Jewish parents Philip Pulitzer , a...
, had established the
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by Hungarian-American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City....
via a bequest to
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
.) They had one daughter, Susan.
Reveille in Washington, 1860-1865, is an account of Washington, D.C. during the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
and deals with, inter alia,
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
and his wife, along with Rose Greenhow, the Confederate spy whose work was helpful in the Southern forces winning the first battle of Bull Run.
In the Days of McKinley is a biography of President
William McKinleyWilliam McKinley Jr. was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to the office....
, carefully told, and he is shown as a more attractive person than some have depicted him. In addition to the Pulitzer prize for history, the book was awarded the
Bancroft PrizeThe Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established in 1948 by a bequest from Frederic Bancroft...
in 1960.
Leech also wrote three novels:
The Back of the Book (1924),
Tin Wedding (1926), and
The Feathered Nest (1928) and, in 1927, co-authored a biography of
Anthony ComstockAnthony Comstock was a former United States Postal Inspector and politician dedicated to ideas of Victorian morality.-Biography:...
with
Heywood BrounHeywood Campbell Broun was an American journalist. He worked as a sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and editor in New York City. He founded the American Newspaper Guild, now known as The Newspaper Guild. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he is best remembered for his writing on social issues and his...
.
Leech died of a stroke in New York, New York, at age 80.