Born in Hong Kong to a French mother and an Irish-American father, Marguerite Higgins (1920–1966) quickly built upon her cosmopolitan heritage, becoming fluent in English, French, and Chinese by the age of 12. Her instincts for survival appear to have been honed early in her life. She survived malaria as a child and endured her family’s financial uncertainties during the Great Depression. Growing up, Oakland, California, she witnessed her father turn to alcohol to cope with the financial downturn. Her mother took a job as a French teacher.
Already a brilliant young girl, she attended the prestigious Anna Head School in Berkeley, California, before attending the University of California-Berkeley to pursue a degree in journalism. She earned her degree in June 1941, about six months before America entered World War II. Fluent in multiple languages, quite familiar with the geography of certain global locations, and now with a journalism degree, she moved to New York City, hoping to land a position as a foreign correspondent. The male-dominated workforce proved insurmountable even for a woman of her skill level.
