Mitford, Jessica Lucy

▪ 1997

      British-born U.S. writer and journalist (b. Sept. 11, 1917, Gloucester, Eng.—d. July 23, 1996, Oakland, Calif.), was known as "queen of the muckrakers" for her investigative works on such aspects of U.S. life as the funeral industry, the prison system, and the medical profession. Mitford, known as "Decca" to friends and family, was one of seven children in an eccentric aristocratic family; her sister Unity was an ardent follower of Adolf Hitler, her sister Diana married British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, and her parents and brother were also fascist sympathizers. Another sister, Nancy, was a famous novelist. Mitford eloped (1937) with a distant cousin, Esmond Romilly, Winston Churchill's nephew, and went to Spain to fight for the communists in the Spanish Civil War. They were married shortly thereafter and in 1939 moved to the U.S. Romilly, who had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, was killed in action (1941) in World War II, and in 1943 Mitford married lawyer Robert Treuhaft. She became a U.S. citizen the following year. The couple were members of the American Communist Party until 1958, and Mitford was active in the civil rights movement. As a result, she was considered a subversive and was summoned to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Mitford began her writing career with the self-published pamphlet Lifeitselfmanship (1956). Her first book, the autobiographical Daughters and Rebels (1960), was followed by the one that established her reputation. The American Way of Death (1963), a caustic exposé of unscrupulous practices in the funeral industry, was a best-seller and led to a Federal Trade Commission investigation. Other books included The Trial of Dr. Spock (1969), about the trial of the pediatrician and four others on conspiracy charges resulting from anti-Vietnam War activities; Kind and Usual Punishment: The Prison Business (1973), a study condemning the U.S. prison system; A Fine Old Conflict (1977), an autobiographical account of her time as a communist; and The American Way of Birth (1992), a criticism of U.S. obstetric care. She also exposed the Famous Writers School as a fraud. Shortly before her death, Mitford prepared a revised edition of The American Way of Death, to be published in 1997.

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