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Personal History, by Katharine Graham (Alfred A. Knopf)

Columbia University President George Rupp (left) presents Katharine Graham with the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

Winning Work

Personal History

Katharine Graham

In extraordinarily frank, honest, and generous book by one of America's most famous and admired women--a book that is, as its title suggests, both personal and history.

It is the story of Graham's parents: the multi-millionaire father who left private business and government service to buy and restore the down-and-out Washington Post; the aggressive, formidable, self-absorbed mother, known in her time for her political and welfare work, and her passionate friendships with men such as Thomas Mann and Adlai Stevenson.

It is the story of how The Washington Poststruggled to succeed--a fascinating and instructive business history told from the inside (the paper has been run by Graham herself, her father, her husband, and now her son).

It is the story of Phil Graham--Kay's brilliant, charismatic husband (he clerked for two Supreme Court justices), whose plunge into manic-depression and eventual suicide are movingly and charitably recounted.

And, best of all, it is Kay Graham herself--brought up in great wealth, yet understanding nothing of money; half Jewish, yet--incredibly--unaware of it; naive, awkward, yet intelligent and energetic, and married to a man she adored. How he fascinated and educated her, and then in his illness turned from her and abused her, destroying her confidence and her happiness, is a drama in itself, followed by the rarer drama of her new life as the head of a great newspaper and a great company--a woman famous (and feared) in her own right. In other words, here is a life that came into its own with a vengeance--a success story on every level.

Graham's book is populated with a cast of fascinating characters, from fifty years of presidents (and their wives) to Edward Steichen, Costantin Brancusi, Felix Frankfurter, Warren Buffett (her great adviser and protector), Robert McNamara, George Shultz (her regular tennis partner), and, of course, the great names of the Post: Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, and her editor/partner, Ben Bradlee. She writes of them and of the most dramatic moments of her stewardship of the Post-- the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, the pressmen's strike-with acuity, humor, and good judgment. Her book is about learning by doing, about growing and growing up, about Washington, and about a woman liberated by both circumstance and her own great strengths.

(From the book jacket)

Biography

Katharine Graham has been chairman of the executive committee of The Washington Post Company since September 1993. She was chairman of the board from May 1973 to September 1993. She was chief executive officer of the company from May 1973 to May 1993 and served as president from 1963 to 1973. She was publisher of The Washington Post newspaper from 1969 to 1979.

Mrs. Graham was born on June 16, 1917, in New York City. She is daughter of Agnes Ernst Meyer and Eugene Meyer, who purchased The Washington Post at a bankruptcy sale in 1933.

After attending Vassar for two years, Mrs. Graham graduated from the University of Chicago in 1938. She worked as a reporter for the San Francisco News and later joined the staff of The Washington Post, working in the editorial and circulation departments.

Philip L. Graham, Mrs. Graham's husband, was publisher of The Washington Post from 1946 until his death in 1963.

Mrs. Graham has four children: Elizabeth Weymouth and Donald, William and Stephen Graham. Donald Graham is chairman and chief executive officer of the company and publisher of The Washington Post.

Mrs. Graham is a co-chairman of the International Herald Tribune. She is also vice chairman of the board of the Urban Institute and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Overseas Development Council. Mrs. Graham is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the independent D.C. Committee on Public Education. She is a board member of A National Campaign to Reduce Teenage Pregnancy. She is a past chairman and president of the American Newspaper Publishers Association and a former board member of the Associated Press.

The Washington Post Company is a diversified media organization whose principal operations include newspaper and magazine publishing, broadcasting and cable television systems. The company owns The Washington Post, The Gazette Newspapers (Montgomery County, Maryland), The Herald (Everett, Washington), Newsweek, Newsweek International, television stations in Detroit, Houston, Miami, Hartford, San Antonio and Jacksonville, and cable systems serving subscribers in midwestern, western and southern states.

The company also owns Digital Ink, a subsidiary that creates and manages electronic information services, principally on the Internet; Kaplan Educational Centers. which provides a wide range of educational services including basic academics coaching, standardized test preparation, job placement and job skills training; and Legi-Slate, an online information service covering federal legislation and regulations.

The company also has ownership interests in newsprint manufacturing and distribution operations, the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service, the International Herald Tribune and Cowles Media Company. Mrs. Graham is also the author of Personal History, published by Knopf.