Lois Wille's Pulitzer Prizes
Having previously gained a reputation as an effective and socially conscious journalist, Lois Wille hit her stride with a Pulitzer Prize-winning series on women’s health in 1963.
“The key to it was whether women who depended on public aid for their health care were able to get contraceptive advice and contraceptives,” she said. “The issue then was- could Cook County public aid workers talk about contraception to women who asked them about it; and they couldn’t.”
Wille pursued the contentious story, despite facing adversity in her efforts to get her work published. The Chicago Daily News City Editor, Maurice “Ritz” Fisher, a devout Catholic, was apprehensive about putting out a story involving contraception. After Wille advocated for the need to run the piece, and Fisher allowed local Catholic priest and activist Monsignor John Egan to review it, it was published to acclaim and even legal effect.
“That eventually led to a change in policy, and the Pulitzer,” Wille said. Initially unaware of the story’s impact, Wille was vacationing in Egypt with her husband when she learned of the award. To their surprise, the couple received two cables at their hotel. “The first one I looked at said ‘Congratulations-Planned Parenthood of Chicago,’ and we thought, why is Planned Parenthood congratulating us for being on vacation? Then, the second one talked about the Pulitzer,” she said.
Years later, after transitioning to the position of editorial page editor at the Chicago Tribune, Wille was awarded her second Pulitzer in 1989. “That was just about the Chicago City Council, and I loved doing those editorials because Chicago had some aldermen then- it still has got some of them- that just said and did the most outrageous things.” Wille’s editorial concerned the overzealous response of city aldermen to a student art show at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) that included a depiction of then-mayor Harold Washington in women’s clothing.
“They tried to arrest the artist, and they took the picture away, I mean you know, they were just doing goofy things,” she said. “The funniest thing about that Pulitzer is that it was only a couple of years before [my husband] Wayne and I got our early retirement and fled.” Upon her exit from her long career in journalism, Wille was given what she deemed “sort of a farewell salute” from the Illinois General Assembly, including current Speaker of the House Mike Madigan.
“My farewell citation from the Illinois Legislature says that I have not been nice to them in the editorials,” said Wille. “I still have a copy of that, I’m very proud of it, and Mike Madigan is still the Speaker of the House. For all my complaining about him in editorials- didn’t hurt him one wit, and the Tribune is still complaining about him in editorials.”
“The key to it was whether women who depended on public aid for their health care were able to get contraceptive advice and contraceptives,” she said. “The issue then was- could Cook County public aid workers talk about contraception to women who asked them about it; and they couldn’t.”
Wille pursued the contentious story, despite facing adversity in her efforts to get her work published. The Chicago Daily News City Editor, Maurice “Ritz” Fisher, a devout Catholic, was apprehensive about putting out a story involving contraception. After Wille advocated for the need to run the piece, and Fisher allowed local Catholic priest and activist Monsignor John Egan to review it, it was published to acclaim and even legal effect.
“That eventually led to a change in policy, and the Pulitzer,” Wille said. Initially unaware of the story’s impact, Wille was vacationing in Egypt with her husband when she learned of the award. To their surprise, the couple received two cables at their hotel. “The first one I looked at said ‘Congratulations-Planned Parenthood of Chicago,’ and we thought, why is Planned Parenthood congratulating us for being on vacation? Then, the second one talked about the Pulitzer,” she said.
Years later, after transitioning to the position of editorial page editor at the Chicago Tribune, Wille was awarded her second Pulitzer in 1989. “That was just about the Chicago City Council, and I loved doing those editorials because Chicago had some aldermen then- it still has got some of them- that just said and did the most outrageous things.” Wille’s editorial concerned the overzealous response of city aldermen to a student art show at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) that included a depiction of then-mayor Harold Washington in women’s clothing.
“They tried to arrest the artist, and they took the picture away, I mean you know, they were just doing goofy things,” she said. “The funniest thing about that Pulitzer is that it was only a couple of years before [my husband] Wayne and I got our early retirement and fled.” Upon her exit from her long career in journalism, Wille was given what she deemed “sort of a farewell salute” from the Illinois General Assembly, including current Speaker of the House Mike Madigan.
“My farewell citation from the Illinois Legislature says that I have not been nice to them in the editorials,” said Wille. “I still have a copy of that, I’m very proud of it, and Mike Madigan is still the Speaker of the House. For all my complaining about him in editorials- didn’t hurt him one wit, and the Tribune is still complaining about him in editorials.”