Sarah Newcomb McClendon (July 8, 1910 – January 8, 2003) was a long-time White House reporter who covered presidential politics for a half century. McClendon founded her own freelance news service as a single mother in the post-World War II era, and became known as a model for women in the press and as a vocal advocate of various causes, particularly those of United States military veterans. McClendon was best known, however, for posing sharp, blunt questions at United States presidential press conferences. Early life The youngest of nine children, McClendon was born July 8, 1910 and reared in Tyler, Texas. McClendon's birthplace is listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Smith County, is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and a Tyler Historical Landmark. McClendon graduated from Tyler Junior College in 1928, and from the University of Missouri's School of Journalism in 1931. After graduation, McClendon worked for the Tyler Courier-Times, the Tyler Morning Telegraph where she covered the New London School explosion, and for The Beaumont Enterprise. As a reporter for the Beaumont Enterprise, McClendon wrote a series of articles criticizing the Women's Army Auxililiary Corps—the very branch of the service in which she would soon enlist. Career Military career With America's entry into World War II, McClendon volunteered to serve in the United States Army. After learning that she did not have the academic qualifications to join military intelligence, McClendon enlisted in the Women's Army Auxililiary Corps, and reported for duty in September, 1942. McClendon initially served in the WAAC's public relations department, then attended Officer Candidate School, was promoted to Lieutenant and eventually was assigned the Army Surgeon General's office as a public relations officer., After insisting on her full rights and privileges as a first lieutenant, McClendon was the first Army officer to give birth at a military hospital, Walter Reed Hospital. As a result of the pregnancy, McClendon was honorably discharged from the military, also in June 1944. A single mother, McClendon used her Washington, D.C. press connections to obtain a job as a Washington correspondent, starting work the same month as her daughter's birth. Washington, D.C. career In June 1944, after McClendon's discharge from the Women's Army Corps, famed newspaperman Bascom N. Timmons hired McClendon as a Washington, D.C. correspondent for the Philadelphia Daily News. In 1946, when Timmons discharged McClendon to make room for reporters returning from service in World