Portal:Philadelphia/Selected biography/October 2008

Constance Drexel.

Constance Drexel, a naturalized American citizen and groundbreaking feature writer for U.S. newspapers, was indicted (but not tried or convicted) for treason in World War II for radio broadcasts from Berlin that extolled Nazi virtues. She had made a name for herself by claiming, falsely, to be an heiress of the famous Drexel family of Philadelphia, descendants of Francis Martin Drexel (who founded the Drexel & Company banking empire) and his son Anthony Joseph Drexel (who founded Drexel University). Arrested in Vienna and jailed at war's end by American troops, she was released and allowed to return to the United States to live. The U.S. Department of Justice eventually dismissed the treason charges because her broadcasts were deemed not "political in nature."