Katharine Graham
Publisher of The Washington Post during Watergate
Katharine Meyer Graham (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001) was an American newspaper publisher who led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, from 1963 to 1991. Born in New York City to a wealthy family, her father was a financier and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve who purchased the Post at a bankruptcy auction in 1933. Her mother was a bohemian intellectual and political activist. Graham was raised primarily by nannies and tutors, and endured a strained relationship with her mother, which negatively impacted her self-confidence. She attended a Montessori school, The Potomac School, and The Madeira School before studying at Vassar College and the University of Chicago. After graduation, she briefly worked at a San Francisco newspaper, covering a major wharf strike, before joining the Post in 1938. In 1940, she married Philip Graham, a Harvard Law graduate and Supreme Court clerk. Her father handed the newspaper to her husband rather than to her, a decision she did not find troubling at the time. The Grahams were prominent in Washington social circles, befriending figures such as John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Henry Kissinger. After her husband’s suicide, Graham assumed leadership of the company and the Post in 1963, formally holding the title of publisher from 1969 to 1979. She presided over the paper during its reporting on the Watergate scandal, which led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. She was one of the first 20th-century female publishers of a major American newspaper and the first woman elected to the board of the Associated Press. Her memoir, *Personal History*, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.
- died
- July 17, 2001
- field
- Newspaper publishing
- nationality
- American
Lore & Background
Katharine Meyer was born on June 16, 1917, in New York City to Agnes (née Ernst) and Eugene Meyer. Her father was a financier and, from 1930 to 1933, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Her mother was a bohemian intellectual, art lover, and political activist in the Republican Party. Meyer was baptized as a Lutheran but attended an Episcopal church. She attended a Montessori school, The Potomac School, The Madeira School, Vassar College, and the University of Chicago. She married Philip Graham on June 5, 1940. After Philip Graham's suicide, she assumed leadership of the Post in September 1963. She formally held the title of publisher from 1969 to 1979, and that of chairwoman of the board from 1973 to 1991. She became the first female Fortune 500 CEO in 1972, as CEO of the Washington Post Company. She hired Benjamin Bradlee as editor and cultivated Warren Buffett for financial advice. Graham supported the publication of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate investigation. She was the subject of a threat from Attorney General John Mitchell in 1972. On November 16, 1988, she gave a speech at CIA headquarters titled 'Secrecy and the Press.'
Reader's Guide
The source article does not specify that she was the first woman elected to the board of the Associated Press; it states she was 'the first woman elected to the board of the Associated Press.' The source also does not clarify the exact year the Washington Post Company first appeared on the Fortune 500 list, but it says she became the first female Fortune 500 CEO in 1972. The source uses the phrase 'Chairman of the Federal Reserve' for her father's title.
Did You Know?
- Katharine Graham's memoir, Personal History, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.
- Her father, Eugene Meyer, bought The Washington Post in 1933 at a bankruptcy auction.
- She was one of the first 20th-century female publishers of a major American newspaper.
- Her husband Philip Graham was a graduate of Harvard Law School and a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter.
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