Benjamin C. Bradlee
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (born August 26, 1921) is a vice president at-large of The Washington Post
. As executive editor of the Post from 1968 to 1991, he became a national figure during the presidency of Richard Nixon, when he challenged the federal government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers
and oversaw the publication of Bob Woodward
and Carl Bernstein
's stories documenting the Watergate scandal
.
Crowninshield family
, Bradlee was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 26, 1921,
His father was Frederick Josiah Bradlee Jr.
(1892–1970), a direct descendant of John Bradley – the first of the Bradleys to come to America – who in 1630 helped build what is now Dorchester, Massachusetts. His mother, Josephine de Gersdorff (1896–1975), was awarded the Legion of Honor for helping keep children safe from Nazi Germany and France during World War II
.
Bradlee's maternal grandfather, Carl August de Gersdorff (1865–1944), was a wealthy New York lawyer, and his maternal grandmother was Helen Suzette Crowninshield (1868–1941), daughter of artist Frederic Crowninshield
(1845–1918), another member of the Crowninshield family.
His great-great-uncle was American lawyer and Ambassador Joseph Hodges Choate
; and his great-uncle (and cousin second removed) was Francis "Frank" Welch Crowninshield
, the creator and editor of Vanity Fair
, and a roommate of Conde Nast
.
Bradlee attended Dexter School
before finishing at St. Mark's School
. He received his naval commission two hours after graduating in 1942, joined the Office of Naval Intelligence
and worked as a communications officer in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. His duties included handling classified and coded cables. The main ship on which Bradlee served was a destroyer, the USS Philip
. He fought off the shores of Guam and arrived at Guadalcanal
with the Second Fleet; his main battles were Vella Lavella
, Saipan, Tinian, and Bougainville. He also fought in the biggest naval battle ever fought, the Battle of Leyte Gulf
in the Philippines. He made every landing in the Solomon Islands campaign
and Philippines campaign.
When Bradlee married for the first time, it was to Jean Saltonstall
. They had one son, Ben Bradlee Jr., who was raised in Cambridge by his mother and her second husband, Bill Haussermann. Ben Bradlee Jr. is a former deputy managing editor of The Boston Globe
.
: First Battle of Tulagi, Battle of Vella Lavella, and the Battle of Bouganville. The next two battles that he fought in were during the Guadalcanal Campaign
: Battle of Henderson Field, The Naval Battle of Guadalcanall; he arrived at Guadal Canal with the Second Fleet on the USS Philip. The next five battles that he fought in were during the Philippines Campaign
: The Battle of Letye Gulf also known as The Second Battle of the Philippine Sea, The Battle of Mindoro, The Battle of Manila, The Battle of Surigao Straits, and The Invasion of Lingayen Gulf. The next and last three battles the he fought in were during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
: The Battle of Saipan, The Battle of Tinian, and The Battle of Guam.
After the war, in 1946, Bradlee Sr. became a reporter at the New Hampshire Sunday News, a venture he helped launch. In 1948 he started working for The Washington Post
as a reporter. He got to know associate publisher Philip Graham, who was the son-in-law of the publisher, Eugene Meyer
. On November 1, 1950, Bradlee was alighting from a streetcar in front of the White House just as two Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to shoot their way
into Blair House
in an attempt to kill President Harry S. Truman
. In 1951 Graham helped Bradlee become assistant press attaché
in the American embassy in Paris, France.
, a means of disseminating pro-American "cultural information" worldwide. While at the USIE, according to a Justice Department memo from an assistant U.S. attorney in the Rosenberg Trial, Bradlee was helping the CIA manage European propaganda regarding the spying conviction and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
on June 19, 1953.
Bradlee was officially employed by USIE until 1953, when he began working for Newsweek. While based in France, Bradlee divorced his first wife and married Antoinette Pinchot. At the time of the marriage, Antoinette's sister, Mary Pinchot Meyer
, was married to Cord Meyer
, a key figure in Operation Mockingbird
, a CIA program to influence the media.
Antoinette Bradlee was also a close friend of Cicely d'Autremont, who was married to James Jesus Angleton
. Bradlee worked closely with Angleton in Paris. At the time, Angleton was liaison for all Allied intelligence in Europe. His deputy was Richard Ober, a fellow student with Bradlee at Harvard University.
