Inez Early Robb (née Callaway; November 1900 – April 4, 1979) was an American journalist and war correspondent.
During the height of her career, she was a household name and one of the highest paid female reporters by 1938, writing a syndicated column that was carried by 140 newspapers.
After the war, she continued to write her column for INS until November 1953, when she began working as a columnist for Scripps-Howard and United Feature Syndicate.
Callaway was distressed, as she shared the industry's general disdain for the society pages, but with the encouragement of her editor, she accepted the position on a trial basis.
[9] In this role, she wrote about wide-ranging topics, including the wedding of Edward VIII, the coronation of King George VI, the opening of the Paris Exposition, the America's Cup races and the Golden Gloves tournament.
[12][5][8][9] A profile in Time noted that when the broker Richard Whitney crashed the market, Robb went to the Colony to see what people were saying about it.
[13] Robb did not consider herself a feminist, believing that female editors should not try to act like men in their jobs but to provide their own skills and viewpoints as women.
[15] In May 1941, Robb wrote a series of articles about the impact of women on the country's national defense program.
[23][24] Robb was frustrated by the restrictions on her reporting, protesting in a letter to General Dwight D. Eisenhower that she had been told she could only write about women despite being an accredited correspondent.
She wrote about the more harrowing aspects of war with levity, describing being unable to drink during air raids and the items she carried in case of injury.
[17] Robb and Nash visited the front to observe American forces retreat from an invasion by German soldiers, led by Erwin Rommel, and spent time with an evacuation hospital.
[23][24] In January 1946, Robb was one of the 314 correspondents to be honored with theater campaign ribbons for their service by the U.S. War Department.
The Air Transport Command had organized the trip to herald the return of tourism and invited journalists from the AP, the United Press International and the INS.
[35] Robb continued to cover international stories, including the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the Brussels World Fair.
[40] Her column was carried by 140 newspapers and some of her opinion pieces were compiled into a book titled Don't Just Stand There, which was published by David McKay Co. in 1962.
While on Meet the Press, she interviewed guests such as senator Joseph McCarthy, attorney general Newbold Morris and the pollster George Gallup.
She wrote more than 10,000 articles during her career, including a syndicated column five days a week which was carried nationwide in about 150 newspapers.