Inga Arvad - Newspaper Reporter

Newspaper Reporter

Arvad was the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende's beauty queen of 1931. She attended the Columbia School of Journalism in New York, and then moved to Washington D.C. where she worked as a columnist at the Washington Times-Herald. She met John F. Kennedy in Washington through his sister Kathleen nineteen years before he was sworn in as President of the United States. She was investigated by the FBI under the suspicion that she may have been a spy for Nazi Germany.

In 1935, as a freelance reporter, she interviewed Hitler and this connection to the dictator would color the rest of her life. She is thought to be among the few Scandinavians to interview Hitler. He granted her two interviews, or perhaps three. Arvad had scooped her colleagues earlier by reporting that Hermann Göring was soon to marry German actress, Emmy Sonnemann. She was invited to the wedding and met important Nazis. Through Joseph Goebbels she secured an interview with Hitler. In her article, a description of Hitler was later translated into English as: "You immediately like him. He seems lonely. The eyes, showing a kind heart, stare right at you. They sparkle with force." Arvad was Hitler's guest at the 1936 Summer Olympics, which led to her being investigated in America as a potential spy. Hitler had told her that she was a perfect example of Nordic Beauty. A photograph of her with Hitler surfaced and the FBI followed her, finding out that she was dating an American ensign. That the naval officer was Kennedy led to only greater scrutiny and suspicions that were never substantiated. Though she only wrote society news, and Arvad never agreed with Hitler's politics, this connection shadowed her professional life.