When the plane landed in Washington, he was taken first to George Washington University Hospital and later to Chestnut Lodge, a private mental hospital in a suburb of Washington. Even considering the style of rich American families in the early part of the century, her parents, Eugene and Agnes Meyer, seem to have exceeded the norm for emotional reticence. He was the fun at the dinner table and in our country life. Mann was once asked if Agnes was German. But, if he does, the decisions should not be as hard for him as they were for Katharine Graham. City Desk At the beginning of 1954, an event occurred that led up to what I still think of as the defining moment for the company: the unexpected acquisition of the Times-Herald {the other morning paper in Washington}. . From the earliest days of our relationship, for instance, I thought that we had friends because of him and were invited because of him. Born Katharine Meyer on June 16, 1917, in New York City; died on July 17, 2001, in Idaho; daughter of Eugene Meyer (owner of . At dinner at Joseph Alsops one night early in 1961, Graham continually offered political advice to the new President, John Kennedy. She really does seem to believe that Watergate was an aberration. They met earlier that year. Events, Football Gradually, I ceased talking much at all when we were out together. She felt like Trilby to his Svengali; she felt as if he had created her, that she was totally dependent. If you have the goods, you say, Screw it, and publish. And then nothing more. In the summer of 1963, Phil seemed to be getting betterhe was undergoing treatment at a psychiatric center in Marylandand there was even hope of resuming a normal life at home. I had no understanding of the terrible depression he had gone through or the polar-opposite mood that was dominating him at the time. By 1968, reporting and editorials on Vietnam by Ward Just and a few others helped change the atmosphere of reverence on the pages of the Post, and that change had its effect on the thinking of the publisherso strong an effect that when the Times, thanks to Neil Sheehan and his source, Daniel Ellsberg, began printing the Pentagon Papers, on June 13, 1971, Bradlee felt wounded, and, with Grahams encouragement, pushed his staff to find its own copy of the documents. Grahams insecurity as a woman, as a publisher, and as a parent has clear and painful origins. And he wanted many things. Ups and Downs. . At about the same time, she was on a cross-country flight and ran into Senator Bob Dole, who was then working as chairman and chief hatchet man for the Republican National Committee. I was earning about $1,500 a year. It worked, but at the same time it hurt the paper. On July 5, Johnson held a press conference at which he announced his candidacy. Im not sure she was ever really able to. The whole political year of 1960 was very exciting. He had all the symptoms of severe depression -- overwhelming doubt about himself and his abilities, a desire to seclude himself from the world, indecision even about what pair of shoes to wear, guilt, and occasional talk of suicide. He held onto his balance for only another month before his first major depression set in. Tenants in Rent-Controlled Units Could See as Much as 8.9 Percent Increases, The Cranky Redskins Fans Guide to Dan Snyder. (According to some accounts, Philip also threatened to divorce Katharine and marry Robin Webb, a Newsweek stringer with whom he'd been having an affair.) So Phil returned to Washington and stayed with Lyndon almost constantly for several days, working day and night. The first nights entertainment was an easy choice: the Kirov Ballet. Readers like you keep our work free for everyone to read. But that did not mean she was strong in all things. He kept questioning whether this was the reason for his success and his prominence. In the end he went sadly but willingly, late in the day on June 20. Local Dining Guide, City Lights There was, of course, no way to press the point. Weymouth's brother, Stephen Graham,. Everything rotated around him, and I willingly participated in keeping him at the center of things. Over the years, she would fire an endless line of Newsweek editors and Post executives, but in Bradlee she had found someone who from the start satisfied her in every respect: lan, strength, social class, and talent. Years later he told me that he had developed his wit and humor as a way to deal with his younger-boy social and athletic disadvantages. When they were taken to see JFK, Phil spoke -- "shrewdly and eloquently," according to Joe -- pointing out all the obvious things that Johnson could add to the ticket and noting that not having Johnson on the ticket would certainly be trouble. Robin Webb (Songbird) See Photos. "We have worked out this solution: we'll live in the sort of house, have the sort