WASPS, Watergate, and Bradlee

WASPS, Watergate, and Bradlee

The Gist

                                                                                   
Yesterday, Benjamin "Ben" 
Crowninshield Bradlee died of natural causes in his Washington, D.C. home. He was best known for his roles in publishing the Pentagon Papers and breaking the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s while executive editor of the Washington Post. His career coincided with what scholars have called the “WASP Ascendancy” (think the men in Matt Damon’s The Good Shepherd). The men who were part of this phenomenon had impeccable lineage, Ivy League educations, lived in upper class enclaves such as the Main Line in Philadelphia, and counted as their de facto leader President John F. Kennedy (even though he was Roman Catholic and Irish). Bradlee’s decision to publish the “Pentagon Papers” (that showed the Johnson administration was lying about American involvement in Vietnam) led to the landmark New York Times Co. v. United States Supreme court decision that said the newspaper’s first amendment rights trumped the government’s national security concerns. Under him, the Washington Post was at the forefront of reporting on the Watergate Scandal. He would later be immortalized by Jason Robards in the Oscar-winning All the President’s Men, starring Dustin Hoffman (pictured with Bradlee) and Robert Redford. He is survived by four children and his wife, former Washington Post society reporter Sally Quinn (who Secretary of State Henry Kissinger famously said felt like he wanted to commit suicide after being interview by her)....and now you know the gist.