Mercer and Brown helped mentor Goldsmith, which she appreciated. But Mercer also shared his opinion with her that women belonged at home, taking care of children, not in the working world. Brown, whose wife had been appointed head of public health for New York City, viewed himself a progressive. He valued Goldsmith’s contributions and told her she was like a daughter to him. Yet, that didn’t stop Brown from allowing inappropriate jokes to flow amid the group’s locker-room environment. “They told dirty jokes all the time; it was a sport,” she recalls. Goldsmith eventually quit, partly due to
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