26 Facts About Phil Graham

Philip Leslie Graham was an American newspaperman.

Phil Graham served as publisher and later co-owner of The Washington Post and its parent company, The Washington Post Company.

Phil Graham was married to Katharine Graham, a daughter of Eugene Meyer, the previous owner of The Washington Post.

Phil Graham, who had bipolar disorder, died by suicide in 1963, after which Katharine took over as publisher, making her one of the first women in charge of a major American newspaper.

Phil Graham was born to a Lutheran family in Terry, South Dakota.

Phil Graham was raised in Miami where his father, Ernest R Graham, made a career in farming and real estate, and was elected to the State Senate.

One half brother, Bob Phil Graham, was a former governor of the state of Florida and a former United States Senator representing Florida from 1987 to 2005.

Phil Graham worked as an assistant to William Donovan, head of the Office of Strategic Services.

In 1944 Phil Graham was recruited into the "Special Branch, a super-secret part of Intelligence, run by Colonel Al McCormick".

Phil Graham later worked under General George Kenney, commander of the Allied Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific.

Phil Graham's wife followed him on military assignments to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania up until 1945, when he went to the Pacific theater as an intelligence officer of the Far East Air Force, which was created in August 1944.

Phil Graham received 70 percent of the stock, his purchase financed by his father-in-law.

Meyer remained a close adviser to his son-in-law until his death in 1959, at which time Phil Graham assumed the titles of President and Chairman of the Board of the Post company.

In 1954, Phil Graham was the leading force behind the founding of the Federal City Council, a highly influential group of business, civic, education, and other leaders interested in economic development in Washington, DC.

In 1961, Kennedy named Phil Graham to serve as an incorporator for the Communications Satellite Corporation, known as COMSAT, a joint venture between the private sector and government for satellite communications.

Phil Graham retired to the couple's farm in Marshall, Virginia, to recuperate.

Phil Graham often drank heavily, and would become extremely argumentative and blunt.

Phil Graham was sedated, bound in a straitjacket, and flown back to Washington.

Phil Graham was committed for five days to Chestnut Lodge, a psychiatric hospital in Rockville, Maryland.

Phil Graham then left his wife for Robin Webb, announced to his friends that he planned to divorce his wife and immediately remarry, and indicated that he wanted to purchase sole control of the Post Company.

Phil Graham later made repeated requests of his doctors to be allowed a short stay away from the hospital, and was "quite noticeably much better", according to his wife.

Phil Graham's body was found in a bathroom about 1:00 pm.

Phil Graham was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, DC.

Edward Bennett Williams testified that Phil Graham had not been of sound mind when he had instructed Williams to draw up his final will.

Williams said that he had, at the same time he prepared the will, written a memorandum for the file stating that Phil Graham was mentally ill, and that he was preparing the will at Phil Graham's direction only to maintain their relationship.

The judge in the case ruled that Phil Graham had died intestate.