After studying photography in St. Paul when was in her 20s, she moved to Washington to take a job at the Times-Herald before setting her sights on the White House job. Soon she became one of President Harry S. Truman's favorite photographers, being the only woman among a handful of photographers who traveled with Truman.
Her unique status made critics of some of her male colleagues, such as Washington Times-Herald columnist Tris Coffin, who complained in print that she used her feminine charms -- "smiled and teased" -- to persuade politicians to pose for her. Later, when Carpenter saw Coffin in the Senate restaurant, she sloshed a bowl of navy bean soup over his face, then stalked out. A photograph of the incident was published with the headline "Carpenter Nails Coffin."
An undated photo from Acme Telephoto: "Free-lance photographer Marion Carpenter demonstrates how she threw a bowl of Senate bean soup at columnist Tris Coffin in the Senate Dining room today. She objected to some remarks he made about her in his copyright column. Her aim was good and she scored a direct hit."
An undated photo from Acme Telephoto: "Free-lance photographer Marion Carpenter demonstrates how she threw a bowl of Senate bean soup at columnist Tris Coffin in the Senate Dining room today. She objected to some remarks he made about her in his copyright column. Her aim was good and she scored a direct hit."
According to what she told her friends late in life, a love affair with a married man may have helped end her career prematurely.
Carpenter's marriage to a Navy officer who abused her ended in divorce. In Washington, she fell in love with a Capitol journalist. When the affair ended, Carpenter remarried. Her new husband, a radio announcer, took her to Denver, where they had a son. By 1951, the marriage -- and her career -- were over. She was 31.
Back in St. Paul, Carpenter ran a wedding photo business and worked as a nurse to support her mother and child. Her later life is not well known.
Marion Carpenter died on October 29, 2002, at the age of 82 in the house on Margaret Street, nearly destitute, and alone except for her Rottweiler, Karl.
Among Carpenter's prized belongings is a book about Harry Truman, marked at a page where a photograph shows the president smelling a cherry blossom. Also in her belongings when she died were photos she took of Truman, which the president inscribed to "Miss Carpenter." One of those photos, which showed Truman striding uphill toward the Washington Monument, bears the message: "It's good exercise if you keep it up, but not for high-heeled shoes, Miss Carpenter." Even when she climbed a ladder to the top of the Capitol dome to take a picture almost 300 feet above ground in a skirt, newsmen found it hard to just be nice. A front-page photo of her, high on the ladder, was captioned: "This picture ought to prove you never can tell what a woman photographer will do next."
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Her unique status made critics of some of her male colleagues, such as Washington Times-Herald columnist Tris Coffin, who complained in print that she used her feminine charms -- "smiled and teased" -- to persuade politicians to pose for her. Later, when Carpenter saw Coffin in the Senate restaurant, she sloshed a bowl of navy bean soup over his face, then stalked out. A photograph of the incident was published with the headline "Carpenter Nails Coffin."
An undated photo from Acme Telephoto: "Free-lance photographer Marion Carpenter demonstrates how she threw a bowl of Senate bean soup at columnist Tris Coffin in the Senate Dining room today. She objected to some remarks he made about her in his copyright column. Her aim was good and she scored a direct hit."
An undated photo from Acme Telephoto: "Free-lance photographer Marion Carpenter demonstrates how she threw a bowl of Senate bean soup at columnist Tris Coffin in the Senate Dining room today. She objected to some remarks he made about her in his copyright column. Her aim was good and she scored a direct hit."
According to what she told her friends late in life, a love affair with a married man may have helped end her career prematurely.
Carpenter's marriage to a Navy officer who abused her ended in divorce. In Washington, she fell in love with a Capitol journalist. When the affair ended, Carpenter remarried. Her new husband, a radio announcer, took her to Denver, where they had a son. By 1951, the marriage -- and her career -- were over. She was 31.
Back in St. Paul, Carpenter ran a wedding photo business and worked as a nurse to support her mother and child. Her later life is not well known.
Marion Carpenter died on October 29, 2002, at the age of 82 in the house on Margaret Street, nearly destitute, and alone except for her Rottweiler, Karl.
Among Carpenter's prized belongings is a book about Harry Truman, marked at a page where a photograph shows the president smelling a cherry blossom. Also in her belongings when she died were photos she took of Truman, which the president inscribed to "Miss Carpenter." One of those photos, which showed Truman striding uphill toward the Washington Monument, bears the message: "It's good exercise if you keep it up, but not for high-heeled shoes, Miss Carpenter." Even when she climbed a ladder to the top of the Capitol dome to take a picture almost 300 feet above ground in a skirt, newsmen found it hard to just be nice. A front-page photo of her, high on the ladder, was captioned: "This picture ought to prove you never can tell what a woman photographer will do next."
View photographer in lucknow, candid photographer in lucknow
My grandfather was the waiter who served the soup in the Coffin incident and politely asked, Miss you did not like your soup....after the incident.
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