text: louise bryant louise bryant ( december 5 , 1885 – january 6 , 1936 ) was an american journalist known for her sympathetic coverage of russia and the bolsheviks during the russian revolution . bryant , a feminist , married in 1916 to the more famous writer john reed , wrote about leading russian women such as katherine and maria as well as men including alexander kerensky , vladimir lenin , and leon trotsky . her news stories , distributed by hearst during and after her trips to petrograd and moscow , appeared in newspapers across the u.s. and canada in the years immediately following world war i. a collection of articles from her first trip was published in book form as six red months in russia in 1918 . in 1919 , she defended the revolution in testimony before the overman committee , a senate subcommittee established to investigate bolshevik influence in the united states . later that year , she undertook a nationwide speaking tour to encourage public support of the bolsheviks and to discourage armed u.s. intervention in russia . bryant grew up in rural nevada and attended the university of nevada in reno and the university of oregon , graduating with a degree in history in 1909 . pursuing a career in journalism , she became society editor of the portland , oregon , spectator and freelanced for the oregonian . during her years in portland ( 1909 – 15 ) , she became active in the women 's suffrage movement . leaving her first husband in 1915 to follow reed to greenwich village , she formed friendships with leading feminists of the day , some of whom she met through reed 's associates at publications such as the masses , or at meetings of a women 's group , , or through work with the provincetown players . during a national woman 's party suffrage rally in washington , d.c. , in 1919 , she was arrested and spent three days in jail . like reed , she had lovers outside of marriage ; during her greenwich village years ( 1916 – 20 ) these included playwright eugene o 'neill and painter andrew dasburg . the 1981 film , reds , tells the story of bryant 's time with reed . after his death from typhus in 1920 , bryant continued to write for hearst about russia as well as turkey , hungary , greece , italy , and other countries in europe and the middle east . some of these articles were republished in book form in mirrors of moscow in 1923 . later that year she married william christian bullitt , jr . , with whom she had her only child , anne , born in 1924 . suffering from a rare and painful disorder , bryant wrote and published little in her last 10 years and drank heavily . bullitt , winning sole custody of anne , divorced her in 1930 . bryant died in paris in 1936 and was buried in versailles . a group from portland visited her neglected grave in 1998 and worked to restore it . early life bryant was born anna louise mohan in san francisco , california , in 1885 . her father , hugh mohan , born in pennsylvania , became a journalist and stump speaker involved in labor issues and democratic party politics . moving to san francisco , he continued to write for newspapers , and in 1880 he married louisa flick , who grew up on the ranch of her stepfather , james say , near humboldt lake in nevada . the had two children , barbara ( 1880 ) and louis ( 1882 ) , before the birth of anna louise . later in 1885 , the family moved to reno , where mohan continued his journalistic career but also drank heavily . one day he went away and never returned . louise 's mother divorced him in 1889 and married sheridan bryant , a freight conductor on the southern pacific railway . the family , which eventually added two more children , floyd ( 1894 ) and william ( 1896 ) lived in wadsworth . however , louise soon accepted an invitation from her stepgrandfather , james say , to live at his ranch . she remained there for three or four years , returning to wadsworth only at her mother 's insistence at the age of 12 . attending high school in wadsworth and reno , then nevada state university ( which became the university of nevada , reno ) , bryant developed interests in journalism , debate , illustration , social life , dancing , and basketball . she edited the " young ladies edition " of the student record in 1905 , wrote a short story , " the way of a flirt " , for a literary magazine , , and contributed sketches to it and another publication , artemisia . depressed after the death of say in 1906 , bryant left school for a job in , california , where for a few months she boarded at a cattle ranch and taught children , mostly young mexicans . that summer she moved , this time to eugene , oregon , where her brother louis worked for the southern pacific . after learning that she could transfer her college credits from nevada , she enrolled at the university of oregon , in eugene . socially popular at the school , which then had a total student enrollment of less than 500 , she helped start a small sorority , zeta iota phi ( a chapter of chi omega ) , of which she was the first president . during her time in eugene , she produced poems and pen - and - ink sketches for publication in the oregon monthly . in a small city steeped in " puritan moralism " , she was the first to wear rouge on campus ; she acquired boyfriends and wore clothes considered by some to be " flashy " . taking off the spring semester of 1908 to teach in a one - room schoolhouse on stuart island , one of the san juan islands near the u.s. border with canada , she returned to eugene to finish her bachelor 's degree in history , graduating in early 1909 . her senior thesis was on the modoc indian wars . portland that spring , bryant moved to portland , first sharing a downtown apartment with one of her college friends , clara wold , then renting her own apartment in the same building . seeking employment , she landed a temporary job designing a stained - glass window for the povey brothers , did some freelance reporting for the oregonian , and found work as an illustrator and society editor for the portland spectator . meanwhile , she formed friendships with people such as cas baer , drama editor for the oregonian , who were interested in journalism and the arts . in late 1909 , she met and married paul trullinger , a handsome dentist who lived on a houseboat on the willamette river , collected art , and enjoyed uninhibited parties . bryant , who retained her maiden name and her downtown apartment after her marriage to trullinger , bridled at doing housework and yearned for professional advancement . drawn toward politics by a new friend , sara bard field , she became involved in the women 's suffrage movement . in 1912 , she joined the oregon branch of the college equal suffrage league . she and field gave pro - suffrage speeches in smaller oregon cities , and bryant rode on the suffrage float in portland 's annual flag day parade . led by abigail scott , women achieved suffrage in oregon later that year . bryant became familiar with the socialist journal the masses through portland resident and lawyer c. e. s. wood , who eventually married field and who often contributed to the magazine . enthusiastic about its contents , particularly articles by portland native john reed , bryant began raising subscriptions for it . emma goldman , a well - known anarchist whom wood had defended in court , gave a speech in reed 's honor at the industrial workers of the world ( iww ) hall in portland . she and other political activists , such as alexander berkman , were among guests entertained by bryant and her husband . in 1914 , reed , a harvard graduate and established writer who by then lived in greenwich village , came home for a visit , during which he spoke at the university club of portland against the class system . exactly how or when or how often bryant and reed met is uncertain , but near christmas 1915 when reed again came home to visit his widowed mother , the young couple announced their love at a dinner party . reed returned to greenwich village on december 28 , and bryant , abandoning her marriage , followed him three days later . trullinger filed for divorce , which was granted in july 1916 , on grounds of desertion . greenwich village and cape cod reed had rented a room for bryant near his apartment at 43 washington square , but instead she moved in with him as part of what max eastman , editor of the masses , called a " gypsy compact " . their unmarried co - habitation caused little curiosity among reed 's friends in the village , many of whom rejected marriage and other middle - class norms out of principle . unified by an " air of intellectual freedom , moral laissez - faire and " , most were involved in literary , artistic , or political pursuits in a bohemian neighborhood that in some ways resembled the left bank of paris . while visiting new york , field took bryant to a meeting of , a women 's group that included feminist charlotte perkins gilman , journalist mary heaton , political activist crystal eastman ( max 's sister ) , actress ida rauh , writers zona gale and mary austin , and many others . among bryant 's new friends were feminists inez milholland , inez gillmore , and doris stevens . other notables circulating in the village included goldman , playwright eugene o 'neill , and one of reed 's former lovers , arts patron mabel dodge . at number 43 , bryant and reed pursued their journalistic endeavors in separate work rooms . four months after leaving oregon , bryant broke into print in new york with an article about two portland judges , one of whom had dismissed a case brought against goldman for distributing birth - control information . it was published as " two judges " in the april 1916 issue of the masses . meanwhile , reed , who had reported on the 1913 paterson silk strike , pancho villa , and the ongoing war ( world war i ) in europe , went on assignment for collier 's to interview william jennings bryant in florida . later that spring bryant and reed heeded 's call to spend the warm season in provincetown , massachusetts , at the tip of cape cod , and to take part in the communal theater productions of the provincetown players . others from the village went as well