Katharine Meyer Graham, 6 Jun 1917 - 17 Jul 2001 Search this
Medium:
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions:
Image/Sheet: 41.3 × 37.9 cm (16 1/4 × 14 15/16")
Type:
Photograph
Place:
United States\District of Columbia\Washington
Date:
1988
Exhibition Label:
Born New York City
In 1963, when Katharine Graham succeeded her late husband as president of her family’s media company and its flagship newspaper, the Washington Post, she faced innumerable challenges. Women executives were still a rarity in corporate circles, and Graham harbored grave doubts about her ability to captain the Washington Post Company. She would prove more than equal to the task; under her guidance the Post was transformed from a local news source into one of the world’s most respected newspapers.
Working closely with executive editor Ben Bradlee (whom she brought on board in 1965), Graham took a bold stand for press freedom in 1971 by publishing the Pentagon Papers, a classified account of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The following year, the Post launched the investigative reporting that ultimately exposed the Nixon administration’s culpability in the Watergate scandal and earned the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize (1973). Graham later received a Pulitzer for her memoir, Personal History (1998).
Nacida en la Ciudad de Nueva York
En 1963, Katherine Graham enfrentó incontables retos al suceder a su difunto esposo como presidenta de la compañía de medios masivos de su familia y el periódico principal de esta, el Washington Post. Las mujeres ejecutivas eran aún una rareza en los círculos corporativos, y Graham tenía serias dudas de su capacidad para dirigir la Washington Post Company. No obstante, demostró estar de sobra a la altura: bajo su mando el Post pasó de ser una fuente de noticias locales a uno de los periódicos más respetados del mundo.
Colaborando con el editor ejecutivo Ben Bradlee (a quien contrató en 1965), Graham dio un paso audaz por la libertad de prensa en 1971 al publicar los “papeles del Pentágono”, un informe confidencial de las actividades de EE.UU. en Vietnam. Al año siguiente, el Post lanzó la serie de reportajes que revelarían la culpabilidad de la administración de Nixon en el escándalo de Watergate y que ganaron al periódico un Premio Pulitzer (1973). Graham recibió luego un Pulitzer por sus memorias, Personal History (1998).
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Gift of Mariana R. Cook) The Corcoran Gallery of Art, one of the country’s first private museums, was established in 1869 to promote art and American genius. In 2014 the Works from the Corcoran Collection were distributed to institutions in Washington, D.C.
