Sadly, there has been another famous death this week. This time, it’s the former Washington Post editor, Ben Bradlee, aged 93…
You may know Ben for:
his friendship with John F Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
his role as executive editor of the Pulitzer prize-winning Washington Post from 1968 to 1991
his involvement documenting the Watergate scandal in the 1970s which ended the Nixon presidency
his working relationship with esteemed media tycoon Katharine Meyer Graham
the restoration of the famed Grey Gardens house in East Hampton, once home to the eccentric mother-daughter pair of Big Edie and Little Edie Beale.
Benjamin Bradlee with friends John and Jackie Kennedy
Mini biography
Benjamin Crowninshield “Ben” Bradlee (August 26, 1921 – October 21, 2014) was born in Boston, Massachusetts to the prominent Boston Brahmin Crowninshield family, known for their roles in seafaring, political and military leadership, and the literary world.
After a privileged upbringing, his career began as a naval intelligence officer during WW2 and he went on to hold several jobs including as a reporter at the New Hampshire Sunday News, a press attaché in Paris, work with the Office of U.S. Information and Educational Exchange, and a reporter for Newsweek.
He then went on to his illustrious career at The Washington Post.
See his obituary here and here.
Watergate scandal players at the Washington Post:
Katharine Graham – Carl Bernstein – Bob Woodward – Howard Simons – Ben Bradlee
He was married three times, to Jean Saltonstall Haussermann, Antoinette Pinchot and Sally Quinn, and had four children: Ben Jr, Dominic (known as Dino), Marina and Quinn.
Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn with their son Quinn Bradlee
With his wife Sally Quinn, he bought and restored the famously dilapadated Beale home in East Hampton, buying it in 1979 after Big Edie’s death in 1977. See these photos in the New York Times and read more in Architectural Digest.
Learn more about Ben Bradlee’s extraordinary career, volunteer work, and personal life, including other house restorations, via Wikipedia.
Grey Gardens in East Hampton, after its restoration by Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn
Further reading:
A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures by Ben Bradlee
Conversations with Kennedy by Benjamin C. Bradlee
All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan by Rick Perlstein
Yours in Truth: A Personal Portrait of Ben Bradlee by Jeff Himmelman
A Life’s Work: Fathers and Sons by Ben Bradlee and Quinn Bradlee
The Georgetown Set: Friends and Rivals in Cold War Washington by Gregg Herken
The Original Watergate Stories from The Washington Post
Personal History by Katharine Graham
Katharine the Great: Katharine Graham and The Washington Post by Deborah Davis
A History Of The City Of Washington, Its Men And Institutions by Washington Post Company
The Washington Post‘s Katharine Graham and Ben Bradlee leave federal court in Washington in 1971
Further viewing:
All the President’s Men (1976), starring Robert Redford as Bob Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein, with Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee
Chances Are (1989), a romantic comedy starring Cybill Shepherd, Ryan O’Neal and Robert Downey Jr, featuring Henderson Forsythe as Ben Bradlee
Born Yesterday (1993) starring Melanie Griffith, John Goodman and Don Johnson, in which Ben Bradlee played the role of Alex Duffee, Sect. of the Navy, and his wife Sally Quinn played Beatrice Duffee
Dick (1999), a parody retelling the events of the Watergate scandal, starring Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams, with G. D. Spradlin as Ben Bradlee
Grey Gardens (1975) a documentary starring Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale known as “Big Edie”, and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale known as “Little Edie”, were the aunt and the first cousin, respectively, of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and her sister Caroline Lee Bouvier known as Lee Radziwill
Grey Gardens (2009) a feature film starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, based on the 1975 documentary
Charlie Rose with Ben Bradlee (September 25, 1995)
Charlie Rose with Jim Hoagland; Sally Quinn, Ben Bradlee; & Newt Gingrich (January 20, 2005)
Free Speech: Jim Lehrer and Ben Bradlee, PBS (June 19, 2006)
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Natasha xx
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