She Assumed the Risks to Inform the American People

“American newspapers today have a critical need for more publishers with the honesty, dedication, and character of Katharine Graham.” At first glance, the statement could have been written about the recently released (Dec.2017) Steven Spielberg film, “The Post” starring Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham.  The quote, written by Hazel Brannon Smith, to describe Graham, was printed in the July/August 1974 Press Women, for which Smith had served as National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) “Woman of Achievement” Judge. Graham (Virginia Press Women) had won the national prize along with Emily Ivanoff Brown (Alaska Press Women) at the 38th annual NFPW conference held that June in Bismarck, N.D.

Graham, whose newspaper’s resolute reporting on Watergate received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1973, had become the first female publisher of a major American newspaper – The Washington Post in 1963 following the death of her husband. Graham believed the privilege and opportunities a paper has are a form of power. “If power is there to be used, it is used whether you abdicate it or whether you use it,” Graham told Smith. “You have to remember that you can do as much damage by abdicating it as by using it in the wisest way you know. This is what I try to do.”

During that 1974 NFPW conference Dr. Ruth Bacon, then director of the U. S. Center for International Women’s Year in Washington D.C. was the keynote speaker. Dr. Bacon urged the press women, “to concentrate on issues relating to women’s status, assume a position of leadership in providing information of the status of women, and enlighten the public on problems of women in other countries.” Graham was the perfect model to highlight the status of women in American newspaper boardrooms for more than three decades beginning in the 1960s until stepping down as chief executive in 1991 and chairman of the Post Co. in 1993. She was a pioneer in both her personal and professional life, without the benefit of female role models to guide her. It did not matter her wealth, media power or social standing; she was consistently the lone woman in the boardroom.

Graham had a career at a time in our country’s history before women had “careers.” Women worked, but few if any were on equal footing with their male counterparts, especially in journalism. She was and remained an inspiration to not only her peers at NFPW but to working women throughout the country.

NFPW members who knew Graham realized she was more than the publisher of one of our nation’s top newspapers. She “used her power not only wisely, but with great moral courage and conviction. She was willing to lay the reputation of her newspaper on the line and assume other important risks to inform the American People and guard the freedom of this nation.”

Spielberg’s film dramatizes how the 1971 publication of the leaked Pentagon Papers exposed government efforts to mislead the public about the Vietnam War. Tweak a few of those words, and it could be headlines from today. The questions “The Post” raises about women’s roles in our society, of women holding high-level positions, on concerns towards freedom of the press, government conspiracies, and cover-ups reverberate today.

The astounding star power Streep brings to Graham’s character makes the film worth seeing. It should, for all of us at NFPW, for all of our affiliates, be required as homage to understand what Graham did back then. The Graham NFPW knew upheld the ideals of journalistic independence and governmental accountability. She was committed to truth, honor, and justice. She refused to back down or be timid.

If not for Graham’s  decision-making, had she been more timid, less determined, the American people never in all probability would have learned the truth about Watergate and the Pentagon Papers.

Graham received many accolades in her lifetime including being the first female Fortune 500 CEO in 1972, as CEO of the Washington Post. She was presented with the Freedom Medal in 1997. That same year Graham published her memoir, Personal History, which won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize. In 2000, Graham was named one of the International Press Institute’s 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the past 50 years.

Spielberg and Streep have brought an iconic American woman to the larger-than-life screen. Graham isn’t theirs alone. She’s a part of the proud history that is NFPW.  Graham’s principles remain higher than ever. “Yet while we have come a long way, we face an even less charted, and no doubt, more challenging journey ahead.” Katharine Graham.

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