Dickey Chapelle - trailblazing female Cold War journalist (299)

Now have you ever heard of Dickey Chapelle? No, I hadn’t either, but I’m delighted to bring you the unknown story of this trailblazing female war correspondent.

Dickey’s career started in World War 2 where she reported from some of the Pacific wars’ toughest battlefields of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

During the Cold War, she reported from Hungary during the 1956 Uprising and was held in the infamous Fő Prison and interrogated by the Hungarian security forces.

Dickey went on to report from the struggle of the Algerian Liberation Front covering their campaign against French colonial rule as well as becoming the first Western female reporter to march with Castro’s Cuban Revolutionary Army.

She was the first woman to be given permission to para drop with the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions' first correspondent to live with anti-communist guerrilla forces in the Mekong Delta.

Later, she would become the first female reporter to go on patrol with the First and Third Battalions of the Seventh Marines Regiment which were among the initial US combat troops sent to Vietnam.

0:00 Introduction to the episode and the story of Dickie Chapelle

1:22 Interview with author Larissa Reinhardt on Dickie Chapelle's journalism career

12:46 Chapelle's experiences in the Hungarian revolution and subsequent arrest

19:57 Discussion on Chapelle's post-traumatic stress disorder and reporting style

21:13 Chapelle's determination to report on the Algerian war of independence

25:07 Difficulty of getting such stories published in the US

30:02 Chapelle's time in Cuba and her unique reporting strategies

38:54 Discussion on the Bay of Pigs incident and CIA's control of information

47:52 Early assessment of the Vietnam War by Chapelle

52:38 Chapelle's fame in the US and her vocal opposition to the treatment of South Vietnamese

56:11 Chapelle's death and its impact on the journalism world

57:54 Ian Sanders wraps up the conversation and promotes Larissa's book

58:20 Thanks to the financial supporters of the podcast

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