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Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (, 1921 – , 2014) was an American journalist who served as managing editor and later as executive editor of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', from 1965 to 1991. He became a public figure when the ''Post'' joined ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' in publishing the Pentagon Papers and gave the go-ahead for the paper's extensive coverage of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. He was also criticized for editorial lapses when the ''Post'' had to return a
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
in 1981 after it discovered that its award-winning story was false. After his retirement, Bradlee continued to be associated with the ''Post'', holding the position of Vice President at-large until his death. In retirement, Bradlee was an advocate for education and the study of history, including his role as a trustee on the boards of several major educational, historical, and archaeological research institutions.


Early life and education

Ben Bradlee was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Frederick Josiah Bradlee, Jr., who was from the Boston Brahmin Bradlee family and who was an investment banker, and Josephine de Gersdorff, daughter of a Wall Street lawyer. His great uncle was Frank Crowninshield, founder and first editor of '' Vanity Fair''. Bradlee was the second of three children; his siblings were older brother Frederick, a writer and Broadway stage actor, and younger sister Constance. The children grew up in a wealthy family with domestic staff. They learned French from governesses, took piano and riding lessons, and went to the symphony and the opera; but the stock market crash of 1929 cost Bradlee's father his job, and he took on whatever work he could find to support his family, including selling deodorants and molybdenum mining stock "for companies founded and financed by some of his rich pals", according to his son Ben Bradlee. His father's career opportunities improved later, serving as a financial consultant to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and being appointed to the Massachusetts State Parole Board in 1945, of which he was president for ten years until his retirement in 1957. With the help of wealthy relatives, Bradlee was able to continue his education at Dexter School, and to finish high school at St. Mark's School, where he played varsity baseball. At St. Mark's he contracted polio, but sufficiently recovered to walk without limping. He attended
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
, where his father had been a star football player, and graduated in 1942 with a combined Greek–English major.


World War II service

Like many of his classmates, Bradlee anticipated the United States would eventually enter
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and enrolled in the Naval ROTC at Harvard. As a result, he received his naval commission on the same day he graduated. He was assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence, and served as a communications officer in the Pacific. He was assigned to the destroyer USS ''Philip'' based off the shore of Guam and arriving at Guadalcanal with the Second Transport Group, part of Task Group 62.4, commanded by Rear Admiral Norman Scott. Bradlee's 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 Campaign, in the Borneo Campaign, and made every landing in the
Solomon Islands campaign The Solomon Islands campaign was a major military campaign, campaign of the Pacific War during World War II. The campaign began with the Empire of Japan, Japanese seizure of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island, B ...
.


Early career in journalism

At loose ends after the war, Bradlee was recruited by a high school classmate in 1946 to work at the ''New Hampshire Sunday News'', a new Sunday paper in Manchester, New Hampshire. The paper struggled to develop advertising revenue and circulation for two years, but was finally sold to the '' Manchester Union-Leader'', the competing daily newspaper. Bradlee appealed to family friends for job leads, and gained interviews at both '' The Baltimore Sun'' and ''The Washington Post''. According to Bradlee, when the train arrived in Baltimore it was raining, so he stayed on the train to Washington and was hired by ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' as a reporter. He got to know associate publisher Phil Graham, who was the son-in-law of the publisher, Eugene Meyer. On , 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, Bradlee became assistant press attaché in the American embassy in Paris. In 1954, Bradlee took on a new job as European correspondent for ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
''. He remained overseas for another four years until he was transferred to ''Newsweek's'' Washington D.C. bureau. As a reporter in the 1950s, Bradlee became close friends with then-senator John F. Kennedy, who had graduated from Harvard two years before Bradlee, and lived nearby. In 1960, Bradlee toured with both Kennedy and
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
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.


Career at ''The Washington Post''

Bradlee remained with ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' until he was promoted to managing editor at the ''Post'' in 1965. He became executive editor in 1968. Under Bradlee's leadership, ''The Washington Post'' took on major challenges during the Nixon administration. In 1971 he hid a team of lawyers, editors and writers led by him and Ben Bagdikian in Bradlee's own Georgetown home, and supervised the team’s resulting publication of the Pentagon Papers. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' and the ''Post'' successfully challenged the government over the right to publish the Papers. One year later, Bradlee backed reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they probed the break-in at the
Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...
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 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 Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
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 The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
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 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. Bradlee personally apologized to Mayor Marion Barry and the chief of police of Washington, D.C., for the ''Post''s fictitious article. Cooke, meanwhile, was forced to resign from the ''Post'' and relinquish the Pulitzer.


