Dorothy Frooks

Dorothy Frooks (February 12, 1896 – April 13, 1997) was an American writer, publisher, military officer, lawyer, and suffragist. She also ran for Congress twice, in 1920 as a member of the Prohibition Party and in 1934 on the Law Preservation ticket for New York's At-large congressional district.

Dorothy Frooks
Born(1896-02-12)February 12, 1896
Saugerties, New York, U.S.
DiedApril 13, 1997(1997-04-13) (aged 101)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Author, publisher, lawyer
Known forPolitical and social activism
SpouseJay P. Vanderbilt (m. 1986)

She worked as a writer for the New York Evening World and published the Murray Hill News in 1952. She also wrote Labor Courts Outlaw Strikes, a pamphlet calling for the establishment of a labor court.[1]

A lawyer in Peekskill, New York,[2] she wrote numerous fiction and nonfiction books, including The Olympic Torch, The American Heart, and an autobiography, Lady Lawyer.[1]

Life and law career

Dorothy was born on February 12, 1896, on a farm near Saugerties, New York.[3] She was one of ten children of Reginald Frooks, a successful businessman, and Rosita Siberz, an international socialite.[4] She and her siblings were raised on a 400-acre (160 ha) farm in the Hudson Valley, and spent their winters in the Waldorf Hotel.[4]

She was recruited by her mother's London society friends to give street-corner speeches at the age of 11.[4]

Frooks graduated from Hamilton Law School in Chicago and received her master's degree from New York University. By the early 1920s she was the first full-time lawyer for the Salvation Army.[4]

Military career

Frooks served as chief yeoman in the United States Navy during World War I and as a judge advocate in the United States Army during World War II.[3]

She served as the National Commander of the Women World War Veterans and worked with the Veterans of World War I and the Retreads, an organization for veterans who served in both world wars.[1]

Reds

Frooks appeared as one of the "Witnesses" in Warren Beatty's 1981 film Reds, along with fellow centenarian radicals Scott Nearing and George Seldes. Frooks, Nearing and Seldes were all firsthand witnesses of the red-baiting, McCarthyism, and Cold War hysteria of the 1950s.[5]

Death

Frooks died in 1997, at the age of 101, and was interred in Calverton National Cemetery.[6]

References
  1. "Dorothy Frooks papers, 1913-1990". Archives and Manuscripts. New York Public Library. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  2. Marsh, Alan (1972). Postgraduate students' assessment of their social science training: a survey of the attitudes of SSRC-supported students towards their post-graduate training. London: Social Science Research Council, Survey Unit. ISBN 0-900296-09-7. OCLC 762993.
  3. Thomas, Jr., Robert McG. (April 19, 1997). "Dorothy Frooks, Lawyer and Suffragist, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  4. Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. (April 19, 1997). "Dorothy Frooks, Lawyer and Suffragist, Dies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  5. Grindon, Leger (1994). Shadows on the past : studies in the historical fiction film. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-4399-0488-6. OCLC 646067842.
  6. NYSCA Literary Tree
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