Carolyn Sayler

Doris Fleeson, Incomparably the First Political Journalist of Her Time Carolyn Sayler

''She was my idol,'' said columnist Mary McGrory. McGrory, in writing of women, referred to Doris Fleeson as ''incomparably the first political journalist of her time.'' Fleeson was, in fact, the first woman in the United States to become a nationally syndicated political columnist. In 1945, with the encouragement of Henry Mencken, she launched her column. In her career she would write some 5,500 columns during the next twenty-two years. Fleeson's appearance could be disarming. Once at a party Lady Bird Johnson exclaimed, ''What a gorgeous dress, Doris. It makes you look just like a sweet, old-fashioned girl.'' The wife of Senator Stuart Symington interjected, ''Yes, just a sweet old-fashioned girl with a shiv in her hand.''

Comments of a few of her friends:

Eleanor Roosevelt: ''I am always happy to see her because one expects journalists and war correspondents to lose some of their enthusiasm and convictions. Doris always feels strongly and bolsters my feeling that it is worth fighting for the things one believes in.''

Henry Mencken: ''Your pieces are excellent stuff.... You get as much into 400 or 500 words as the comrades get into columns, and it is better told.''

Liz Carpenter: ''She was short, attractive, thin and full of bustle.... You admired this woman who had carved her way into being significant at the President's press conferences.''

Helen Thomas: ''What struck me was that in conversation she was on her soapbox and could be very vehement. Her columns were straight, balanced, unbiased.... They were so intelligent....''

Jacqueline Kennedy: ''I cannot tell you how touched and grateful I am that you should write such a thing. You are so many altitudes above 'women's page' subjects....''