Activities and awards after retirement

Bradlee retired as the executive editor of ''The Washington Post'' in September 1991 but continued to serve as vice president at large until his death. He was succeeded as executive editor at the ''Post'' by Leonard Downie Jr., whom Bradlee had appointed as managing editor seven years earlier. In 1991, he was persuaded by then–governor of Maryland William Donald Schaefer to accept the chairmanship of the Historic St. Mary's City Commission and continued in that position through 2003. He also served for many 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 continued to serve as vice chairman of the school's board of trustees. In 1991, Bradlee delivered the Theodore H. White lecture at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. His message: Lying in Washington, whether in the White House or the Congress, is wrong, immoral, tearing at the fiber of our national instincts and institutions — and must stop. He said, "Lying has reached such epidemic proportions in our culture and among our institutions in recent years, that we've all become immunized to it." He suggested that the deceit was degrading the respect for the truth. Bradlee had an acting role in '' Born Yesterday'', the 1993 remake of the 1950 romantic comedy. In 1988, Bradlee received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. His autobiography, ''A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures'', was published in 1995. In recognition of his work as editor of ''The Washington Post'', Bradlee won the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism in 1998. In the fall of 2005, Jim Lehrer interviewed Bradlee for six hours on topics from the responsibilities of the press to Watergate to the Valerie Plame affair. The interviews were edited for an hour-long documentary, ''Free Speech: Jim Lehrer and Ben Bradlee'', which premiered on PBS on , 2006. On , 2006, Bradlee received a Doctor of Humane Letters from
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
in Washington, D.C. Prior to receiving the honorary degree, he taught occasional journalism courses at Georgetown. Bradlee received the French Legion of Honor, the highest award given by the French government, at a ceremony in 2007 in Paris. Bradlee was named as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama on , 2013, and was presented the medal at a White House ceremony on , 2013.


Marriages and children

Bradlee was married three times. His first marriage was to Jean Saltonstall. Like Bradlee, Saltonstall also came from a wealthy and prominent Boston family. They married on , 1942, the same day Bradlee graduated from Harvard and entered the Navy. They had one son, Ben Bradlee Jr., who later became first a reporter, then a deputy managing editor at '' The Boston Globe''. Bradlee and his first wife divorced while he was an overseas correspondent for ''Newsweek''. In 1957, he married Antoinette 'Tony' Pinchot Pittman (sister of Mary Pinchot Meyer). Together, they had a son, Dominic, and a daughter, Marina. This marriage also ended in divorce. Bradlee's final marriage was to ''The Washington Post'' reporter Sally Quinn in 1978. Quinn and Bradlee had one child, Quinn Bradlee (born 1982) when Quinn was 40 and Bradlee was 60.


Death

Bradlee suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his final years. In late September 2014, he entered hospice care due to declining health. He died , 2014, at his home in Washington, D.C., at the age of 93. His funeral was held at the Washington National Cathedral. He was buried at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.


In popular culture

*Actor Jason Robards portrayed Bradlee in the 1976 film '' All the President's Men'', winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. * Henderson Forsythe played Bradlee in the 1989 romantic comedy '' Chances Are''. * G. D. Spradlin played the role of Bradlee in '' Dick'', a 1999 spoof of Watergate. * Éric Soubelet portrayed Bradlee in the 2016 historical drama '' Jackie''. * Tom Hanks portrayed Bradlee in director Steven Spielberg's 2017 historical drama '' The Post''. * Alfred Molina played Bradlee in the 2018 historical drama '' The Front Runner''.


Books

*Bradlee, Ben. ''Conversations With Kennedy'' (W W Norton & Co Inc, , 1984) *Bradlee, Ben. ''A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures'' (Simon & Schuster, October, 1995)


References


External links


"The legacy and legend of Ben Bradlee"
- ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' (2012) * * '' Fresh Air'' interview of Bradlee in 1995 -
FBI file on Ben Bradlee
at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradlee, Benjamin C. 1921 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American memoirists United States Navy personnel of World War II American newspaper editors American newspaper reporters and correspondents Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) Choate family Crowninshield family Gardiner family Harvard College alumni Managing editors People of the Office of Naval Intelligence People from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) People with Alzheimer's disease Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients St. Mark's School (Massachusetts) alumni St. Mary's College of Maryland The Washington Post people United States Navy officers Watergate scandal investigators