World War II was but a few months old when a number of solemn-faced Army officers gathered in Washington, D.C. for an unusual meeting. As they inspected a variety of fabric bolts in colors of green and gray, along with an assortment of buttons, the question they sought to answer was: “What should the well-dressed woman war photographer wear overseas?” In the background stood a smiling Margaret Bourke-White, the soon to be recipient of their decision.
Born on June 14, 1906, Margaret was the daughter of printing industry inventor and engineer Joseph White, who traced a Polish-Jewish ancestry. Her mother, Minnie Bourke had an Irish-English ancestry. She worked in publishing and bore a loving, nurturing behavior towards her children.
Margaret grew up in Bound Brook, NJ and as a child developed a fear of the dark. Though her nurturing mother attempted to soothe Margaret’s fears, her engineering father was the one who erased the word ‘fear’ from her vocabulary with his tool of choice - snakes. Taking his daughter on nature walks, Joseph shared with her information about the animals and their habitats. Before long, he had her so fascinated with the creatures; she forgot to be afraid of them. The two began to build a number of wire cages as habitats for a growing collection of slithering reptiles. Margaret went on to pursue a degree in Herpetology (the study of reptiles) from Cornell University in 1927.
Joseph was also instrumental in exposing his daughter to the world of photography and it soon became her hobby. As she continued to explore the craft, Margaret acquired the styles and techniques necessary for various formats.
Joseph’s death prior to Margaret entering college deprived her of the funds she needed for tuition and fees. She also learned a waitressing position she counted on to fund her studies at Cornell went to someone else and no other campus jobs were available. Taking matters and her camera in hand, Margaret headed for the picturesque waterfalls on campus. She not only snapped a number of shots illustrating the beauty of the waterfalls, she also included a variety of scenic vistas around campus and charming ivy-covered buildings in her collection. Just before Christmas, Margaret set up shop outside the dining hall and her photographs sold out in no time. Prior to graduating from Cornell, she compiled a photographic study of the rural campus which was published in the Cornell Alumni News.
As graduation day approached, Margaret struggled with the decision of which direction to go for her career. With an opportunity to work for the Museum of Natural History in New York, she would make good use of her studies in herpetology. At the same time, the popularity of her photos of Cornell’s ivy-covered structures offered her the potential to become a professional architectural photographer. She finally decided to consider the museum her back-up plan and traveled to New York to present her portfolio to one of the city’s leading architects. His overwhelming approval immediately relegated snakes to the back burner.
Following graduation, Margaret moved to Cleveland, Ohio, hyphenated her middle and last names and opened the Bourke-White Studios in 1927. She was now 21-years old.
Margaret became a premiere industrial photographer when she photographed Cleveland’s Otis Steel Company. In 1929, she became the associate editor and first photographer for Fortune Magazine. Margaret was sent to the Soviet Union in 1930 on assignment, the first Western photographer allowed to visit. The following year, she published Eyes on Russia.
When she returned to the United States, Margaret snapped pictures of the Dust Bowl and its drought victims. She was the first female photojournalist hired by Henry Luce for Life shortly after the magazine debuted in 1935. The November 23, 1936 issue displayed one of her photographs showing Fort Peck Dam on its front cover. One of Margaret’s most famous photographs appeared in a 1937 edition of Life. The picture showed a group of black flood victims in Louisville, KY standing in a breadline. Overhead was a billboard with the picture of a white family in a car. The billboard’s headline read, ‘World’s Highest Standard of Living. There’s no way like the American Way.’ The book, You Have Seen Their Faces, is comprised of a collection of Margaret’s Depression-era photographs.
In 1941, Margaret was on assignment in Moscow when Germany attacked Russia. Her first taste of war also offered her the first taste of fame. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, she knew what she wanted to do – photograph the war in Europe. It never dawned on her she might be denied the opportunity due to the fact she was a woman.
With a desire to be the Army’s first female war correspondent, Margaret, now known as Maggie to many, had to acquire approval from the military’s powers-that-be to enter the war zone since she was a civilian. She returned from Washington with the necessary documents – in addition to a new outfit. The uniform she wore was designed along the same lines as the standard garb for the officers. She wore slacks in the field and a skirt for all other occasions.
During the invasion of North Africa, Maggie sought the chance to ride in one of the bombers, but the top brass forbade it due to the danger involved. They consented, however, to let her ride in a troopship which was part of a protected convoy. The damaged ship carried a collection of 6,000 troops and a small group of nurses.
Prior to the ship’s departure, it was struck by a torpedo. Maggie grabbed her camera and ran for the deck. Lifeboats were quickly made available and Maggie soon found herself in one. In an effort to maintain their spirits, the people in Maggie’s boat began to sing, You are my sunshine, my only sunshine as one of the nurses wearing a life jacket, paddled in the water nearby and asked, ‘Which way to North Africa?’ In the morning, Maggie began to take pictures of those in the boat while everyone bailed water from the leaky craft using their helmets. Before nightfall, they were all on a rescue destroyer.
In January 1943, Maggie’s desire to be part of a bombing mission became a reality. When General Jimmy Doolittle approached her about the idea, she told him she was all for it, but had given up asking so as not to be a nuisance. Telling her, “Well, you’ve been torpedoed; you might as well go through everything.” Doolittle used a field telephone to relay his permission for her to be on the combat flight. The plane she traveled in was hit twice by antiaircraft fire, but the pilot was able to bring it back safely. The pictures Maggie took were published by Life under the title, ‘Life’s Bourke-White Goes Bombing.’
Crossing Germany’s border with Patton’s troops, Margaret captured a portrayal of the death camps. Her work was so compelling to the publishers at Life, they reversed the magazine’s tradition with regard to displaying the hell of war. The Living Dead of Buchenwald quickly became a classic.
As she began to cover the Korean War, Margaret noticed a dull ache in her left leg. Over time, the pain increased to such a degree, it made walking difficult. She was later diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. After learning of her condition, she began to gradually withdraw from her work as a professional photographer. Now she turned her attention to helping the uncounted thousands suffering from the same disease. Though she would have preferred to be out of the headlines, she chose to break the silence with her autobiography, Portrait of Myself in 1963 and settled for a quiet retirement in her Connecticut home.
Margaret died on August 27, 1971 in Stamford Hospital at the age of 67. Her bravery as she faced her cruel personal enemy turned her into a great heroine .
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