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The industry-led attack on Carson began early. Former Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson is credited by some for framing it in its crudest terms in a letter to Dwight Eisenhower, but the remark was repeated so many times that its origin became inconsequential. Referring to Carson’s articles in The New Yorker, Benson supposedly wondered “Why a spinster with no children was so concerned about genetics?” His explanation was that she was “probably a Communist.” The question reflected increasing attention on Carson’s gender by those who commented on Silent Spring and its reserved author. The press was inordinately interested in Carson’s marital status. She was, after all, physically attractive, quiet, and feminine. A reporter from the Baltimore Sun asked her why she never married. “No time,” Rachel responded, and went on to say that she sometimes envied male writers who married because they had wives to take care of them, provide meals, and spare them from unnecessary interruptions.
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