Ruth Elizabeth "Bazy" Tankersley (née McCormick, formerly Miller; March 7, 1921 – February 5, 2013) was an American breeder of Arabian horses and a newspaper publisher.

Although Tankersley was involved with conservative Republican causes as a young woman, including a friendship with Senator Joseph McCarthy, her progressive roots reemerged in later years.

When her mother remarried, the family moved to the southwestern United States, where Tankersley spent considerable time riding horses.

Upon her move to Washington, DC, her Al-Marah operation relocated to Montgomery County, Maryland, where by 1957 it was the largest Arabian farm in the United States.

Most remaining stock went to her son, Mark Miller, who moved the Al-Marah Arabian farm name and horse operation to his home base near Clermont, Florida.

[10] Her interest in Arabian horses led her to meeting several major breeders of the time, including Jimmie Dean of Traveler's Rest, Roger Selby, W. R. Brown and Carl Raswan.

[15] She divorced Miller in 1951 to marry Garvin E. "Tank" Tankersley, an editor at the Washington Times-Herald ten years older than she was.

[19] McCormick's attempts to end the relationship ultimately prompted the couple to elope,[11] and they were married for 45 years until Garvin's death in 1997.

[20] Tankersley later described herself as a friend of Senator Joseph McCarthy,[8] and in 1952, she advocated for the removal of Guy Gabrielson as chair of the Republican National Committee.

[21] Noting her earlier strong affiliation with the Republican party and conservative politics, The Washington Post reported that in 2008 she voted for Barack Obama.

[23][a] In 1949, her uncle, "Colonel" Robert R. McCormick, appointed her as the publisher of the family-owned Washington Times-Herald,[2] an "isolationist and archconservative" paper known for sensationalism.

[8][24] McCormick had purchased it following the 1948 death of Eleanor Medill "Cissy" Patterson, his first cousin,[19] and wanted Bazy to use the paper to create "an outpost of American principles".

[21] The Pearson lawsuit was a $5.1 million cause he filed against multiple defendants, including McCarthy and the Times-Herald, Westbrook Pegler and Fulton Lewis, alleging they had "contrived ... to hold plaintiff up to public scorn and ridicule".

[19][24] When he announced the sale, one of the paper's board members insisted that Bazy Tankersley be given a chance to purchase it, so McCormick gave her 48 hours to match the $10 million asking price.

[19] After the sale, she continued to write a newspaper column for the Post,[2] but also turned her attention to raising Arabian horses as a full-time occupation.

[29] Mark Miller stated that the name Al-Marah was selected by Carl Raswan,[31] who said it was Arabic for "a verdant garden oasis".

[11] She consistently used bloodlines from the Crabbet Arabian Stud, both via horses descended from early American importations as well as her own purchases from the estate of Lady Wentworth in the late 1950s.

This unbroken line gives rise to Miller's assertion that the Al-Marah herd is the "oldest continuously-bred, privately-owned band of Arabians in the world".

In that year, Lady Wentworth, owner of the Crabbet Arabian Stud, died and a number of horses were made available for sale.

[32] Following these importations, Tankersley began to build her breeding program around two Crabbet sire lines, which she called the Double R cross.

[40] In 1958, Tankersley added to her Double R program when she leased and imported the Rissalix son *Count Dorsaz, a Hanstead-bred horse.

[43] In her early years, she also looked for "golden crosses",[e] such as breeding offspring of Indraff to progeny of the Maynesboro-bred stallion Gulastra.

[36] In the 2000s, continuing her pattern of seeking "golden crosses", she imported the stallion *Bremervale Andronicus from Australia, an outcross for her intensely Crabbet-based bloodlines.

[47] The Hat Ranch was home to her young stock, allowing them to live free in an open range setting for two years before beginning training.

[48] The ranch also hosted the Straw Bale Forums where politicians, conservation leaders and academics could meet and discuss major issues.

[49] In 1973, Tankersley created an apprenticeship program to train people both for work as employees at her ranch and for positions elsewhere in the horse industry.

[4] The Hat Ranch had a conservation easement with rights to more than 1,500 acres (610 ha) given to the Grand Canyon Trust to prevent further development.

[21] Tankersley's longtime employee, Jerry Hamilton, continued to manage the Hat Ranch for Miller as a home for young horses bred by Al-Marah.

"[29] She was also noted for a strong personality, as her friend, Hermann Bleibtreu of the University of Arizona explained: "If she was in any position of leadership or power, she was dominant.

[21] She supported renewable energy, smart growth, and water conservation, and promoted reform of state land management.