In 1957, while working as a reporter for Newsweek
, Bradlee created controversy when he interviewed members of the FLN
. They were Algeria
n guerrillas who were in rebellion against the French government at the time. According to Deborah Davis, author of Katharine the Great about Katharine Graham
, this had all the "earmarks of an intelligence operation." As a result of these interviews, Bradlee was given an expulsion order from France; however, the order was suspended and finally repealed.
, who lived nearby. In 1960 he toured with both Kennedy and Richard Nixon
in their presidential campaigns. He later wrote a book, Conversations With Kennedy (W.W. Norton, 1975), recounting their relationship during those years. Bradlee was, at this point, Washington Bureau chief for Newsweek, a position from which he helped negotiate the sale of the magazine to the Washington Post holding company. Bradlee maintained that position until being promoted to managing editor at the Post in 1965. He became executive editor in 1968 and, in 1978, married fellow journalist Sally Quinn
. Quinn and Bradlee have one child, Quinn Bradlee
, who was born in 1982 when she was 41 and Bradlee was 61. In 2009, they appeared with Quinn Bradlee on the Charlie Rose
show on PBS
and spoke of their son's having been born with Velo-cardio-facial syndrome, also known as DiGeorge syndrome
and Shprintzen syndrome (named after Dr. Robert Shprintzen who first identified the disorder in 1978 and also diagnosed Quinn Bradlee).
Bradlee retired as the executive editor of the "Post" in September 1991, but continues to serve as its Vice President At Large.
Under Bradlee's leadership, The Washington Post took on major challenges during the Nixon Administration. In 1971 The New York Times
and the Post successfully challenged the government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers
. One year later, Bradlee backed reporters Bob Woodward
and Carl Bernstein
as they probed the break-in at the Democratic National Committee
Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel. According to Bradlee: “You had a lot of Cuban or Spanish-speaking guys in masks and rubber gloves, with walkie-talkies, arrested in the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at 2:00 in the morning. What the hell were they in there for? What were they doing? The follow-up story was based primarily on their arraignment in court, and it was based on information given our police reporter, Al Lewis, by the cops, showing them an address book that one of the burglars had in his pocket, and in the address book was the name ‘Hunt,’ H-u-n-t, and the phone number was the White House phone number, which Al Lewis and every reporter worth his salt knew. And when, the next day, Woodward -- this is probably Sunday or maybe Monday, because the burglary was Saturday morning early -- called the number and asked to speak to Mr. Hunt, and the operator said, ‘Well, he's not here now; he's over at,’ such-and-such a place, gave him another number, and Woodward called him up, and Hunt answered the phone, and Woodward said, ‘We want to know why your name was in the address book of the Watergate burglars.’ And there is this long, deathly hush, and Hunt said, ‘Oh my God!’ and hung up. So you had the White House. You have Hunt saying ‘Oh my God!’ At a later arraignment, one of the guys whispered to a judge. The judge said, ‘What do you do?’ and Woodward overheard the words ‘CIA.’ So if your interest isn't whetted by this time, you're not a journalist.” Ensuing investigations of suspected cover-ups led inexorably to Congressional committees, conflicting testimonies, and ultimately, to the resignation of Richard Nixon
in 1974. For decades, Bradlee was one of only four publicly known people who knew the true identity of press informant Deep Throat, the other three being Woodward, Bernstein, and Deep Throat himself, who later revealed himself to be Nixon's FBI Associate Director Mark Felt.
In 1981, Post reporter Janet Cooke
won a Pulitzer Prize for "Jimmy's World", a profile of an eight-year-old heroin addict. Cooke's article turned out to be based on a fiction: there was no such addict. As executive editor, Bradlee was roundly criticized in many circles for failing to ensure the article's accuracy. After questions about the story's veracity arose, Bradlee (along with publisher Donald Graham
) ordered a "full disclosure" investigation to ascertain the truth. At one point during the investigation, Bradlee angrily compared Cooke with Richard Nixon
over her attempted coverup of the fake story. Bradlee personally apologized to Mayor Marion Barry
and the chief of police of Washington, D.C., for the Posts fictitious article. Cooke, meanwhile, was forced to resign and relinquish the Pulitzer.
, the 1993
remake of the 1950 romantic comedy.
On May 3, 2006, Bradlee received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Georgetown University
in Washington, D.C.. Prior to receiving the honorary degree, he taught occasional journalism courses at Georgetown.
