[14] While there, he won first prize in New Jersey's press association for investigative reporting, feature writing, and news on a deadline. Famously portrayed by Dustin Hoffman (Bernstein) and Robert Redford (Woodward) in the 1976 movie classic All the Presidents Men, the pair are far from best buddies and though they did not sit together on the dais, it appears some ice has thawed. The whole reputation of the paper was hanging on that by the time. Leon Jaworski, like richard m. nixon, came from a poor, deeply religious background. Bob Woodward: Or The Sound and the Fury, which is his great book. His detailed notes, first made public in December 2005, were donated by his wife to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after his death in 1998 in an automobile accident. HARRY S. TRUMAN of Independence, Missouri, once remarked that three experiences prepared a man for, Woodward, Bob 1943- (Robert Upshur Woodward), Woodward, Daniel 1931-2007 (D.H. Woodward, Daniel H. Woodward, Daniel Holt Woodward), https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/woodward-and-bernstein. That they would sabotage campaigns. Bernstein wrote in the 1996 book that the Pope's role in supporting Solidarity in his native Poland, and his geopolitical dexterity combined with enormous spiritual influence, was a principal factor in the downfall of communism in Europe.[21]. So why not take Woodward at his word? The Post editors concluded that he was not ready for a major metropolitan daily newspaper, and arranged for him to take job as one of four reporters at a small suburban weekly, The Montgomery County Sentinel. I can't tell you how many times back then that Americans -- looking for a silver lining in the cloud of Watergate -- uttered this phrase: "The system worked." But their crimes unraveled in slow motion over those two years -- aided by one tough judge, a feistier Congress than we could comprehend today, and some skillful journalists, of whom Woodward and Bernstein became the most famous and best remembered. Bob Woodward: Yes. The story was true, but he had never testified to it because they never asked him. Woodward moved logically. Richard Nixon's RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (1978) gives the former president's version of the events surrounding Watergate. Had he been Deep Throat, he once told a Connecticut newspaper, I would have done better. One morning in June of 71 I think, they led the newspaper with it, with eight-column banners. All of the guys who later went to jail. You dont think of them as real authorities in the question of what is classified and what isnt, and what is a threat to the United States and what isnt. They were tireless young reporters, fearless and not intimidated by the very powerful people they were investigating. What made you back the kids, Woodward and Bernstein? Together, they followed the story and co-wrote the best-seller, "All the President's Men.". But then two by-the-book (sort of) dudes with wide ties and spiral notebooks -- Woodward and Bernstein -- came along in stoppage time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. I think most people feel that the old Post would have just sat by. And I called my father, who was a judge at that point, or about to become a judge, and said, Im not going to law school, but have this job at a newspaper he had never heard of. Nixon resigned from the presidency on August 9, 1974, after tape recordings that he had ordered made, and then tried to conceal from and deny to investigators, were made public. I had a friend who read books like Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. George Tames/New York Times Co./Getty Images, American University School of Communication, unfolded over 26 months beginning in June 1972, Getting It Wrong: Debunking the Greatest Myths in American Journalism, Woodward and Bernsteins All the Presidents Men, cinematic adaptation of All the Presidents Men, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. It came out in the Ervin Committee hearings in the Senate. From the time of the break-in, and through the fall and winter of 1972-1973, Bernstein and Woodward, under increasing public attack from White House spokesmen, worked virtually alone on the story. We're lucky to have Woodward and Bernstein -- so young in 1972 -- still with us. He always saw me as a lawyer. The distinct memories I have of books are from college. Woodward has written best-selling books on the last ten presidentsNixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. LHW is a shallow division, this cancellation was just adding insult to injury. This was our time, our story. Instead, they wrote 'All the President's Men' and they sold the movie rights to Robert Redford. And we had to be sure the headline was right. Ben Bradlee: He sure did. display: none; The Twitter-sized version is the president had a goon squad that did all kinds of buggings and break-ins and political dirty tricks, and when those burglars with ties to the White House were busted 40 years ago, Nixon and his top aides broke the law to cover it all up. He has also done reporting for television and opinion commentary. The team stole top-secret documents and wiretapped the phones to listen to conversations. One doesnt think of humility as a common quality of journalists for some reason. He sat down with Woodward, then 32, Bernstein, then 31, their editors, their friends and the two women at the center of the reporters' lives. When you began to work as a journalist, what was the reaction of your family? Carl is Jewish, grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. The truth that few wanted to confront was Nixon wasn't really unique at all -- just a peculiarly rotten and inept defender of a system, the national security state, that actually didn't work at all, that was corrupt to its very core. Editors at the WaPo said that Lewis' early reporting and evidence findings