and joined the group , organized in 1915 by george cram cook and his wife , susan , who hoped to produce plays that were both political and artistic . among the works the group staged in 1916 were bryant 's " the game " , in which characters named life and death play dice for the lives of youth ( a poet ) and girl ( a dancer ) . it appeared on the same bill as " not smart " by wilbur steele and " bound east for cardiff " by eugene o 'neill . during the summer , reed left cape cod to cover the progressive party convention in chicago , and at other times he retreated from the players to work on articles for collier 's and metropolitan magazine . during these absences , bryant and o 'neill became lovers , not surprising in a group that professed and practiced free love . reed , made aware of this new development , responded by inviting o 'neill to begin taking his meals with them . in a note to field , bryant said that her relationship with reed was " so beautiful and so free ! ... we don 't interfere with each other at all ... we feel like children who will never grow up . " croton - on - hudson after spending the month of september in a cottage they bought in truro , bryant and reed returned to greenwich village , where the provincetown players planned to establish an alternative to broadway theater . on weekends , they sojourned to croton - on - hudson , upriver from new york city , where villagers including eastman , dodge , and illustrator boardman robinson and his wife had cottages . in october , bryant and reed bought their own place in croton - on - hudson . meanwhile , reed , who had suffered from kidney ailments since childhood , was told by his doctors that he would need to have a kidney removed . the surgery , considered " gravely serious " , was scheduled for mid - november . to protect bryant by making her his legal heir , reed married her before leaving for surgery at johns hopkins hospital , in baltimore . compounding their difficulties were bryant 's ongoing relationship with o 'neill and gynecological problems she was treated for while reed was in the hospital . when he returned from baltimore in mid - december , the couple retreated full - time to croton - on - hudson to recuperate and to focus on writing . they made plans to travel to china in 1917 to cover events for american publications , but in january the plans fell through when u.s. entry into the war against germany became highly likely . ( the u.s. entered the war on april 6 . ) to boost their finances , they sold the cottage in truro to margaret sanger , and reed pawned his father 's gold watch . at the same time , his strong anti - war positions , enunciated in the masses and elsewhere , alienated most of his employers , further reducing his income . adding to these stresses was reed 's confession to bryant that he had had multiple love affairs that he had not told her about , and the subsequent unhappiness between bryant and reed led to a temporary separation . after securing press credentials for bryant , reed moved to the harvard club , and bryant , setting sail in june , went to france to cover the war for the bell syndicate . regrets quickly followed : no sooner had they parted on board the ship than both reed and bryant were assailed by misgivings . an outpouring of letters from either side of the atlantic followed . both were suffering , both were confused , lonely , and miserable ... [ the letters were ] proof of the basically strong bond that held the two , the poet - reporter and social critic and the erratic , appealing woman he had rescued from the banality of middle - class existence in portland . petrograd in mid - august , when bryant returned from france , reed met her at the dock and told her to prepare to go to petrograd ( the historic names of which also include saint petersburg and leningrad ) four days later to cover the russian revolution . eastman of the masses had raised funds to pay reed 's travel expenses , and the bell syndicate assigned bryant to report on the war " from a woman 's point of view " . leaving new york on august 17 , they arrived in the russian capital city ( then petrograd , later moscow ) about six months after the forced abdication of the last russian czar , nicholas ii . headed by alexander kerensky , the provisional government that had succeeded the czar had already survived an attempted putsch by general kornilov . bryant and reed entered the city after the kornilov affair and before the bolsheviks overthrew the kerensky government in the october revolution . reconciled as a couple , and working from their room at the angleterre hotel , bryant and reed attended gatherings at the smolny institute and elsewhere in petrograd and interviewed many leading political figures , including lenin , trotsky , and kerensky , and both eventually compiled books — six red months in russia by bryant and reed 's ten days that shook the world — from their articles . bryant circulated widely , covering duma meetings , dining in public mess halls with soldiers and workers , and interviewing women revolutionaries . among those were katherine , known as the " grandmother of the revolution " , maria , whom bryant considered the most powerful woman in russia , and aleksandra kollontai , who became people 's commissar of social welfare and the only woman in the bolshevik cabinet . in the process , bryant , who had often been overshadowed by her more famous husband , gained confidence in her professional reporting skills . by the time she returned to new york , her work was being read across north america : [ the ] springtime of 1918 in the united states was a time of heightened contradictions . about the new russian experiment in cities and the hinterland coexisted with the intensified patriotism of wartime ... no matter what appeared in their editorial pages , newspaper editors knew that feature stories with first - hand knowledge of the revolution sold papers . the conservative and republican philadelphia public ledger syndicate bought bryant 's thirty - two stories and sold them to hearst 's new york american and to more than one hundred newspapers over the united states and canada . new york leaving russia before reed , who wanted to report on the bolshevik debate about russian participation in the war with germany , bryant returned to new york , arriving on february 18 , 1918 . she found greenwich village much changed by the war ; old friends had moved , rents had gone up , and tourists were replacing bohemians . under government pressure , the masses had shut down . working out of a room at the brevoort hotel , bryant wrote articles about the october revolution and speeches or cables urging support of the workers ' government in russia . meanwhile , reed , who was trying to get home , was unable to get state department clearance for a visa and was detained in oslo ( then called christiana ) , norway , for more than a month . his letters were censored , and bryant did not hear from him directly until april . on orders from edgar sisson of the u.s. commission on public information , all of reed 's papers were confiscated when he arrived in new york on april 28 . unable to write about the october revolution without his notes , reed instead gave speeches advocating u.s. recognition of the new russian government . that summer , the couple retreated to croton - on - hudson . in august , bryant spent a long weekend in the arts colony at woodstock , where she and painter andrew dasburg , with whom bryant had been close for a couple of years , began a long - term , intermittent love affair . returning to the village in september , bryant and reed rented a small house at 1 place and settled in . later in the month , reed was arrested for giving a speech in which he denounced the use of allied troops in russia . in a separate case , reed stood trial with eastman , floyd dell , and others from the former staff of the masses for conspiracy to obstruct the draft . bryant was questioned but not charged . both this and an earlier trial against the masses ended in hung juries , and the defendants were set free . also in october 1918 , bryant 's first book , six red months in russia , was published to " mostly favorable reviews , " and reed resumed work on ten days that shook the world after the government returned his notes . it would not be published until april 1919 . in february 1919 , while still based in new york , bryant went to washington , d.c. , to speak , along with albert rhys williams , about the situation in russia . she stayed in washington long enough to participate in a national woman 's party suffrage rally , during which she was arrested and spent three days in jail . upon her release , she insisted on testifying as an unfriendly witness before the overman committee , which had been set up to investigate bolshevik activity in the united states . questions about her religious beliefs , marriages , and other personal matters during her two days of testimony , she tried to convince the subcommittee , led by senator lee s. overman , that russia had a right to self - determination . soon thereafter , she began a cross - country speaking tour , " the truth about russia " , arranged by anna louise strong , during which she addressed large audiences in detroit , chicago , spokane , seattle , san francisco , los angeles , and other american cities . according to biographer virginia gardner , bryant was " ... the first woman to go among the to defend lenin and trotsky . her message was simple : ' hands off russia ! ' ' bring the boys home ! ' " after bryant returned from her lecture tour in may , she and reed spent the next few months mainly in croton - on - hudson writing , gardening , and in reed 's case , recuperating from influenza . in late august , reed , who had joined the socialist party of america , was chosen by one of its factions , the communist labor party of america ( clp ) , to visit moscow to seek recognition for the clp as the sole representative of the communist international ( comintern ) in the u.s. the u.s. government quickly outlawed the clp and its competitor , the american communist party , headed by louis . in