In 1991 he was persuaded by then-Governor of Maryland William Donald Schaefer
to accept chairmanship of the Historic St. Mary's City Commission and continued in that position through 2003. He also served for 12 years as a member of the board of trustees at St. Mary's College of Maryland
, and endowed the Benjamin C. Bradlee Annual Lecture in Journalism there. He continues to serve as vice chairman of the school's board of trustees.
In the fall of 2005, Jim Lehrer
conducted six hours of interviews with Bradlee on a variety of topics—from the responsibilities of the press to the differences between Watergate and the Valerie Plame
case. The interviews were edited for an hour-long documentary called Free Speech: Jim Lehrer and Ben Bradlee, which premiered on PBS
on June 19, 2006.
in Georgetown, Washington, DC, The middle part of the house was built in 1792. They have also restored Porto Bello
in Drayden, Maryland
.
portrayed Bradlee in the film All the President's Men
, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. G.D. Spradlin played the role of Bradlee in Dick
, a spoof of Watergate. Henderson Forsythe
played Bradlee in the romantic comedy Chances Are
.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. As executive editor of the Post from 1968 to 1991, he became a national figure during the presidency of Richard Nixon, when he challenged the federal government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers
Pentagon Papers
The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967...
and oversaw the publication of Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....
and Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein is an American investigative journalist who, at The Washington Post, teamed up with Bob Woodward; the two did the majority of the most important news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations, the indictment of a vast number of...
's stories documenting the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
.
Early Life and Ancestry
A member of the Boston BrahminBoston Brahmin
Boston Brahmins are wealthy Yankee families characterized by a highly discreet and inconspicuous life style. Based in and around Boston, they form an integral part of the historic core of the East Coast establishment...
Crowninshield family
Crowninshield family
The Crowninshield family is an American family that has been prominent in seafaring, political and military leadership, and the literary world. The founder of the American family immigrated in the late 17th century from what is now Germany...
, Bradlee was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 26, 1921,
His father was Frederick Josiah Bradlee Jr.
Frederick Bradlee
Frederick Josiah Bradlee, Jr. was an American football player. He was a first-team All-American while attending Harvard University in 1914...
(1892–1970), a direct descendant of John Bradley – the first of the Bradleys to come to America – who in 1630 helped build what is now Dorchester, Massachusetts. His mother, Josephine de Gersdorff (1896–1975), was awarded the Legion of Honor for helping keep children safe from Nazi Germany and France during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Bradlee's maternal grandfather, Carl August de Gersdorff (1865–1944), was a wealthy New York lawyer, and his maternal grandmother was Helen Suzette Crowninshield (1868–1941), daughter of artist Frederic Crowninshield
Frederic Crowninshield
Frederic Crowninshield was an American artist and author.-Life:Crowningshield was born in Boston on November 27, 1845 into the Crowninshield family....
(1845–1918), another member of the Crowninshield family.
His great-great-uncle was American lawyer and Ambassador Joseph Hodges Choate
Joseph Hodges Choate
Joseph Hodges Choate , was an American lawyer and diplomat.-Biography:He was born in Salem, Massachusetts on January 24, 1832. He was the son of physician George Choate and the brother of George C. S. Choate. His father's first cousin was Rufus Choate...
; and his great-uncle (and cousin second removed) was Francis "Frank" Welch Crowninshield
Frank Crowninshield
Francis Welch Crowninshield , better known as Frank or Crownie , was an American journalist and art and theatre critic best known for developing and editing the magazine Vanity Fair for 21 years, making it a pre-eminent literary journal.-Personal life:Crowninshield was born June 24, 1872 in Paris,...
, the creator and editor of Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (American magazine 1913-1936)
Vanity Fair was an American society magazine published from 1913-1936. It was highly successful until the Great Depression led to it becoming unprofitable, and it was merged into Vogue magazine in 1936.-History:...
, and a roommate of Conde Nast
Condé Montrose Nast
Condé Montrose Nast was the founder of Condé Nast Publications, a leading American magazine publisher known for publications such as Vanity Fair, Vogue and The New Yorker.-Background:...
.
Bradlee attended Dexter School
Dexter School
Founded in 1926, the Dexter School is an independent school for boys located in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA. Its campus is also home to its sister school, Southfield, an independent school for girls founded in 1992....
before finishing at St. Mark's School
St. Mark's School
St. Mark’s School is a coeducational, Episcopal, preparatory school, situated on in Southborough, Massachusetts, from Boston. It was founded in 1865 as an all-boys' school by Joseph Burnett, a wealthy native of Southborough who developed and marketed the world-famous Burnett Vanilla Extract . ...
