Katharine Graham Facts:
Known for: one of the most powerful women in America through her ownership of the Washington Post; known for her role in the Post's disclosures during the Watergate scandal
Dates: June 16, 1917 - July 17, 2001
Occupation: publsher, newspaper owner
Katharine Graham Biography:
Katharine Graham was born in 1917. Her mother, Agnes Meyer, was an educator and her father, Eugene Meyer, was a publisher. He purchased The Washington Post in 1933, and Katharine Meyer began working for the Post five years later. She married Philip Graham in 1940, and in 1945 left the Post to raise her family.
In the next few years Philip Graham became publisher of the Post and bought out Eugene Meyer's voting stock. During this time the Washington Post Company also acquired the Times-Herald and Newsweek magazine.
In 1963, Philip Graham committed suicide and Katharine Graham assumed control of the Washington Post Company. From 1969 to 1979 she was also publisher of the newspaper.
From 1973-1991 Katharine Graham, known to many as "Kay," was board chairman and chief executive officer of the Washington Post Company, and remained Chairman of the Executive Committee until her death.
In 1997, Katharine Graham published her memoirs as Personal History. The book was lauded for its honest portrayal of her husband's mental illness. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for this autobiography.
Katharine Graham and Watergate:
Under Katharine Graham's leadership, The Washington Post became known for its hard-hitting investigations, including the publication of the secret Pentagon Papers against the advice of lawyers and against government directives, followed by the Woodward and Bernstein investigation of the Watergate scandal. For these reasons, she and the newspaper are sometimes credited with bringing about the fall of Richard Nixon.
Katharine Graham was injured in a fall in Idaho in June, 2001 and died July 17 of that year. She certainly was, in the words of an ABC newscast, "one of the twentieth century's most powerful and interesting women."
Also known as: Kay Graham, Katharine Meyer, Katharine Meyer Graham, sometimes erroneously spelled Katherine Graham
