Strong, Anna Louise, 1885-1970

Epithet: US author and socialist in Moscow

Anna Louise Strong was born in Nebraska and educated at Oberlin and the University of Chicago. Later moving to Seattle, she was the editor of the Seattle Union Record. She travelled extensively to Russia and China, and she wrote accounts of those journeys. In 1921 she travelled to famine-struck areas in Russia as part of an American Quaker relief committee. Her interests included labor issues, child welfare, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China. During World War II she defended the policies of Stalin, and afterward remained faithful to her belief that her most important role was to popularize the thought of Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung. She died in Beijing in 1970.

Anna Louise Strong was born in Friend, Nebraska in 1885. She was the daughter of middle-class liberals who were active in missionary work and the Congregational Church. She was a gifted child that raced through grammar and high school, and then studied languages in Europe. She graduated from Bryn Mawr, did graduate work at Oberlin and at age 23 earned her Ph. D. from the University of Chicago. As an advocate for child welfare for the United States Education Office, she organized an exhibit and toured it throughout the United States exposing child poverty. By the time she was 30, she had returned to Seattle, WA to live with her father, who was the Reverend at the Queen Ann Congregational Church. Because she was unable to find solutions for the needs of children and the working class, she had become an avowed socialist and the Seattle political climate favored her views. By 1916, she had become a reporter for the New York Evening Post which began her career as a journalist and writer. After the October Revolution in Russia, she became a prominent advocate of the young Soviet government in the press. In 1921 she traveled to Poland and Russia and while in Russia she was appointed as the Moscow correspondent of the International News Service, during which time she became a strong supporter of the Soviet Union. During the 20's and 30's Strong traveled to China, parts of Asia and throughout the Soviet Union. In 1937 she visited Spain. She accompanied the Red Army into Poland and Berlin in 1945. By 1949 she had been living in the Soviet Union when Stalin expelled her before one of his last great purges. By about 1955 she had settled in China. She was on close terms to Mao Tse Tung and in 1966 she was made an honorary member of the Red Guards. Since she had moved to Russian in 1921, she had never wavered in her support of totalitarianism. She lived in China until 1970 when she passed away.

American journalist, author and political activist, Anna Louise Strong (1885-1970), who was based in Seattle during a formative period of her life, later lived for many years in the Soviet Union and China.

Born in Nebraska, she was the daughter of Congregationalist minister and pacifist, Sydney Dix Strong. Anna Louise was educated at Oberlin College, Bryn Mawr and the University of Chicago, where she received a Ph. D in 1916. Her father moved to Seattle in 1906, where he lived until his death in 1938. Anna Louise joined him there from 1916 to 1921, which was a time of radicalizing events, including the Everett massacre and trial and the Seattle General Strike. In Seattle, she began her journalism career and wrote for the Seattle Union Record. During this time, she was elected to the Seattle School Board, but subsequently recalled because of association with the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.). In the wake of these events, Strong went elsewhere in search of socialism in practice. Her quest took her first to the Soviet Union, where she was based from 1921 until 1940. Strong also became one of the earliest journalists to cover the Communist revolution in China. She visited China first in 1925 and returned frequently until 1947. Strong's enthusiasm for the Chinese revolution may have led to her arrest, imprisonment and expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1949. After these events, she was cut off from the Soviet Union, shunned by American Communists and denied a passport by the United States government. She settled for a time in California, where she wrote, lectured and invested in real estate. In 1955, she was cleared of the Soviets' charges. When her passport was restored in 1958, she immediately made her way back to China, where she remained until her death in 1970. During the latter part of her life, Strong was honored and revered by the Chinese.

Anna Louise Strong was a journalist, world traveler, observer of revolutions and author of over 30 books and countless articles. She was the daughter of a Congregationalist minister, Sydney Strong, who was a pacifist and practitioner of the social gospel. She was educated at Oberlin College, Bryn Mawr and University of Chicago, where she earned a Ph.D. After finishing her education, Strong joined the National Child Labor Committee and organized child welfare exhibits throughout the country from 1910-1912.

Sydney Strong moved to Seattle in 1906 where he lived until his death in 1938. Anna Louise Strong, who seldom lived anywhere for long, joined him there from 1916 to 1921, which was for her a time of radicalizing events, including the Everett massacre and trial, and the Seattle General Strike. In Seattle, she began her journalism career and wrote for the Seattle Union Record . During this time, she was elected to the Seattle School Board and subsequently recalled because of association with the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.). In the wake of these events, Strong went elsewhere in search of socialism in practice. Her quest took her first to the Soviet Union, where she was based from 1921 until 1940. During this period she spent part of the year in the Soviet Union, but would return to the United States for a lecture tour, usually between January and April.

Strong also became one of the earliest journalists to cover the Communist revolution in China. She visited China first in 1925 and returned frequently until 1947. During the course of her visits to China, she met and interviewed the Chinese Communist leaders, including Chou En-lai and Mao Tse-tung, gaining their respect and trust. In his 1946 interview with her, Mao first used the expression "paper tiger" to describe the United States.

Strong's enthusiasm for the Chinese revolution may have led to her arrest, imprisonment and expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1949. After these events, she was cut off from the Soviet Union, shunned by American Communists and denied a passport by the United States government. She settled for a time in California, where she wrote, lectured and invested in real estate. She was cleared finally of the Soviets' charges against her in 1955. When her passport was restored in 1958, she immediately made her way back to China, where she remained until her death in 1970. During the latter part of her life Anna Louise was honored and revered by the Chinese, one of the few Westerners with entree to China after the revolution and one of the last "Old China Hands" to remain in the good graces of the Chinese through the cultural revolution. The Chinese leaders considered her their unofficial spokesperson to the English speaking world.