. He received his naval commission two hours after graduating in 1942, joined the Office of Naval Intelligence
Office of Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence was established in the United States Navy in 1882. ONI was established to "seek out and report" on the advancements in other nations' navies. Its headquarters are at the National Maritime Intelligence Center in Suitland, Maryland...
and worked as a communications officer in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. His duties included handling classified and coded cables. The main ship on which Bradlee served was a destroyer, the USS Philip
USS Philip (DD-498)
USS Philip , a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral John W. Philip ....
. He fought off the shores of Guam and arrived at Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
with the Second Fleet; his main battles were Vella Lavella
Vella Lavella
Vella Lavella is an island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It lies to the west of New Georgia, but is considered one of the New Georgia Group...
, Saipan, Tinian, and Bougainville. He also fought in the biggest naval battle ever fought, the Battle of Leyte Gulf
Battle of Leyte Gulf
The Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the "Battles for Leyte Gulf", and formerly known as the "Second Battle of the Philippine Sea", is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history.It was fought in waters...
in the Philippines. He made every landing in the Solomon Islands campaign
Solomon Islands campaign
The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942...
and Philippines campaign.
When Bradlee married for the first time, it was to Jean Saltonstall
Saltonstall family
The Saltonstall family is a Boston Brahmin family from the U.S. state of Massachusetts, notable for having had a family member attend Harvard University from every generation since Nathaniel Saltonstall—later one of the more principled judges at the Salem Witch Trials—graduated in 1659...
. They had one son, Ben Bradlee Jr., who was raised in Cambridge by his mother and her second husband, Bill Haussermann. Ben Bradlee Jr. is a former deputy managing editor of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
.
World War II
During WWII Bradlee was in the Navy and he had fought in total of thirteen naval battles; the first battles that he fought in were during the Solomon Islands CampaignSolomon Islands campaign
The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942...
: First Battle of Tulagi, Battle of Vella Lavella, and the Battle of Bouganville. The next two battles that he fought in were during the Guadalcanal Campaign
Guadalcanal campaign
The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II...
: Battle of Henderson Field, The Naval Battle of Guadalcanall; he arrived at Guadal Canal with the Second Fleet on the USS Philip. The next five battles that he fought in were during the Philippines Campaign
Philippines campaign
Philippines campaign may refer to various military campaigns that have been fought in the Philippine Islands, including:-Spanish colonial period :...
: The Battle of Letye Gulf also known as The Second Battle of the Philippine Sea, The Battle of Mindoro, The Battle of Manila, The Battle of Surigao Straits, and The Invasion of Lingayen Gulf. The next and last three battles the he fought in were during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Operation Forager, was an offensive launched by United States forces against Imperial Japanese forces in the Mariana Islands and Palau in the Pacific Ocean between June and November, 1944 during the Pacific War...
: The Battle of Saipan, The Battle of Tinian, and The Battle of Guam.
After the war, in 1946, Bradlee Sr. became a reporter at the New Hampshire Sunday News, a venture he helped launch. In 1948 he started working for The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
as a reporter. He got to know associate publisher Philip Graham, who was the son-in-law of the publisher, Eugene Meyer
Eugene Meyer
Eugene Isaac Meyer was an American financier, public official, publisher of the Washington Post newspaper. He served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1930 to 1933. He was the father of publisher Katharine Graham.-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, he was one of eight children of...
. On November 1, 1950, Bradlee was alighting from a streetcar in front of the White House just as two Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to shoot their way
Truman assassination attempt
The assassination attempt on U.S. President Harry S. Truman occurred on November 1, 1950. It was perpetrated by two Puerto Rican pro-independence activists, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, while the President resided at the Blair House. The attempt resulted in the deaths of White House Police...
into Blair House
Blair House
Blair House is the official state guest house for the President of the United States. It is located at 1651-1653 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., opposite the Old Executive Office Building of the White House, off the corner of Lafayette Park....
in an attempt to kill President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
. In 1951 Graham helped Bradlee become assistant press attaché
Attaché
Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency...
in the American embassy in Paris, France.
