Katharine Graham was elected to be the President of the Washington Post on September 20, 1963, and later became the publisher in 1969 and really helped it to become the all impact full and international Newspaper it is known as today.

She helped grow the Washington Post by publishing the classified Pentagon Papers, which displayed the actual state of the Vietnam war which was quite different than what the government made it seem, on June 17, 1971, in the Washington Post. This was a big decision for her to make as the press was often close friends with those with political power, including Graham herself. This changed that as the Press soon became to be known as the watchdogs of government, which means keeping the government accountable for their actions.

Her contributions also strengthened the freedom of the press impact to the government and the people.

Journalism was often still considered to be a man’s world as this time and she was not trusted to make decisions for her own company, especially surrounding the Pentagon Papers. So much so that even though it was her father’s paper, and it was still passed down to her husband instead of her.

The Washington Post grew so much when she was in power of the paper, she got it when it was a small local paper and transformed it into what we know today.

Her success also came from making new decisions that wouldn’t have followed her father’s or late husband. She hired Ben Bradlee as the editor in chief. He would play a big role in publishing the Pentagon Papers, showing that Graham, once again knew what she was doing.

Her story was turned into a movie called The Post, which was released in 2017. Graham is played by Meryl Streep, and Bradlee is played by Tom Hanks. It is a really great film that I highly recommend seeing! Plus it was nominated for multiple Oscars!

She is truly an inspiration for any journalist!

*Info from biography.com

*graphic created using Canva.com