Dear Abby is an American advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name "Abigail Van Buren" and carried on today by her daughter,

Jeanne Phillips Jeanne Phillips (; born 1942), also known as Abigail Van Buren, is an American advice columnist who has written for the advice column ''Dear Abby'' since 2000. She is the daughter of Pauline Esther Phillips, who founded ''Dear Abby'' in 1956, ...

, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name.

History

According to Pauline Phillips, she came up with the pen name ''Abigail Van Buren'' by combining the name of Biblical figure

Abigail Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later ma ...

in the

Book of Samuel The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Jos ...

, with the last name of former US president Martin Van Buren. The column was syndicated by the

McNaught Syndicate The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt (who gave it his name) and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre, the ...

from 1956 until 1966, when it moved to

Universal Press Syndicate Universal Press Syndicate (UPS), a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, was an independent press syndicate. It distributed lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Eb ...

. Dear Abby's current syndication company claims the column is "well-known for sound, compassionate advice, delivered with the straightforward style of a good friend." By 1987, over 1,200 newspapers ran the column. Abby was born Pauline Esther Friedman, and her twin sister was born Esther Pauline Friedman. Abby was known as Popo, and her sister was Eppie (a nickname from E.P.).

Ask Ann Landers

Pauline Phillips started her Dear Abby column a few months after her twin sister, Eppie Lederer, took over the Ask Ann Landers column. This produced a rivalry and lengthy estrangement between the two sisters. On February 13, 1987, the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' announced that the Ann Landers column was moving to the ''Tribune'', which had published the Dear Abby column for years. The ''Tribune'' ran both columns, Landers every day and Abby six days a week. In comparing the columns written by each of the sisters, the

Jewish Women's Archive The Jewish Women's Archive (JWA) is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to document "Jewish women's stories, elevate their voices, and inspire them to be agents of change." JWA was founded by Gail Twersky Reimer in 1995 in Brookli ...

wrote that "Both columns were characterized by a straightforward tone, practical advice, and a firm but modern moral sensibility" and that "both women used humor, including sarcasm and one-liners, in their responses."

Authorship changes

Pauline Phillips wrote the column herself until 1987, at which time her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, began writing the column with her. In December 2000, the elder Phillips wrote a column identifying her daughter as her "co-creator" and added, "I will continue to work on this column until my Maker calls me home." Twenty months later, the Phillips family revealed that Pauline was suffering from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...

. Although the change in authorship took place in 2000, the official statement—which included adding "Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips" to the bottom of each column—was not made until July 2002. Pauline Phillips died on January 16, 2013, aged 94.

Impact

''Dear Abby'' (which has a readership estimated at 110 million in 2016) and which ''The New York Times'' described as "a staple in American households for decades," has been accused of being out of step with changing times. A 2016 column seemed to place the blame on a teen girl who had been sexually assaulted, and a 2018 column, which said that traditional Western names are preferable for newborns with half-Indian heritage, gave rise to accusations of xenophobia.

References

External links