Anna Louise Strong, the daughter of Sydney Dix Strong, was born on 24th November, 1885 in Friend, Nebraska. Her father was a minister in the Congregational Church and was active in missionary work. Strong, like most people on the left, welcomed the Russian Revolution. In 1921 she travelled to Russia as a member of the Quaker Relief Mission. In 1922 she became the Moscow correspondent of the International News Service. Over the next few years Strong developed a reputation for being sympathetic to the Bolshevik government. Strong published several books on Russia including The First Time in History: Two Years of Russia's New Life (1925), Children of Revolution; Story of the John Reed Children's Colony on the Volga (1925), New Lives for Old in Today's Russia: What Has Happened to the Common Folk of the Soviet Republic (1927), How the Communists Rule Russia (1927), Workers' Life in Soviet Russia (1927) and Red Villages: The 5-year plan in Soviet Agriculture (1932)