(YES, Another “J” – Another Johnson! Best read with Russian Vodka…)
Something happened to me on Saturday, October 29, 1960, a day that that I’ve never forgotten as it awakened my mind! I heard a presentation titled “The Russian Rulers Told Me”, given by Bea Johnson at the Missouri Association of Future Homemakers of America in Hendricks Hall on the campus of Central Missouri State College in my hometown of Warrensburg, Missouri. I had never heard of Bea but her words had a HUGE impact on me at the time. So, let me introduce Bea Thrailkill Johnson to you!
Bea was born in Warrensburg, Missouri to Florence (Coleman) and John Thrailkill on November 21, 1910. She attended College Laboratory School, and College High School, then enrolled at Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg before continuing her education at the University of Missouri – Columbia, receiving her degree in Journalism in 1932. (Of note – she transferred to MU at the insistence of her parents because they didn’t like the young man she was seeing at the time!)
After graduation Bea moved to Kansas City. She began her 26-year career as a radio and television personality, first at KMBC radio in 1936 using the name Joanne Taylor! Later she became the Women’s Director at KMBC television in 1952. She now had her own television show, a daily telecast titled Happy Home. During that time, she received national attention for her on camera interviews with Lady Astor, Aristotle Onassis, Prime Minister Nehru of India, J. Edgar Hoover and Marshal Zhukov of Russia. (Zhukov served as Chief of the General Staff, Minister of Defense and Presidium of Politburo.) She travelled to five continents and spoke in 47 states. She earned many awards for her radio and television work as well as many local and national awards for providing opportunities for women. She was named to the National Defense Advisory Committee and other national groups by presidents of both political parties and was active in local and national art and philanthropic organizations.
In 1955, Bea arranged for a group of American women journalists to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, for a worldwide broadcaster’s conference. Following the conference, Bea arranged for these women to receive press credentials from the White House as accredited correspondents to cover the Big Four Conference, there in Geneva. This conference was attended by United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Prime Minister Faure of France, Sir Anthony Eden, (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) and Premier Marshall Bulganin of Russia. There were six credentialed women from the United States and only two additional women from around the world allowed to cover the very important summit.
In 1959, Bea travelled to Russia where she was the first American – man or woman – to ever record and transcribe interviews with Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (President of the Soviet Union), Marshal Zhukov (who she had previously interviewed on her radio show in Kansas City) and other Kremlin dictators. She was the first woman from the free world to ever enter their offices, hear their voices and record unforgettable interviews regarding the “Russians of Russia”. A newspaper account reported that her tour was the “Reddest Red” carpet tour ever documented by any American in our history. Bea arranged the tour, accompanied by other American journalists, and upon her return to the United States, Bea took her lecture, “The Russian Rulers Told Me on tour – and thankfully to the FHA Conference I attended one Saturday in Warrensburg, Missouri.
I was so attentive to her words – never even having imagined that a woman could have experienced, or figured out how to travel to Geneva (let alone Russia) Her talk in Warrensburg, for me, was eye opening and I decided that perhaps I could accomplish something too that was out of the ordinary, verging on extraordinary and figure out how to do that. Then the women’s movement came along later – and I discovered it was possible! Though I grew up around very successful women, her words have guided me throughout my professional career! Gain knowledge, work hard, process well and your dreams can become your reality!
Bea’s recordings and documents are available at the University of Kansas City Library, the National Archives in Washington, D. C. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas provided a tribute to Bea in the Congressional Record after her death in 1976. You can find copies of her cookbooks on Amazon (featuring very fabulous recipes from very famous people), read more about her life online, and learn so much more!
I was fourteen years old on that day that changed my life!
By the way, she married R. Dean Johnson (her first date and the one her parents didn’t approve) in 1974. They remained happily married, with two daughters.