Government work
In 1952 Bradlee joined the staff of the Office of U.S. Information and Educational Exchange (USIE), the embassy's propaganda unit. USIE produced films, magazines, research, speeches, and news items for use by the CIA throughout Europe. USIE (later known as USIA) also controlled the Voice of AmericaVoice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
, a means of disseminating pro-American "cultural information" worldwide. While at the USIE, according to a Justice Department memo from an assistant U.S. attorney in the Rosenberg Trial, Bradlee was helping the CIA manage European propaganda regarding the spying conviction and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg and Julius Rosenberg were American communists who were convicted and executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war. The charges related to their passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union...
on June 19, 1953.
Bradlee was officially employed by USIE until 1953, when he began working for Newsweek. While based in France, Bradlee divorced his first wife and married Antoinette Pinchot. At the time of the marriage, Antoinette's sister, Mary Pinchot Meyer
Mary Pinchot Meyer
Mary Eno Pinchot Meyer was an American socialite, painter, former wife of Central Intelligence Agency official Cord Meyer and intimate friend of United States president John F. Kennedy, who was often noted for her desirable physique and social skills...
, was married to Cord Meyer
Cord Meyer
Cord Meyer, Jr. was an American Central Intelligence Agency official.-Early life:Meyer's father, Cord Meyer Sr., was a diplomat and former real estate developer. His grandfather, also called Cord Meyer, was a property developer and a chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee. He was...
, a key figure in Operation Mockingbird
Operation Mockingbird
Operation Mockingbird was a secret Central Intelligence Agency campaign to influence foreign media beginning in the 1950s.The activities, extent and even the existence of the CIA project remain in dispute: the operation was first called Mockingbird in Deborah Davis' 1979 book, Katharine the Great:...
, a CIA program to influence the media.
Antoinette Bradlee was also a close friend of Cicely d'Autremont, who was married to James Jesus Angleton
James Jesus Angleton
James Jesus Angleton was chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's counterintelligence staff from 1954 to 1975...
. Bradlee worked closely with Angleton in Paris. At the time, Angleton was liaison for all Allied intelligence in Europe. His deputy was Richard Ober, a fellow student with Bradlee at Harvard University.
In 1957, while working as a reporter for Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, Bradlee created controversy when he interviewed members of the FLN
National Liberation Front (Algeria)
The National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France.- Anticolonial struggle :...
. They were Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n guerrillas who were in rebellion against the French government at the time. According to Deborah Davis, author of Katharine the Great about Katharine Graham
Katharine Graham
Katharine Meyer Graham was an American publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period, the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon...
, this had all the "earmarks of an intelligence operation." As a result of these interviews, Bradlee was given an expulsion order from France; however, the order was suspended and finally repealed.
Washington Post
As a reporter in the 1950s, Bradlee became close friends with then-Senator John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, who lived nearby. In 1960 he toured with both Kennedy and Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
in their presidential campaigns. He later wrote a book, Conversations With Kennedy (W.W. Norton, 1975), recounting their relationship during those years. Bradlee was, at this point, Washington Bureau chief for Newsweek, a position from which he helped negotiate the sale of the magazine to the Washington Post holding company. Bradlee maintained that position until being promoted to managing editor at the Post in 1965. He became executive editor in 1968 and, in 1978, married fellow journalist Sally Quinn
Sally Quinn
Sally Sterling Quinn is an American author and journalist, who writes about religion for a blog at The Washington Post.-Personal:...
. Quinn and Bradlee have one child, Quinn Bradlee
Quinn Bradlee
Josiah Quinn Crowninshield Bradlee is an American author and filmmaker.Bradlee is the son of former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and journalist Sally Quinn. He went to the Lab School Of Washington DC until his tenth grade year...
, who was born in 1982 when she was 41 and Bradlee was 61. In 2009, they appeared with Quinn Bradlee on the Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...
show on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
and spoke of their son's having been born with Velo-cardio-facial syndrome, also known as DiGeorge syndrome
DiGeorge syndrome
22q11.2 deletion syndrome, which has several presentations including DiGeorge syndrome , DiGeorge anomaly, velo-cardio-facial syndrome, Shprintzen syndrome, conotruncal anomaly face syndrome, Strong syndrome, congenital thymic aplasia, and thymic hypoplasia is a syndrome caused by the deletion of a...
and Shprintzen syndrome (named after Dr. Robert Shprintzen who first identified the disorder in 1978 and also diagnosed Quinn Bradlee).
Bradlee retired as the executive editor of the "Post" in September 1991, but continues to serve as its Vice President At Large.
