VOICE ONE:
I’m Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLEIN AMERICA. Today, we tell about advice writer Ann Landers.
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VOICE ONE:
Many newspapers in the United States have writers who giveadvice. Some are experts about issues like gardening, food, healthor money. People will write to the expert about a problem and he orshe will try to solve it.
There also are advice writers who deal with the more personalissues in life. They answer questions about all kinds ofthings-love, children, mental health problems, morals. This was thekind of advice column that Esther Lederer wrote. She wrote it underthe name of Ann Landers.
VOICE TWO:
Mizz Lederer did not study to become a newspaper writer. In fact,she did not finish her university studies at Morningside College, inSioux City, Iowa.
She was born in Sioux City on July fourth, nineteen-eighteen. Herparents named her Esther Pauline Friedman. Esther’s younger sisterwas born a few minutes later. She was given the same two first namesin opposite order–Pauline Esther. The twins, Eppie and Popo as theywere called, had two older sisters.
Their father, Abraham Friedman had come to the United States fromRussia. He sold chickens when he first arrived. Soon, he became asuccessful businessman who owned movie theaters in several states.
Eppie said she owed a lot to her parents and her childhood in theMiddle West. She says both provided her with morals and values thathelped her a lot in life.
VOICE ONE:
Eppie Friedman was in college when she met Jules Lederer. Sheleft school to marry him in nineteen-thirty-nine. Mister Lederer wasa businessman. He helped establish a car service called BudgetRent-A-Car. It became very successful. Mister and Missus Lederer hadtheir first and only child, Margo, in Nineteen-Forty.
For years Eppie Lederer was happy to stay home and raise herchild while her husband’s business grew. They lived in Wisconsin atfirst. Missus Lederer became politically active in the DemocraticParty there.
In nineteen-fifty-five, the Lederers moved to Chicago, Illinois.That same year, the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper held a competitionamong its employees. The paper wanted to find a replacement for itsadvice columnist who wrote under the name Ann Landers. Eppie Ledererheard about the competition from a friend at the paper and decidedto enter. She was one of thirty people who sought the job.
The competition was simple. Competitors were given severalletters from people requesting help on different issues. The personwho wrote the answers the newspaper officials liked best would winthe job.
VOICE TWO:
Missus Lederer used the help of powerful friends to decide thebest advice. For example, one letter writer asked about a tree thatdropped nuts on her property. The tree grew on land owned by someoneelse. The letter writer wanted to know what she could do with thenuts.
Eppie Lederer decided that this was really a legal question soshe sought help from a friend who knew about the law. That friendjust happened to be a judge on the United States Supreme Court!
Another letter was about a Roman Catholic Church issue. So EppieLederer talked to the president of a famous Catholic university,Notre Dame.
The Chicago Sun Times reportedly called Missus Lederer a few daysafter the competition ended. When she answered the telephone anewspaper official said “Good Morning, Ann Landers.”
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VOICE ONE:
The new Ann Landers discovered the job was not easy. Shereportedly was deeply affected by many of the sad letters shereceived from troubled people. Missus Lederer later said that oneSun-Times editor helped her harden herself to those stories. He saidshe must separate herself from her readers and their problems. Shesaid she would not have been successful in her work if it were notfor that advice.
Ann Landers’ popularity grew quickly. She immediately establishedherself as different from advice writers of the past. She becameknown for her easy writing style and her often funny answers. Sherelated to her readers as if they were old friends. She seemed tosay exactly what she thought, even when doing so might hurt thefeelings of those seeking help. Most people considered Ann Landers’advice to be good, common sense.
For example, early in her work a young person wrote to ask AnnLanders opinion of sexual activity among teenagers. She explainedher objection to such activity by saying, “a lemon squeezed too manytimes is considered garbage.”
VOICE TWO:
As Ann Landers gained fame so did many of her words. People beganto repeat some her short, pointed sentences. One of the most famousof these was when she told readers to “wake up and smell thecoffee.” She would use this comment when advice seekers seemed to bedenying situations that made them unhappy or uncomfortable.
Another well-known Ann Landers saying was “forty lashes with awet noodle.” She would say this if she believed someone had donesomething mean, dishonest or just stupid. Ann Landers did notprotect herself from such criticism, however. She often publishedletters from readers who argued against advice she had given. Whenshe agreed with their criticism, she sometimes ordered the fortylashes for herself!
Ann Landers took a lot of risks in her column. She spoke outabout many issues that some people considered offensive or sociallyunacceptable. She discussed homosexuality, alcoholism, drugdependency and mistreatment of children by parents to list a few.
VOICE ONE:
Ann Landers also spoke out on political issues. She expressed herstrong opposition to American involvement in the conflict inVietnam. She was a major supporter of gun control and the right of awoman to choose to end a pregnancy. She also supported using animalsin medical research.
These opinions made her an enemy of several groups, including theNational Rifle Association, abortion opponents, and animalprotection organizations. But, their pressure did not appear toworry Ann Landers. In fact, she once said she felt proud that thesegroups hated her.
Her political activism was sometimes powerful. She expressed hersupport of legislation for cancer research in her column innineteen-seventy-one. President Richard Nixon received hundreds ofthousands of copies of the column from Ann Landers readers. He soonsigned the one-hundred-million dollar National Cancer Act.
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VOICE TWO:
In nineteen-seventy-five, Eppie Lederer’s life changed. Herhusband, Jules, told her he was involved with another woman. Thatrelationship had been going on for several years. Mister and MissusLederer separated.
This experience affected Ann Landers’ advice about seriouslytroubled marriages. She had always advised couples to stay togetherto avoid hurting their children. After her separation from herhusband she wrote a column about her decision to end her marriage.She received tens of thousands of letters from her readers offeringtheir support and sympathy.
Ann Landers continued to suggest that a husband and wife in atroubled marriage seek counseling. But she was now more willing toconsider that a marriage might be beyond repair.
VOICE ONE:
Eppie Lederer’s sister Popo also became an advice columnist. Hercolumn was called Dear Abby. Like Ann Landers, Dear Abby waspublished in thousands of newspapers. Some reports say thecompetition between the two advice columns led to a dispute betweenthe twin sisters. They reportedly did not speak for five years.
Eppie Lederer’s daughter Margo Howard is an advice columnist aswell. But, neither her daughter or her sister won the kind of fameand following that Ann Landers did. Her column appeared in TheChicago Tribune and about one-thousand-two-hundred other newspapersaround the world. Her advice reached tens of millions of peopleevery day. That was her goal. She said having many readers was moreimportant to her than winning a famous prize.
VOICE TWO:
In January two-thousand-two, doctors discovered that EppieLederer had multiple myeloma. It is a very serious form of cancer ofthe bone marrow. Her death came just six months later, on Junetwenty-second. She was eighty-three.
Eppie Lederer owned the rights to the Ann Landers name and didnot want it to be used after she died. So millions of people aroundthe world have received the last words of advice from Ann Landers.
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VOICE ONE:
This VOA Special English program was written and produced by CatyWeaver. I’m Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another Peoplein America program on the Voice of America.