In the early 1960s Eileen Shanahan was the first female reporter in the New York Times Washington Bureau to cover anything other than first ladies. After 14 years at the Times, she became a named plaintiff in the sex discrimination lawsuit against them in 1974. She went on to be a spokesperson for the Carter Administration and later a managing editor at a number of other papers. This is the first half of a two part interview conducted by the Washington Press Club Foundation’s “Women in Journalism” project.