Ben Bradlee. A Force of Nature

Last week, Benjamin C. Bradlee, the former executive editor of The Washington Post, was included in a list of honorees who will be awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian award. Between 1972 and 1974, Bradlee oversaw the Watergate coverage the helped bring down Richard Nixon, the only President to resign the office. Interestingly, the list of honorees includes the late Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who sat on the Senate Watergate Committee, chaired by the great Sam Irvin.

A decade ago, I was researching Watergate, in particular whether the impeachment provisions in the Constitution worked. I had concerns about the impeachment process and the extent to which it was flawed. I theorised that impeachment relied as much on the need for individual effort and determination and political will, as the process itself.   

It cannot be denied that the American press led the inquiries and investigations of the Watergate burglary. The Post was at the forefront, reviving investigative journalism. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein became household names as their stories of administration wrongdoing were published. Eventually, their book, All The President’s Men, became a best seller and a major motion picture. Standing behind these journalists, backing them against enormous pressure from Nixon and his team, was Bradlee and his owner, Katharine Graham.

I asked Bradlee if he would allow me to interview him. To my surprise, he agreed to half an hour. I’m an old hand at these things. If he liked what I was doing, I would get longer. So, I took a risk and a vacation in USA and shortly before the appointed hour, I presented myself at The Post’s offices.

I had a five minute wait and suddenly I knew Bradlee was approaching, although I had my back to him. Don’t ask me how I knew? I felt electricity. Seconds later, we said ‘hello’ and started to talk. I took an instant liking to him. Early in the interview he told me, “I am much more dogged than I am intellectual. I don’t give a shit about whether it was Nixon or not. It was just such a good story and the reporting was so good.”

Over the next two hours, I listened to Bradlee as he gave me a Watergate history lesson. I asked him whether there ever a moment when you thought: ‘Oh, I’d better back off.’ His response: “None. You don’t know Katherine Graham and you don’t know the people who own this great paper.  It would have been anathema to them.” Katherine Graham herself wrote of Bradlee: “As Executive Editor, Ben Bradlee was the classic leader at whose desk the buck of responsibility stopped.” 

Towards the end of the interview, we talked personalities. Of Nixon, he said, “he was plainly guilty.  He did it, he did it.” But my favourite was his characterisation of Sam Irvin. “Right out of central casting wasn’t he?   I mean he was perfect.  You know, hell has no fury like Sam Ervin.”

Bradlee’s award was announced shortly after news broke that The Post had been sold to Amazon owner, Jeff Bezos, who has been quoted as saying that print will be a thing of the past in two decades. Bradlee has not commented on the sale, save to say, “any change is difficult to discuss.”

I confess that after two hours with Ben Bradlee, I had no doubt he was a true force of nature. I can describe him as a clear thinker, a determined man who is not easily pushed off the track, a leader who backs his people all the way and extremely good company. I congratulate him on his award.