Dorothy Sucher (May 18, 1933 – August 22, 2010) was an American author and psychotherapist who worked as a reporter at the ''
Greenbelt News Review
The ''Greenbelt News Review'' is a weekly newspaper that was established in 1937 as a volunteer cooperative shortly after settlement of Greenbelt, Maryland, and was originally named the '' Greenbelt Cooperator'' until its name was changed in 1954. ...
'', where an article that she wrote that quoted critics of a developers calling his plans "blackmail" initially resulted in a $17,500 judgement against the paper. The
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
would later overturn the lower court verdict, ruling in ''Greenbelt Cooperative Publishing Assn. v. Bresler'' that the use of "rhetorical hyperbole" in such cases is covered by the
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
, a major victory that supported
Freedom of the press in the United States
Freedom of the press in the United States is legally protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
History
Thirteen Colonies
In the Thirteen Colonies before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the newspa ...
.
She was born Dorothy Glassman on May 18, 1933, in Brooklyn, where she majored in English at
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
, graduating magna cum laude in 1954. She would later earn a master's degree in 1975 from
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
in
mental health
Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health ...
.
[Hevesi, Dennis]
"Dorothy Sucher, Reporter in Press-Freedom Case, Dies at 77"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', August 31, 2010. Accessed September 2, 2010.
Supreme Court case
Sucher worked as a reporter earning $5 a week for the ''
Greenbelt News Review
The ''Greenbelt News Review'' is a weekly newspaper that was established in 1937 as a volunteer cooperative shortly after settlement of Greenbelt, Maryland, and was originally named the '' Greenbelt Cooperator'' until its name was changed in 1954. ...
'' of
Greenbelt, Maryland
Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,921.
Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental and controversial New Deal ...
from 1959 to 1970, filling in as a columnist and associate editor. In that capacity she covered a 1965 city council hearing where developer
Charles S. Bresler offered to sell a property the city wanted to acquire as long as he received the variances he was seeking on a development project, a deal that was described by members of the public attending the meeting as "blackmail", and Sucher reported these comments in her article on the meeting.
[ Bresler filed suit in circuit court and a jury found in his favor, awarding him $17,500, a decision affirmed by the Maryland Court of Appeals.][Buerger, Megan]
"Dorothy Sucher dies at 77; wrote story that was test case for freedom of press"
''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', August 28, 2010. Accessed September 2, 2010.[''GREENBELT COOPERATIVE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, Inc., et al., Petitioners, v. Charles S. BRESLER'']
OpenJurist.com, May 18, 1970. Accessed September 2, 2010. In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8–0 to overturn the lower court ruling, finding that "even the most careless reader must have perceived that the word was no more than rhetorical hyperbole", that "It is simply impossible to believe that a reader who reached the word 'blackmail' in either article would not have understood exactly what was meant" and that no reader would have interpreted the word in question to mean that Bresler had committed the criminal offense. To have ruled otherwise "would subvert the most fundamental meaning of a free press".[
]
Career
She would work as a psychotherapist
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...
with the Group Health Association from 1975 to 1980 and then went into private practice.[ As an author she wrote the mystery books ''Dead Men Don't Give Seminars'' in 1988 and ''Dead Men Don't Marry'' in 1989, followed by 1999's ''The Invisible Garden'' which was a collection of her essays.][ Her short stories were published in '' Mystery Readers Journal'', ''Vermont Life'' and '']The Washington Post Magazine
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''.[ Many years later she began to write a book about the News Review libel case, but was unable to find a publisher.][
Sucher was active with the ]Sisters in Crime
Sisters in Crime is an organization that has 4,500 members in 60+ regional chapters worldwide, offering networking, advice and support to mystery authors. Members are authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians bound by their ...
, an organization that aims to foster the development and recognition of female mystery writers.[ She worked as the treasurer for Sisters in Crime and later established a Mid-Atlantic chapter.] She served in 1978 as state coordinator for the National Organization for Women (NOW), as part of her longstanding advocacy in support of women's rights. In the Northern Prince George's County Chapter of NOW, Sucher established and led the Consciousness Raising Program (1977-1980). She also became NOW's Maryland Consciousness Raising Coordinator, working to grow the program to other counties in Maryland. Sucher and her husband both served as delegates on the NOW State Council. She returned to the ''Greenbelt News Review'' in 1993, working there until 2004, including time spent as the paper's editor in chief.[
In 1977, Sucher became an associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP). WIFP is an American nonprofit publishing organization. The organization works to increase communication between women and connect the public with forms of women-based media.
Sucher taught creative writing at ]Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
, Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, and the Writer's Center
The Writer's Center, founded in 1976, is an
independent literary center that is housed in a 12,200-square-foot (1,130 m2) facility in the arts and entertainment district of Bethesda, Maryland. The organization consists of approximately 2,500 wri ...
in Bethesda, Maryland.
Sucher was instrumental in formation of the Greenbelt Museum and served on its board of directors.
A resident of Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...
, Sucher died at age 77 on August 22, 2010, at her home there due to thyroid cancer
Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck. C ...
. She was survived by her husband Joseph, as well as by two sons and a granddaughter.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sucher, Dorothy
1933 births
2010 deaths
American newspaper reporters and correspondents
Brooklyn College alumni
Deaths from cancer in Maryland
Deaths from thyroid cancer
Johns Hopkins University alumni
People from Brooklyn
People from Silver Spring, Maryland
People from Greenbelt, Maryland
Greenbelt, Maryland
Journalists from New York City