Ruby Hart Phillips (December 12, 1898 – October 28, 1985) was a ''New York Times'' correspondent in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

who covered the

Batista Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player João Batista da Silva * Dave Bautista, Batista (wrestler) (Dave ...

regime and the rise of

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

. She reported from the island for 24 years, from 1937 to 1961. Her coverage, relatively favorable toward Batista, was often at odds with that of

Herbert Matthews Herbert Lionel Matthews (January 10, 1900 – July 30, 1977) was a reporter and editorialist for ''The New York Times'' who, at the age of 57, won widespread attention after revealing that the 30-year-old Fidel Castro was still alive and living in ...

, the noted ''Times'' foreign correspondent who favored Castro. Personal animosity grew between them, and their contradictory coverage of the same events drew criticism from readers and media critics. Life became increasingly difficult for Phillips after the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

because of her anti-Castro temperament. She left Cuba for good in 1961, shortly after her home and office were raided and her Cuban colleagues were arrested. She died in

Cocoa Beach, Florida Cocoa Beach is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,354 at the 2020 United States census, up from 11,231 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Palm Bay, Florida, Palm Bay–Melbourne, Florida, Melbourne–T ...

at the age of 86.

Biography

Ruby Hart was born to John Hart, a cattle merchant, in 1900 in Oklahoma. As a young woman, she moved around Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, and enrolled in half a dozen schools. Eventually she learned basic secretarial skills in a Dallas business school, then held a series of miscellaneous jobs. She decided to leave the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

and moved to Cuba, where she took a job at Westinghouse Electric. In

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

. Phillips learned journalism from James, who began contributing to the New York ''Times'' in 1931. After James was killed in a stateside car accident in 1937, the ''Times'' allowed Phillips to take over as foreign correspondent in Cuba, despite the fact she had virtually no journalistic experience. Phillips used the

byline The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably '' Reader's ...

"R. Hart Phillips" to disguise that she was a woman, since female foreign correspondents were highly unusual at the time. She wrote several books about Cuba.

Cuban Revolution

Phillips had been reporting from Cuba for 20 years when Fidel Castro rose to power. Fellow foreign correspondent and ''Times'' editorialist Herbert Matthews believed Phillips "did not measure up to the standards of the ''Times''" and her reports could not be trusted because of her close relationships with the officials in Batista's regime. The two clashed professionally and personally, and the conflict was evident in their reporting. Editors at the ''Times'' attempted to mediate the feud, though they felt that Phillips was too anti-Castro and Matthews too pro-Castro.

Bibliography

*Phillips, R Hart (1935). ''Cuban side show''. Cuban Press, Havana 2nd edition. ASIN: B000860P60 *Phillips, R Hart. (1959). ''Cuba, Island of Paradox''. McDowell, Obolensky, New York, NY ASIN: B0007E0OAU *Phillips, R Hart. (1960). ''Cuba Island of Paradise 1960''. Astor-Honor Inc, *Phillips, R Hart. (1962). ''The Cuban Dilemma''. McDowell, Obolensky, New York, NY. Library of Congress number 6218787

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Ruby Hart 1898 births 1985 deaths The New York Times journalists American women journalists American expatriates in Cuba 20th-century American women