of furniture, eat the sort of food, go to the sort of places, that young people making salaries like mine can afford.". If we should ever meet again, I would like to tell you some of my thoughts on what I have come to recognize as a kind of editorial blackmail, in which persons say that if you reject a work. Its hard to remake decisions and even harder to rethink nondecisions. As a result, I had no one on whom to lean for advice. Katharine saw her parents only sparingly. Under Philip Graham, the Post had no prayer of even pretending to match the standards of the countrys best paper. If you think that it's important to have high quality local reporting we hope you'll support our work with a monthly contribution. I did not go to help you. I bolted out of the room and ran around in a frenzy looking for him. Maksym Levin started documenting war to become famous. After seeing conflict up close, his motivations shifted. . Katharine, born in New York in 1917, was baptized when she was ten to satisfy the Lutheran side of the family; to satisfy the demands of class, the Meyers had their own pew at St. Johns Episcopal Church, on Lafayette Squarethe presidents church (Katharine did not seem to realize she was part Jewish until she was at Vassar.) The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. How Dangerous Is Getting Shot in the Shoulder? Robert McNamara, Henry Kissinger, Lawrence Eagleburger, George Shultz, Paul Nitze, Douglas Dillon, McGeorge Bundy, Jack Valenti, Joe Califano: her list of establishment friends is long and decidedly nonpartisan. The second week in February, he called me at work late one afternoon suggesting that we have dinner at Harvey's, a famous old seafood restaurant next door to the Mayflower, where we could buy the early edition of The Post. With time, Katharine was becoming more and more troubled, less and less secure. Nonetheless, Phil was the fizz in our lives. She'd been told that Harvard was the best, so her dying wish was that he go there. By June 17th, thanks to his national editor, Ben Bagdikian, he had his own set of papers. To help Phil pay back the debt he incurred in borrowing to buy the stock, I volunteered to pay for all our living expenses -- houses, cars, schools, entertainment -- and did so. Phil Graham's descent into the abyss of manic depression accelerated, and on 24 December 1962 she discovered that he was embroiled in an affair with a Newsweek stringer, Robin Webb. It was not what Phil needed at that time, but it was what he wanted -- an irresistible temptation to be engaged in an exciting venture that would, in fact, alter the shape of the world. At the end of the day, everyone except Phil Graham and me had engagements, so he asked if I wanted to have dinner. Food News But those who worked in the Posts newsroom knew one infinitely reassuring fact about Mrs. Graham: that at the most important moments of her professional life she did the right thing. Graham, Katharine (1917-2001) American newspaper publisher who guided the Washington Post through its most turbulent period when it published the "Pentagon Papers" and investigated the Watergate affair. Yet, the publisher must realize that he has obligations which transcend any commercial interest.". They both loved power and its use for what they thought of as desirable purposes. In the fall of 1942, Dad and I were on a train coming back from New York, and naturally we were talking about Phil. Phil and my mother also got along well. While publisher of the Post, he grew so close to L.B.J. Film/TV But hurry, she said. Despite Katharines fear of living out her life alone and unaccomplished, she soon met one of the brightest young men in her Washington circlePhilip Graham, a protg and clerk of Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. The truth is that I adored him and saw only the positive side of what he was doing for me. As the administration got rolling, Phil and I went to the first of several dinner dances at the Kennedy White House. @robin.webb.100. In 1965, Graham helped herself and the paper immeasurably by hiring Ben Bradlee, Newsweeks charismatic bureau chief in Washington and a friend of the Kennedys. Graham was from a Florida family whose financial prospects, while far from dire, were a matter of occasional drama. Charles Colson, for one, tried to dismiss the conspiracy as fictiona charge that, if true, would probably have ruined the paper forever. . When she suggested to the Newsweek editors that it might be a good idea to hire Aline Saarinen, of the Times, to edit the back of the book, they brushed the suggestion off, saying that the closings were too late, that the physical demands of the job would be too much. Pei was talking, and Katharine said, I didnt know that., Whats surprising about that? Agnes said. At Harvard, Phil made the Law Review and, at the end of