Don Graham Interview: The History of The Washington Post

Former publisher Don Graham recalls the lessons he learned from serving in Vietnam, working as a police officer before becoming a reporter, and details the history of The Washington Post. Graham discusses why his mother Kay Graham as Publisher and Ben Bradlee as editor were both lucky to have one another and how they each cared about journalism in the same way.
Donald E. Graham was born on April 22, 1945, in Baltimore, Maryland. After graduating from Harvard University in 1966, Graham was drafted and served as an information specialist with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. He was a patrolman with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department from January 1969 to June 1970. Graham joined The Washington Post newspaper in 1971 as a reporter. His grandfather Eugene Meyer purchased the Post at a bankruptcy sale in 1933. His father was president of The Washington Post Company from 1947 until his death in 1963 and his mother served in a variety of executive positions from 1963 until her death in 2001. Graham was publisher of the Post from January 1979 until September 2000. He was chief executive officer of Graham Holdings Company from May 1991 until November 2015. He served as the lead independent director of Facebook's board of directors from 2009 to 2015. Graham is a co-founder of TheDream.US, the largest national scholarship fund for DREAMers. Previously, he served as chairman of the District of Columbia College Access Program (DC-CAP).
From the HBO / Kunhardt Film Foundation (KFF) Documentary “The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee,” about one of America's most influential and celebrated newspaper editors, who found himself at the center of many of the 20th Century's most seismic storms, including: World War II, John F. Kennedy, Watergate and the fall of Richard Nixon.
Subscribe for access to interviews, series, films, and educational materials that address issues of social justice, history, politics, the arts, and culture by spotlighting relatable human stories of purpose and meaning. Learn about our work and how to support our mission here: www.lifestories.org/. For extended versions of these interviews and more, visit: / @lifestoriesinterviewa...
Follow us on Instagram: / lifestoriesinterviews
Don Graham, Former Publisher, The Washington Post
Interviewed By: John Maggio
Interview Date: January 17, 2017
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:18 Joining the D.C. police
02:24 Ben Bradlee’s time in the navy
04:21 Serving in the military
06:14 Ben Bradlee’s defiant character
07:32 Ben Bradlee’s appointment to The Washington Post
11:55 Ben Bradlee transforming the Post
13:20 Ben Bradlee’s sense of story
15:52 The early days of the Post
18:41 Newsweek
20:42 Kay Graham
26:33 Ben Bradlee turned a good newspaper into a great newspaper
29:59 The partnership between Ben Bradlee and Kay Graham
32:39 The Pentagon Papers
47:18 Kay Graham’s trust in Ben Bradlee
48:20 The business side of the Post
49:48 The style section
54:54 Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
56:30 Breaking the Watergate story
01:02:31 Unraveling the Watergate web
01:04:00 Watergate and Nixon’s downfall
01:06:15 The impact of All The President’s Men
01:10:05 Janet Cooke and the story that never happened
01:15:14 The aftermath of Janet Cooke’s story
01:20:13 The impact of Janet Cooke’s story on Ben Bradlee
01:22:15 Ben Bradlee’s insistence on truth and fairness
01:23:54 Ben Bradlee’s relationship with Kay Graham
01:30:01 The Post and Ben Bradlee’s lasting legacy
01:31:37 The job of a newspaper
01:32:34 Ben Bradlee’s success as editor
© Home Box Office and Kunhardt Film Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
#DonGraham #kunhardtfilmfoundation

[@tammyalbertsen9522]

I'm really enjoying all these separate interviews taken in connection with "Newspaperman." The straight documentary is fascinating, but these extended discussions give so much more additional insight.

[@lifestoriesinterviews]

That's great to hear! We'd love for you to check out our other full-length interviews if you're interested.
www.kunhardtfilmfoundation.org/interview-archive

[@alexanderh9878]

Outstanding interview. He's very forthcoming which is appreciated.

[@user-ql5yb2hs2p]

Seems like a family of integrity!!

[@bigcaptainschannel]

Fantastic story. I learned much.

[@maryboros-te8wn]

Wow, I wish this taught in high school., Not just when I was in school(80') but even more so now. I Th I think that this would show people that questioning what we are being told by the need but more importantly the government . And use hate or blind belief as our guides of what is fact - like I'm a trumper or I'm an extreme liberal . I know that this can and should be better written/expressed than how I have how I've written this opinion . I just wish we had more true investigational journalists not just headline ---journalism . when I try to watch the nightly news, it just comes across as "have i made the headlines and what is bottom line $
And I wish Regan hasn't gotten rid of the fairness law