Ruth Russell

Ruth Russell was an American journalist for the Chicago Daily News. She is especially remembered for reporting from Ireland in 1919 and 1920, when she covered the early phase of the Irish War of Independence and wrote vividly about life in Dublin, including the struggles of poor women and children.

After returning to the United States, she expanded her reporting into the 1920 book What’s the Matter with Ireland? Her work showed sympathy for Irish independence, and accounts of her career note that she later protested outside the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and testified before the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland.

Although not widely known today, her reporting has continued to attract interest from historians and readers looking back at American eyewitness writing on revolutionary Ireland. What stands out most is the combination of firsthand observation, social concern, and a willingness to report from the middle of political upheaval.