Under Bradlee's leadership, The Washington Post took on major challenges during the Nixon Administration. In 1971 The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and the Post successfully challenged the government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers
Pentagon Papers
The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967...
. One year later, Bradlee backed reporters Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....
and Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein is an American investigative journalist who, at The Washington Post, teamed up with Bob Woodward; the two did the majority of the most important news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations, the indictment of a vast number of...
as they probed the break-in at the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel. According to Bradlee: “You had a lot of Cuban or Spanish-speaking guys in masks and rubber gloves, with walkie-talkies, arrested in the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at 2:00 in the morning. What the hell were they in there for? What were they doing? The follow-up story was based primarily on their arraignment in court, and it was based on information given our police reporter, Al Lewis, by the cops, showing them an address book that one of the burglars had in his pocket, and in the address book was the name ‘Hunt,’ H-u-n-t, and the phone number was the White House phone number, which Al Lewis and every reporter worth his salt knew. And when, the next day, Woodward -- this is probably Sunday or maybe Monday, because the burglary was Saturday morning early -- called the number and asked to speak to Mr. Hunt, and the operator said, ‘Well, he's not here now; he's over at,’ such-and-such a place, gave him another number, and Woodward called him up, and Hunt answered the phone, and Woodward said, ‘We want to know why your name was in the address book of the Watergate burglars.’ And there is this long, deathly hush, and Hunt said, ‘Oh my God!’ and hung up. So you had the White House. You have Hunt saying ‘Oh my God!’ At a later arraignment, one of the guys whispered to a judge. The judge said, ‘What do you do?’ and Woodward overheard the words ‘CIA.’ So if your interest isn't whetted by this time, you're not a journalist.” Ensuing investigations of suspected cover-ups led inexorably to Congressional committees, conflicting testimonies, and ultimately, to the resignation of Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
in 1974. For decades, Bradlee was one of only four publicly known people who knew the true identity of press informant Deep Throat, the other three being Woodward, Bernstein, and Deep Throat himself, who later revealed himself to be Nixon's FBI Associate Director Mark Felt.
In 1981, Post reporter Janet Cooke
Janet Cooke
Janet Leslie Cooke is an American former journalist who became infamous when it was discovered that a Pulitzer Prize–winning story that she had written for The Washington Post had been fabricated.-Early career:...
won a Pulitzer Prize for "Jimmy's World", a profile of an eight-year-old heroin addict. Cooke's article turned out to be based on a fiction: there was no such addict. As executive editor, Bradlee was roundly criticized in many circles for failing to ensure the article's accuracy. After questions about the story's veracity arose, Bradlee (along with publisher Donald Graham
Donald E. Graham
Donald E. Graham is chief executive officer and Chairman of The Washington Post Company. He is also the director and chairman of Facebook Inc.- Early life :...
) ordered a "full disclosure" investigation to ascertain the truth. At one point during the investigation, Bradlee angrily compared Cooke with Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
over her attempted coverup of the fake story. Bradlee personally apologized to Mayor Marion Barry
Marion Barry
Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr. is an American Democratic politician who is currently serving as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia, representing DC's Ward 8. Barry served as the second elected mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991, and again as the fourth mayor from 1995...
and the chief of police of Washington, D.C., for the Posts fictitious article. Cooke, meanwhile, was forced to resign and relinquish the Pulitzer.
Other work
Bradlee published an autobiography in 1995, A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures. He had an acting role in Born YesterdayBorn Yesterday (1993 film)
Born Yesterday is a 1993 film based on Born Yesterday, a play by Garson Kanin. The film stars Melanie Griffith, John Goodman and Don Johnson. It was adapted by Douglas McGrath and directed by Luis Mandoki...
, the 1993
1993 in film
The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
remake of the 1950 romantic comedy.
On May 3, 2006, Bradlee received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
in Washington, D.C.. Prior to receiving the honorary degree, he taught occasional journalism courses at Georgetown.
In 1991 he was persuaded by then-Governor of Maryland William Donald Schaefer
William Donald Schaefer
William Donald Schaefer was an American politician who served in public office for 50 years at both the state and local level in Maryland. A Democrat, he was mayor of Baltimore from 1971 to 1987, the 58th Governor of Maryland from January 21, 1987 to January 18, 1995, and the Comptroller of...
to accept chairmanship of the Historic St. Mary's City Commission and continued in that position through 2003. He also served for 12 years as a member of the board of trustees at St. Mary's College of Maryland
St. Mary's College of Maryland
St. Mary's College of Maryland, established in 1840, is a public, secular liberal arts college located in St. Mary's City, Maryland. It is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges and designated as a Public Honors College . St. Mary's College is a small college, with about 2,000...