danger of being arrested and unable to get a passport to go to russia , reed , disguised as a stoker , left the u.s. in late september 1919 on a scandinavian ship headed for europe . during the palmer raids and red scare days beginning in november 1919 , he would be charged with conspiring to overthrow the government by force . succeeding in reaching moscow , he was arrested and incarcerated in finland in march 1920 on his way home . three months later , he was returned to moscow in a prisoner exchange between the white ( anti - bolshevik ) finns of the finnish civil war and the bolsheviks . from reval ( tallinn ) , estonia , he cabled bryant , " passport home refused . temporarily returning headquarters . come if possible . " traveling without passport , bryant , disguised as the wife of a swedish businessman , arrived in petrograd in late august 1920 . reed 's death when bryant reached petrograd , reed was in baku , attending the " first congress of peoples of the east " ( oriental congress ) with the comintern executive committee . he had left a letter for her with several possibilities for lodging , one of which was a room he had arranged for her at the hotel in moscow . this is where , on september 15 , they finally reconnected , spending the next few days together and visiting lenin , trotsky , hungarian revolutionary béla kun , and enver pasha , a former minister of war in the ottoman empire . bryant began filing moscow news stories with the international news service , which had hired her before she left new york . a week after reed 's return from baku , he began to experience dizziness and headaches , thought at first to be symptoms of influenza . five days later , when he became delirious , doctors diagnosed typhus and sent him to the hospital . there , with bryant by his side , he died on october 17 , 1920 , a few days shy of his 33rd birthday . on the day of reed 's funeral , in keeping with russian custom , bryant walked alone behind the hearse , at the head of the funeral procession . fainting during the burial , she awoke in her hotel room . among those at her bedside were emma goldman and alexander berkman , who had been arrested in the u.s. and deported to russia in late 1919 . further reporting after reed 's death , bryant obtained lenin 's approval for a trip to the southern russian border and neighboring countries . she went by train over the kazakh steppe , through areas hard hit by famine , to tashkent and bukhara and to the borders of iran and afghanistan , interviewing and taking notes . she returned to the u.s. in mid - summer 1921 , and stayed for about a year . in august , the new york american , a hearst newspaper , began publishing a series of 16 of her articles describing famine in russia , lenin 's new economic policy , the end of the russian civil war , and related topics . in general , the tone of these articles was " sober and at times unsparing , in contrast to her often rapturous reporting in her 1918 stories . " in october , she was the main speaker at a memorial for reed in new york city , and she spent some of her time collecting reed 's papers together for possible publication . in addition , she arranged with king features syndicate , another hearst agency , to return to russia to write portraits of russians . the first of these appeared in print in june 1922 and led to her second book , mirrors of moscow , in 1923 . bryant 's travels in europe this time included moscow , berlin , london , paris , and other cities . by late october , she was in rome , accompanied by william christian bullitt , jr . , who would become her third husband . here in late 1922 , she wrote about benito mussolini , the fascist leader who had just come to power and with whom she obtained an interview . gathering material from a variety of sources , including madame mussolini , bryant wrote a feature article , " mussolini upon efficiency to restore italy " , published in the new york american in early 1923 . she described the future dictator this way : i will always think of mussolini as one of the oddest characters in history , and i will remember him as i last saw him in the great white and gold foyer of the grand hotel , under a huge crystal candelabra slouching wearily into a graceful louis xv ivory and enameled chair . his pale , heavy - boned face showed signs of sleeplessness . his strong body was bulging over the sides of the seat ; his legs were spread wide over the pale , rose - colored velvet carpet . there was a little cup of black coffee , absurdly delicate , beside his gnarled work - warped hand . ( as quoted from the new york american , january 28 , 1923 , section 52 , p . 