37 Facts About Ben Bradlee

Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee was an American journalist who served as managing editor, then as executive editor of The Washington Post, from 1965 to 1991.

Ben Bradlee became a public figure when the Post joined The New York Times in publishing the Pentagon Papers and gave the go-ahead for the paper's extensive coverage of the Watergate scandal.

Ben Bradlee was criticized for editorial lapses when the Post had to return a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 after it discovered its award-winning story was false.

In retirement, Ben Bradlee was an advocate for education and the study of history, including his role as a trustee on the boards of several major educational, historical, and archaeological research institutions.

Ben Bradlee was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Frederick Josiah Bradlee, Jr.

Ben Bradlee was the second of three children; his siblings were older brother Frederick, a writer and Broadway stage actor, and younger sister Constance.

Ben Bradlee was assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence, and served as a communications officer in the Pacific.

Ben Bradlee was assigned to the destroyer USS Philip based off the shore of Guam and arriving at Guadalcanal with the Second Transport Group, part of Task Group 62.4, commanded by Rear Admiral Norman Scott.

Ben Bradlee fought in the biggest naval battle ever fought, the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines Campaign, in the Borneo Campaign, and made every landing in the Solomon Islands campaign.

At loose ends after the war, Ben Bradlee was recruited by a high school classmate in 1946 to work at the New Hampshire Sunday News, a new Sunday paper in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Ben Bradlee appealed to family friends for job leads, and gained interviews at both The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post.

Ben Bradlee got to know associate publisher Phil Graham, who was the son-in-law of the publisher, Eugene Meyer.

On, 1950, Bradlee was alighting from a streetcar in front of the White House just as two Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to shoot their way into Blair House in an attempt to kill President Harry S Truman.

In 1951, Ben Bradlee become assistant press attache in the American embassy in Paris.

In 1954, Ben Bradlee took on a new job as European correspondent for Newsweek.

Ben Bradlee remained overseas for another four years until he was transferred to Newsweek's Washington DC bureau.

In 1960, Ben Bradlee toured with both Kennedy and Richard Nixon in their presidential campaigns.

Ben Bradlee was, at this point, Washington Bureau chief for Newsweek, a position from which he helped negotiate the sale of the magazine to The Washington Post holding company.

Ben Bradlee remained with Newsweek until he was promoted to managing editor at the Post in 1965.

One year later, Ben Bradlee backed reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they probed the break-in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel.

For decades, Ben Bradlee was one of only four publicly known people who knew the true identity of press informant Deep Throat, the other three being Woodward, Bernstein, and Deep Throat himself, who later revealed himself to be Nixon's FBI associate director Mark Felt.

Ben Bradlee retired as the executive editor of The Washington Post in September 1991 but continued to serve as vice president at large until his death.

Ben Bradlee was succeeded as executive editor at the Post by Leonard Downie Jr.

Ben Bradlee served for many years as a member of the board of trustees at St Mary's College of Maryland, and endowed the Benjamin C Bradlee Annual Lecture in Journalism there.

Ben Bradlee continued to serve as vice chairman of the school's board of trustees.

In 1991, Bradlee delivered the Theodore H White lecture at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Ben Bradlee had an acting role in Born Yesterday, the 1993 remake of the 1950 romantic comedy.

In 1988, Ben Bradlee received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

In recognition of his work as editor of The Washington Post, Ben Bradlee won the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism in 1998.

The interviews were edited for an hour-long documentary, Free Speech: Jim Lehrer and Ben Bradlee, which premiered on PBS on, 2006.

On, 2006, Ben Bradlee received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Georgetown University in Washington, DC Prior to receiving the honorary degree, he taught occasional journalism courses at Georgetown.

Ben Bradlee received the French Legion of Honor, the highest award given by the French government, at a ceremony in 2007 in Paris.

Ben Bradlee was named as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama on, 2013, and was presented the medal at a White House ceremony on, 2013.

Ben Bradlee and his first wife divorced while he was an overseas correspondent for Newsweek.

Ben Bradlee died, 2014, at his home in Washington, DC, at the age of 93.

Ben Bradlee's funeral was held at the Washington National Cathedral.

Ben Bradlee was buried at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, DC.