Edith Lederer, also known as Edie Lederer (born 1943) is an American war journalist.

Early life and education

Lederer grew up in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. In 1963, Lederer received a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and Master of Arts in communications from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Career

Lederer worked with

Jean Heller Jean Heller is an American writer and former investigative journalist. She is best known for publishing the news of the Tuskegee syphilis study in 1972, and reporting that the claims by the United States of an Iraqi buildup on the Saudi Arabian bo ...

at the Associated Press (AP) New York City headquarters at

50 Rockefeller Plaza 50 Rockefeller Plaza (formerly the Associated Press Building) is a 15-story building located at Rockefeller Plaza between 50th and 51st Streets in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Completed in 1938, the building is part of Rockefeller Center, wh ...

. In 1968, while working at the AP's San Francisco bureau, Lederer met

Peter Buxtun Peter Buxtun (sometimes referred to as Peter Buxton; born 1937 in Prague) is a former employee of the United States Public Health Service who became known as the whistleblower responsible for ending the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. Personal l ...

and he spoke to her about his ethical concerns regarding the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Lederer recognized the newsworthiness of the information and passed it on to a colleague, Associated Press investigative reporter

, who broke the story, resulting in the ending of the study. Lederer was the first female resident correspondent in Vietnam in 1971 and the first woman to head a foreign bureau for the AP, in Lima, Peru in 1975. She worked for the AP for five decades, becoming the chief correspondent at the United Nations. She was named Sigma Delta Tau's Outstanding Alumna in 2017. She won four lifetime achievement awards from the Overseas Press Club, the

International Women's Media Foundation The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), located in Washington, D.C., is an organization working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media. The IWMF has created programs to help women in the media develop practical so ...

, the Washington Press Club Foundation and the Newswomen's Club of New York. She co-authored "War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Who Covered Vietnam."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lederer, Edith 1943 births Living people 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women journalists American women war correspondents American war correspondents Cornell University alumni