Photograph ©Mark Morosse of items in the Louise Bryant Papers at Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives.

Late in 1922, shortly after Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy, Bryant secured the first exclusive interview with him. Her assignment from the Hearst newspapers was to persuade Mussolini to write a bylined piece. He was dismissive when she first tried to reach him, sending back the reply, “Women should write about blue skies.” She persevered, and the essay, shown here in typescript and edited by Bryant for transmission by telegraph, was published in January 1923. Her own feature story about the dictator appeared a week later. As Bryant’s notes indicate, Mussolini was “against [women's] suffrage.” “I believe women must think only of beauty and the home,” he informed her.