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Maxine Cheshire, Post reporter and columnist with 'the guts of a cat burglar,' dies at 90
David Fahrenthold RetweetedMaxine Cheshire was the reporter who Sinatra called "scum" after she asked about his mob ties, who made JFK call the Post to complain she made the First Lady Cry, who worked the phones and chased scandals and enraged the powerful. Just a legend.
Link to tweet
Obituaries
Maxine Cheshire, Post reporter and columnist with ‘the guts of a cat burglar,’ dies at 90
By Matt Schudel
Jan. 29, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. EST
Maxine Cheshire applied for her first reporting job in her hometown of Harlan, Ky. ... “I know everything that goes on in this town,” Ms. Cheshire told the editor during her interview, “and if you give me a job so will you.” ... Her father was a lawyer in the tough coal-mining town in eastern Kentucky and represented the mineworkers union. Because of repeated assassination attempts, he wore a bulletproof vest to work every day. Her mother kept a gun in the house and had to use it on more than one occasion.
Ms. Cheshire knew a lot about Harlan, but she didn’t get the job. Of course, she was only 5 at the time. ... Sixteen years later, she did become a reporter at the Harlan Daily Enterprise, one of the first steps in a journalism career that ultimately led her to The Washington Post, where she was a tenacious reporter and society columnist for more than 25 years.
Maxine Cheshire in 1978. (Jack Owens/Denver Post/Getty Images)
Ms. Cheshire, who embarrassed occupants of the White House, uncovered the “Koreagate” influence-peddling scandal of the 1970s and faced the fury of at least one peeved Hollywood star, died Dec. 31 at her home in McAllen, Tex. She was 90. ... The cause was cardiovascular disease, said a son, Marc Cheshire.
{snip}
One of her most celebrated confrontations occurred on the night of Jan. 20, 1973, Nixon’s second inauguration. Among the celebrities in Washington for the event was Frank Sinatra, who had become friendly with Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. ... A year earlier, Ms. Cheshire had asked Sinatra, “Do you think your Mafia ties might prove embarrassing to the vice president?” When she ran into him again at a midnight breakfast at the Fairfax Hotel, it was clear that Sinatra had not forgotten.
“Get away from me, you scum,” he said, according to a Post story. “Go home and take a bath. Print that, Miss Cheshire. I don’t want to talk to you.” ... With about 30 bystanders watching, Sinatra continued his tirade: “You’re nothing but a $2 broad, you know that,” he said, using an obscene epithet.
{snip}
Matt SchudelMatt Schudel has been an obituary writer at The Washington Post since 2004. He previously worked for publications in Washington, New York, North Carolina and Florida. Follow https://twitter.com/MattSchudel
Maxine Cheshire, Post reporter and columnist with ‘the guts of a cat burglar,’ dies at 90
By Matt Schudel
Jan. 29, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. EST
Maxine Cheshire applied for her first reporting job in her hometown of Harlan, Ky. ... “I know everything that goes on in this town,” Ms. Cheshire told the editor during her interview, “and if you give me a job so will you.” ... Her father was a lawyer in the tough coal-mining town in eastern Kentucky and represented the mineworkers union. Because of repeated assassination attempts, he wore a bulletproof vest to work every day. Her mother kept a gun in the house and had to use it on more than one occasion.
Ms. Cheshire knew a lot about Harlan, but she didn’t get the job. Of course, she was only 5 at the time. ... Sixteen years later, she did become a reporter at the Harlan Daily Enterprise, one of the first steps in a journalism career that ultimately led her to The Washington Post, where she was a tenacious reporter and society columnist for more than 25 years.
Maxine Cheshire in 1978. (Jack Owens/Denver Post/Getty Images)
Ms. Cheshire, who embarrassed occupants of the White House, uncovered the “Koreagate” influence-peddling scandal of the 1970s and faced the fury of at least one peeved Hollywood star, died Dec. 31 at her home in McAllen, Tex. She was 90. ... The cause was cardiovascular disease, said a son, Marc Cheshire.
{snip}
One of her most celebrated confrontations occurred on the night of Jan. 20, 1973, Nixon’s second inauguration. Among the celebrities in Washington for the event was Frank Sinatra, who had become friendly with Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. ... A year earlier, Ms. Cheshire had asked Sinatra, “Do you think your Mafia ties might prove embarrassing to the vice president?” When she ran into him again at a midnight breakfast at the Fairfax Hotel, it was clear that Sinatra had not forgotten.
“Get away from me, you scum,” he said, according to a Post story. “Go home and take a bath. Print that, Miss Cheshire. I don’t want to talk to you.” ... With about 30 bystanders watching, Sinatra continued his tirade: “You’re nothing but a $2 broad, you know that,” he said, using an obscene epithet.
{snip}
Matt SchudelMatt Schudel has been an obituary writer at The Washington Post since 2004. He previously worked for publications in Washington, New York, North Carolina and Florida. Follow https://twitter.com/MattSchudel