Sally Quinn

Sally Sterling Quinn (born July 1, 1941) is an American author and journalist. She writes about religion for a blog at The Washington Post.

Sally Quinn was born in Savannah, Georgia, to Lt. General William Wilson "Buffalo Bill" Quinn (November 1, 1907 – September 11, 2000) and Sara Bette Williams (January 27, 1918 – September 26, 2004). Both are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Quinn has two siblings—Donna of Oakland, California, and William Jr. of Phoenix, Arizona.

Her father was an infantry officer who also served as an intelligence officer and played a key role in the transition of the United States intelligence service from the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As a US Army colonel in World War II, he helped coordinate the invasion of southern France in 1944 and captured Hermann Göring. Though he was not present, his regiment liberated Dachau concentration camp; he arrived the next day when he heard the news. From 1964 to 1966, he commanded the Seventh Army in Germany. Quinn wrote about his career in an autobiography, Buffalo Bill Remembers.

For many years, the Quinns lived on Connecticut Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C., where Bette Quinn was known for cooking and entertaining. Sally Quinn reported in CC Goldwater's HBO film Mr. Conservative that Senator Barry Goldwater spent much time with the Quinns, often staying at their home since his wife decided to remain in Arizona rather than D.C. while Congress was in session.

Quinn attended and graduated from Smith College in 1963.

Quinn began at The Washington Post with minimal experience, and was reportedly called by Ben Bradlee after a report of her pajama party in celebration of the election to Congress of Barry Goldwater Jr. The job interview included the following exchange.

"Can you show me something you've written?" asked Managing Editor Benjamin Bradlee. "I've never written anything," admitted Quinn. Pause. "Well," said Bradlee, "nobody's perfect." (A profile in Vanity Fair attributes the "Nobody's perfect" line to editorial-page editor Philip L. Geyelin.)

A notable incident of her career was her claim that Zbigniew Brzezinski, then the National Security Advisor, jokingly opened his fly in front of a reporter, a claim the Post retracted the following day.