Katharine Graham and Watergate

Why is it that people loom largest in our culture only when they die? Katharine Graham, the legendary, classy former doyenne of the Washington Post, died yesterday at 84. And one day later, her Pulitzer-Prize-winning memoir, Personal History, is ranked #1 on Amazon’s best-seller list. I placed my order today. Should have placed it yesterday, I guess. If there were a bookstore near my office, I’d look for it there, but I’m sure the bookstores are already out of stock anyway.

Unsurprisingly, the Post’s website has set up a tribute page about her, containing her obituary, lots of coverage from today’s issue, excerpts from her book, and a few special articles she wrote for the paper. I’ve always been fascinated by the newspaper business and particularly by Watergate, so two sites are particularly interesting to me: her story of her experience leading the Post through Watergate, and a website the Post set up for the 25th anniversary of the Watergate burglary in 1997. What I particularly enjoy is the you-are-there feeling you get from reading some of the original Post articles covering the scandal. I love this one, in which the Post famously quotes former Attorney General John Mitchell saying, “Katie Graham’s gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer if that’s published.” The quote was cleaned up a bit for the paper to read, “Katie Graham is gonna get caught in a big fat wringer if that’s published.” Hee hee hee.

Almost makes me want to become a journalist.
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