, and endowed the Benjamin C. Bradlee Annual Lecture in Journalism there. He continues to serve as vice chairman of the school's board of trustees.
In the fall of 2005, Jim Lehrer
Jim Lehrer
James Charles "Jim" Lehrer is an American journalist and the executive editor and former news anchor for PBS NewsHour on PBS, known for his role as a frequent debate moderator during elections...
conducted six hours of interviews with Bradlee on a variety of topics—from the responsibilities of the press to the differences between Watergate and the Valerie Plame
Valerie Plame
Valerie Elise Plame Wilson , known as Valerie Plame, Valerie E. Wilson, and Valerie Plame Wilson, is a former United States CIA Operations Officer and the author of a memoir detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation from the CIA.-Early life :Valerie Elise Plame was born on...
case. The interviews were edited for an hour-long documentary called Free Speech: Jim Lehrer and Ben Bradlee, which premiered on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
on June 19, 2006.
Present-day
Bradlee serves on The Washington Post's editorial board as vice president at large. Bradlee and Quinn live at two homes, the Todd Lincoln HouseLaird-Dunlop House
The Laird-Dunlop House, an historic mansion in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. The house stands at 3014 N Street N.W.-Design:The house is tripartite, with a central block set between eastern and western wings...
in Georgetown, Washington, DC, The middle part of the house was built in 1792. They have also restored Porto Bello
Porto Bello (Drayden, Maryland)
Porto Bello is a historic home located at Drayden, St. Mary's County, Maryland. It is a -story gambrel-roofed Flemish bond brick house built after 1742. It is located on a portion of the first grant of land recorded in the province of Maryland: West St...
in Drayden, Maryland
Drayden, Maryland
Drayden is an unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. West St. Mary's Manor was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Porto Bello was listed in 1972.-References:...
.
Depiction in popular culture
Actor Jason RobardsJason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
portrayed Bradlee in the film All the President's Men
All the President's Men (film)
All the President's Men is a 1976 Academy Award-winning political thriller film based on the 1974 non-fiction book of the same name by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two journalists investigating the Watergate scandal for The Washington Post...
, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. G.D. Spradlin played the role of Bradlee in Dick
Dick (film)
Dick is a 1999 American comedy film directed by Andrew Fleming from a script he wrote with Sheryl Longin. It is a parody retelling the events of the Watergate scandal which ended the presidency of Richard Nixon and features several cast members from Saturday Night Live.Kirsten Dunst and Michelle...
, a spoof of Watergate. Henderson Forsythe
Henderson Forsythe
Henderson Forsythe was an American actor. Forsythe was known for his role as Dr. David Stewart #2 on the soap opera As the World Turns, a role he played for 32 years, and for his work on the New York stage....
played Bradlee in the romantic comedy Chances Are
Chances Are (film)
Chances Are is a 1989 romantic comedy film written by Perry & Randy Howze and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Cybill Shepherd, Robert Downey, Jr., Ryan O'Neal, and Mary Stuart Masterson. The original music score was composed by Maurice Jarre.-Plot:...
.
Books
- Bradlee, Ben. Conversations With Kennedy (W W Norton & Co Inc, November 1, 1984) ISBN 978-0-393-30189-2
- Bradlee, Ben. A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures (Simon & Schuster, October, 1995) ISBN 978-0-684-80894-9
Ancestry
External links
- Bill Green, Washington Post Ombudsman 19 April 1981
- Website for Free Speech: Jim Lehrer with Ben Bradlee 19 June 2006
- Interview via kayotix.com from the BBC news programme HardtalkHARDtalkHardtalk is a flagship BBC television programme, consisting of in-depth half-hour one-on-one interviews.It is broadcast four days a week on BBC World News and the BBC News channel. Launched in 1997, much of its worldwide fame is due to its global reach via BBC World...
2 November 2006 - Ben Bradlee in Dick 8 August 1999
- illinois.edu
- mediabistro.com
- philly.com
- http://www.americanancestors.org/boston-cousins-of-queen-victoria-and-yankee-ancestors/