American publisher Katharine Graham was the first woman to run a major U.S. newspaper in the 20th century. She led The Washington Post from 1963 to 1991, presiding over the paper as it covered the Watergate scandal and the subsequent disgrace and resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon.
Katharine Graham was a trailblazer among journalists, taking up the job when it was both uncommon and unpopular for women to work in the profession.
The child of a wealthy New York family, Katharine graduated from the University of Chicago in 1938. During her time in Chicago, her father mailed her copies of The Washington Post, which he purchased in 1933 and where she spent her summers working, to keep her up to date on the region’s news. After graduation, she moved to San Francisco, where she worked for the San Francisco News and helped cover a major strike by wharf workers. The next year, she moved to Washington and worked on the editorial staff of the Post and in the circulation department.
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1917
Born (USA)
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1963
Assumed leadership of The Washington Post
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1971
Published the Pentagon Papers
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1993
Inducted into the Global Business Hall of Fame
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1998
Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Biography
She married Philip L. Graham in 1940 and, after a tour in the army, Katharine’s father Eugene persuaded Philip to join the staff of The Washington Post as associate publisher while she continued to work for the paper and raise their children. In 1963, Philip committed suicide and Katharine assumed the presidency of the Washington Post Company, holding the title of publisher from 1969 to 1979. In 1968, Katharine named Ben Bradlee executive editor. Bradlee led the Post’s aggressive investigative reporting team, which in 1971 included the publication of the Pentagon Papers and unrelenting investigation of the infamous Watergate Scandal from 1972 to 1974. Under Katharine’s leadership during the Watergate years, the Post increased its circulation and became the most influential newspaper not only in the Washington, D.C., area but in the country.
Although Katharine retired from the Washington Post Company in 1991, she remained Chairman of the Board until her death in 2001; The Washington Post still retains a beautiful interactive story of Katharine on its website. In 1993, Katharine was inducted into the Global Business Hall of Fame. In 1997, she received the Freedom medal, part of the Four Freedoms Award. In 1998, Katharine published her memoir, which earned her the highest award in literature: the Pulitzer Prize. In 2000, she was named one of the 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the past 50 years by the International Press Institute and, following her death, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002.
“If we had failed to pursue the facts as far as they led, we would have denied the public any knowledge of an unprecedented scheme of political surveillance and sabotage.________
Let’s go. Let’s publish.
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A Global Force for Good
With the rise of the women’s movement in the 1960s and 1970s, Katharine’s management of the Post led her to promote gender equality within the company. She gave the initial seed money for Ms. magazine and supported the Equal Rights Amendment against the opinion of her editorial board.