Ben Bradlee, center, with Carl Bernstein, left, and Bob Woodward, right, in 2005. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)
Famed Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee died today at his D.C. home. He was 93.
During his 26-year tenure, the paper broke the story of the Watergate scandal, published the Pentagon Papers and won 17 Pulitzers. Considered one of the giants of journalism, Bradlee received the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year.
“For Benjamin Bradlee, journalism was more than a profession – it was a public good vital to our democracy,” President Obama said in a statement. “A true newspaperman, he transformed the Washington Post into one of the country’s finest newspapers, and with him at the helm, a growing army of reporters published the Pentagon Papers, exposed Watergate, and told stories that needed to be told – stories that helped us understand our world and one another a little bit better. The standard he set – a standard for honest, objective, meticulous reporting – encouraged so many others to enter the profession. And that standard is why, last year, I was proud to honor Ben with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Today, we offer our thoughts and prayers to Ben’s family, and all who were fortunate to share in what truly was a good life.”
“Mr. Bradlee’s patrician good looks, gravelly voice, profane vocabulary and zest for journalism and for life all contributed to the charismatic personality that dominated and shaped The Post,” Robert G. Kaiser, former managing editor of the paper, wrote in an obituary today. From a 2012 Daily Beast piece on the 2012 Bradlee biography, Yours in Truth:
Known for his inimitable flair for newsroom leadership, Bradlee received a complimentary letter in 1993 that recounted a time when, after the Post had prevailed in a legal scrap with Mobil Corp., Bradlee had entered the newsroom with his sleeves rolled up and jumped up on a desk with a boombox that was blasting the theme to Rocky. Or so the author of the letter alleged. In his response, Bradlee righted the record.
“That wasn’t the theme from Rocky,” Bradlee wrote. “That was the overture to Die Walkyrie from Honus Wagner’s great grandfather Richard. I had said about that trial that it ain’t over until the fat lady sings. And that was the fat lady singing.”
He was once confused for a bookie by a K Street lawyer, owing to his “loud glen plaid suit.“
Bradlee retired from the Post in 1991, telling the newsroom in a note posted to a bulletin board, “This is a cause for nothing but optimism and excitement about how productively time marches on.”
“This is to thank each one of you for all you have done for me, and for the paper. No editor ever had such a collection of talented and wonderful journalists by his side.”
His third wife, Post writer Sally Quinn, announced in late September that Bradlee, suffering from dementia, was in hospice care.
The Post’s obituary can be read here. Remembrances of Bradlee can be seen here.