1 ) leaving rome to cover the turkish war of independence for the international news service , bryant lived with bullitt in a villa in constantinople in early 1923 . bullitt was a wealthy philadelphian who would later become the first u.s. ambassador to the soviet union . while he worked on a novel , it 's not done , published in 1926 and dedicated to bryant , she covered events related to the rise of turkish strongman mustafa kemal atatürk . from her base in turkey , she ventured to palermo to interview the deposed king of greece , constantine i , and to athens to interview his son , george ii . shortly thereafter , bryant suspended her journalistic career to focus on family matters . paris later in 1923 , bryant and bullitt moved to paris , where they married in december . bryant gave birth to her only child , anne , in february 1924 , and in 1925 she and bullitt added to their family an 8 - year - old boy , ismaili bey , whom they had met in turkey . as the wife of a rich man , bryant had duties related to the running of an upper - class household : " ... the management of servants , the ordering of food and planning of menus , house decoration , flower arrangement , keeping a social calendar . " she told one visitor to her home that she considered her new life " useless " , and the bryant – bullitt marriage began to unravel . in " louise bryant grows old " , historian christine examines the great changes in bryant 's life after her marriage to bullitt : the entrance of william bullitt into louise bryant 's life confounds the intertwined stories of the grief - stricken war widow , the radical heroine , and the champion of the oppressed . the marriage is a puzzle , both and historically . , it proved to be a disaster , in contrast to bryant 's earlier romantic choices , which had been smart and fulfilling . although bryant continued to write , little of her work toward the end of her life was published . her last piece of journalism , " a turkish divorce " , about atatürk 's treatment of women , appeared in the nation in august 1925 . by 1926 , bryant , who had generally abstained from alcohol earlier in life , was suffering from painful and incurable ( 's disease ) and had begun drinking heavily . in 1930 , bullitt , citing his wife 's drinking and alleging that she was involved in a lesbian relationship with gwen le gallienne , a daughter of writer richard le gallienne , divorced bryant and won sole custody of anne . bryant continued to live in paris , occasionally advising writer claude mckay , and briefly assisting researchers from harvard university in preserving john reed 's papers . death bryant died on january 6 , 1936 , of a brain hemorrhage in sèvres , in the suburbs of paris , and is buried in cimetière des in versailles . in 1998 , three volunteers from the oregon cultural heritage commission went to paris to find the grave , which they discovered was crumbling , undated , and scheduled for removal . through the commission 's efforts as well as donations , including some from relatives of bryant and bullitt , the grave was restored . papers bryant 's personal papers were transferred to bullitt , where they remained until their daughter , anne , donated the collection to yale university in 2004 . they exist as separate collections , the louise bryant papers ( ms 1840 ) and the william c. bullitt papers ( ms 112 ) in the sterling memorial library at yale . the bryant collection consists , linearly , of 19 . 43 feet ( 5 . 92 m ) of " correspondence , writings , books , visual artwork , photographs , printed matter , and other material created and collected by bryant during the last twenty years of her life from 1916 to 1936 . " in popular culture the bryant – reed story is told in the 1981 film reds , starring diane keaton as bryant and warren beatty as reed . supporting actors include jack nicholson as eugene o 'neill , maureen stapleton as emma goldman ; jerzy kosiński as grigory zinoviev ( one of the bolshevik leaders ) , and edward herrmann as max eastman . works bryant 's early journalistic work appeared in college publications and in newspapers — the spectator , where bryant was society editor , and the oregonian , for whom she freelanced — in portland . much of her later work appeared in newspapers such as the philadelphia public ledger and in the new york american and other hearst publications , and were syndicated to newspapers across north america . some of these articles also appeared as collections in book form in 1918 and 1923 . her work also appeared in independent magazines , including the masses , the liberator , and the nation . below is a partial list of her published work . books mirrors of moscow . new york : thomas seltzer . 1923 . oclc . six red months in russia : an observer 's account of russia before and during the proletarian dictatorship . new york : george h. doran company . 1918 . oclc . plays the game : a morality play in one act . the provincetown plays ( new york : frank shay ) . 1916 . oclc . retrieved january 22 , 2014 – via one - act - other " fables for proletarian children " . the revolutionary age . january 25 , 1919 . retrieved january 22 , 2014 – via marxists internet archive . " the last days with john reed : a letter from louise bryant " . the liberator . february 1921 . retrieved january 22 , 2014 – via marxists internet archive . " two judges " . the masses ( new york : the masses publishing company ) 8 ( 6 ) : 18 . april 1916 . retrieved january 24 , 2013 – via new york university .