Helen Lombard
Helen Lombard, born Helen Cassin Carusi and later known as Helen Carusi Vischer (1904–1986) was an American journalist,[1] best known for her insider's book of Washington gossip, Washington Waltz (1941).[2]
Background
Helen Cassin Carusi was born in 1904 in Washington, DC. Her father, Charles Francis Carusi, was chancellor of National University and a member of the Washington DC board of education. Her great-grandfather was Stephen Cassin (1783–1857), a United States Navy officer during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812. Lombard attended Holton-Arms School.[1]
Career
In 1913, young Helen Cassin Carusi christened the USS Cassin (DD-43).[3][4] In 1935, she christened the USS Cassin (DD-372).[5][6]
In 1951, after marrying Peter Vischer, husband and wife moved to the "Habre de Venture" historic house in Port Tobacco and raised thoroughbred horses in Charles County, Maryland.[1]
Personal life and death
In 1927 Helen Cassin Carusi married Colonel Emanuel Eugene Lombard, a French diplomat (military attache) who died in 1946; they had a son, Charles Francis Lombard.[1][7] By 1947, she had married Washington columnist Constantine Brown,[8] but they divorced.[1] In 1951, she married Peter Vischer, a former Army colonel and State Department official (died 1967); he had a daughter from a previous marriage, Joanna Vischer Brown.[1]
Lombard was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Society of Daughters of 1812, the Charles County Children's Aid Society, and the Charles County Garden Club.[1]
In 1977, Lombard moved to the Charles County Nursing Home in La Plata, Maryland, where, known as Helen C. Vischer, she died age 81 on May 11, 1986.[1]
Legacy
On March 31, 1947, conservative US Representative George Anthony Dondero called Lombard herself (by then, "Mrs. Brown") "one of the best known women in Washington, herself a scribe of wide experience, brilliant author of a book entitled Washington Waltz... [and] While They Fought."[9][10]
Works
Lombard published two books: Washington Waltz, which recounted her life as a Washington hostess, and While They Fought, which recounted events during World War II.[1] The liberal New Yorker deemed While They Fought "rather untidy" and largely "undocumented,"[11] while the conservative Human Events found it "valuable."[12] While They Fought came out no later than March 1947, when Representative Dondero mentioned it publicly.[9]
- Books
See also
References
- "Helen C. Vischer Dies at 81". Washington Post. 15 May 1986. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- Solomon, Harvey (2020). Such Splendid Prisons: Diplomatic Detainment in America during World War II. Univer of Nebraska Press. pp. 88–9. ISBN 978-1-64012-289-5.
- "Gossip of Society". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. 5 March 1916. p. Part 7, pg 3. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
- Benham, Edith Wallace; Hall, Ann Martin (1913). Ships of the United States Navy and Their Sponsors, Volume 1. Norwood, Massachusetts: The Plimpton Press. p. 32.
- "Cassin II". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
- "Officials are Present at Navy Day Activities". Daily Journal-World. Lawrence, Kansas. 28 October 1935. p. 3. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
- Helen C. Carusi: A Bride Wed to Commandant Emmanuel Lombard, Assistant Military Attache of the French Embassy,New York Times, May 15, 1927.
- "Constantine Brown Dies at 76; A Noted Washington Columnist". New York Times. 25 February 1966. p. 31. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- "House of Representatives, Monday, March 31, 1947" (PDF). Congressional Record: 2897. 31 March 1947. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- "Library Books: New Memorial Art Volumes Are Donated". Decatur Herald and Review. 13 April 1947. p. 41. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- "Briefly Noted". New Yorker: 98–99. 5 April 1947.
- "Not Merely Gossip". Human Events: 5–7. 23 April 1947.
- Lombard, Helen (1941). Washington Waltz. Alfred A. Knopf. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- Lombard, Helen (1947). While They Fought: Behind the Scenes in Washington, 1941-1946. Charles Scribner & Sons. Retrieved 10 August 2021.