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Born July 9, 1893
Lancaster, New York
Died January 30, 1961
Lisbon, Portugal
American journalist

Dorothy Thompson was one of the world's most famous reporters in the 1920s and 1930s, and one of the first women to reach the top of the journalism field. She wrote newspaper and magazine articles and made radio broadcasts, informing her audience about world events and some of the most important issues of the time—especially the rise of dictators (absolute rulers) like Germany's Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; see entry) and Italy's Benito Mussolini (1883-1945; see entry). Thompson helped people understand the causes and events of World War II, and hers was one of the earliest and strongest voices raised against Nazism, the brutal German political system that led to the deaths of millions of people.