his second year, became its president. In the process of blowing his stack, as only he could do, Ben felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find Phil, who said, "Okay, buster, come with me," and led the way to his office. At that point, Phil got together with {columnist} Joe Alsop to discuss the merits of Lyndon Johnson as Kennedy's running mate. . Phil's invitations often came in the form of commands, and this was one. Phil's early memoranda to his executives are stunning in their detailed outline of problems, potential, and objectives. In the midst of the crisis, she wrote to Ehrlichman, saying, What appears in the Post is not a reflection of my personal feelings. Gravely, as if we were negotiating the Treaty of Ghent, I gave her an annotated copy of Vogue, a mug shot of Mrs. Graham, and a hundred dollars. In my boyhood as a reporter, I nearly killed the matriarch of the liberal-media conspiracy. Naturally, they voted that he be allowed to go. Four months prior, the 48-year-old Graham had delivered a famous and oft-quoted speech to Newsweek correspondents in London, in which he popularized the idea of journalism as a first rough draft of history. (Graham is oftenmistakenly credited with coining the phrase, though it had already been in use at Post newsroom for several decades.). Except for the $500 present, I never used a cent of my own until two years later, when Phil went into the Army. To win the paper, Phil employed the most feared lawyer in Washington, Edward Bennett Williams. A few days later, I was assigned to show her and her close friend Meg Greenfield, the Posts editorial-page editor, around the city that was then known as Leningrad. The moment of happiness you gave me is more help than most people are given in a lifetime, Thank you for it. Theater The only other inhabitants were Seminole Indians. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. There is still a vital distinction. I have now gone. Philip Leslie "Phil" Graham (July 18, 1915 - August 3, 1963) was an American newspaper publisher. Hockey His most passionate political interests are local. (One area that, surprisingly, started to shift under my feet was the Posts editorial quality. . Health problems and death "Y'all are doingreallocal D.C. . In effect [Bill and Steve] lost both parents at once. As she grew older and more self-confident, she could be imperious, even frightening to her editors and executives, but her desire to please, or at least to get along with, those in power, never entirely faded. It all seems so odd in retrospect. I told her that this woman, this very important woman, was gravely ill and in need of immediate medical attention. Because of this, he never put a name to Phil's illness. He acknowledged that he used humor as a weapon with which to keep people at a distance. On Aug. 3, having apparently made noticeable improvements, he convinced doctors to let him take a retreat to the Virginia farmhouse. Katharine, by her own account and in the accounts of others, was a tall and awkward girl with a manly stride, but she was also intelligent, and she absorbed the lessons of her social class well. Join Facebook to connect with Robin Webb and others you may know. Joe persuaded Phil to accompany him to urge Kennedy to offer the vice-presidency to Johnson. 1952) Mistress: Robin Webb (Newsweek journalist, 1962) High School: Miami High School, Miami, FL He was really a. Having Phil back was a tremendous -- and tremendously complicated -- relief. As far as I know, Katharine Graham had not written much since her early days on the Post, when she wrote a magazine column and was the anonymous author of such editorials as On Being a Horse, Mixed Drinks, and Spotted Fever. And yet I dont know of a more complex autobiography by an American business figure, certainly not one that allows itself such moments of weakness, embarrassment, and pain. To keep a story out of the paper to achieve a purpose, even a fine one, is neither appropriate nor in the spirit of my father's definition of the duty of a newspaper: "To try to tell the truth. Then, in June 1946, President Truman called and asked my father to become the first president of the World Bank. 2023 Cond Nast. She did not have to. The deal took only about three weeks from beginning to end, during which time he slept very little and rode a high crest, working feverishly to get it done. She was flushed, delighted. For example, what I could not have known at the Hermitage is that after the suicide of her husband, on August 3, 1963, and the funeral, Mrs. Graham sent her eldest son, Donald, back to his internship at the Times, sent her two younger sons, Bill and Steve, back to summer camp, and promptly flew off to Europe to meet her eldest childher daughter, Lallyand a group of very O.K.
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