are what convinced them that the story was greater than a simple break-in. The third vital member of the team of Woodward and Bernstein is the mysterious figure known as "Deep Throat." Woodward had married reporter Francie Barnard, and Bernstein was dating Nora Ephron, whom he married on April 14, 1976 -- 10 days after the movie debuted in Washington. What was that about? Mr. Woodward, there is an interesting scene in the book and in the film All the Presidents Men where you tap out a story and Carl Bernstein immediately starts rewriting it, and youre miffed. I worked quite hard, did a number of stories that the Post and The New York Times picked up. Woodwards critics insisted that this informant was a fabrication, or at best, a composite based on a number of sources. Alfred E. Lewis, a veteran police reporter for the newspaper, wrote the first story of the break-ins at the Watergate Hotel a day before the first Woodward and Bernstein article. For the team that took down President Nixon, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein followed this format to a tee. Carl had a harder time. Were there other writers in your father or mothers family? They both got married during the heady days of Watergate, Carl most famously to Nora Ephron. He was a very well-regarded lawyer in town. President Nixon attempted to use the office of the presidency to cover up the crimes and his involvement with any break-ins. I may have been an extreme case, but not a unique one. The tapes were crucial to determining that Nixon had obstructed justice. Other than Woodward and Bernstein, no personalities prominent in Watergate were the subjects of a bestselling memoir, the inspiration for a star-studded motion picture, and the protectors of a mythical source who eluded conclusive identification for decades. On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for any crimes he might have committed while in office, thereby cutting off further criminal investigation of the former president. "They were journalistic icons for the role they played in bringing down, or helping to bring down a president of the United States, (Richard) Nixon in 1974," Shepard understated. There was even a movie made about the scandal and their role in it, "All The President's Men.". Tell us a little bit about what actually happened. Author Alicia Shepherd said about the pair, "They couldn't be more different. He joined the Washington Post's metropolitan staff in 1971. We were more expert than a lot of the government witnesses who testified against us. And most jobs, if you are a lawyer or a doctor, you have to deal with clients, patients who have boring problems or diseases that are routine, and of course, the definition of news is non-routine. Whats going on in the town in culture, in the nation, in the world is news, and you get to work on that. The role of Congress and the courts -- where even Republicans refused to turn a blind eye to a Republican president's wrongdoing -- was critical to this belief, but it was the journalist at the very top of this moral pyramid. Woodward, with Scott Armstrong, wrote a study of the Supreme Court, The Brethren (1979); and Woodward wrote a study of the death by drug overdose of comedian John Belushi, Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi (1984). What are you most proud of, looking back on your career so far? Woodwards father was a prominent attorney, and hoped that Robert would follow in his footsteps. Woodward also got a dig in about Bernsteins famed love of the ladies, recalling Bernstein got a list of people who worked on the Richard Nixon re-election campaign from an ex-girlfriend. Where were you in the pecking order of siblings? But they missed decisive elements of Watergate, notably the payment of hush money to the burglars and the existence of Nixons White House tapes. One midnight in June 1975, Bernstein watched as Pakula directed a scene. The five Watergate burglars and several other Nixon subordinates, including former U.S. Attorney General Mitchell, were sentenced to prison terms. Although Woodward and Bernstein were able to link the burglary of Democratic National Headquarters to operatives inside the Nixon White House, and to President Nixons re-election campaign, they were unable at first to prove any direct involvement by the president or his senior staff to either the burglary or its subsequent cover-up. They said, Keep going. All the President's Men was made into a hit motion picture starring Robert Redford as Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein (1976). Hed started at age two, I think. Max Frankel, chief of the Washington bureau at the NY Times, famously blocked coverage after hearing from the White House that it wasn't a story, even though they had confirmation early on from FBI . By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. To a certain extent, I always saw myself as a lawyer. One day after Alfred E. Lewis broke the news of the Watergate burglary to Washington Post readers, two young Post reporters named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein picked up the story. He went to jail for that. Woodward had married reporter Francie Barnard, and Bernstein was dating Nora Ephron, whom he married on April 14, 1976 -- 10 days after the movie debuted in Washington. Following the 1972 arrests, journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post investigated the scandal relentlessly. He had worked in the Pentagon, and then he had worked for the Rand Corporation. Bob Woodward: As defendants, as tax cases, divorce cases, the full catastrophe of litigation. Whats the government up to? The greater significance of Watergate was something that was hard to grasp in 1974, but seems crystal clear now, at least to me. What books impressed you as a kid? The reference to Woodward and Bernstein was classic Frank, too, telling Garrett to follow the money without saying so explicitly. Bob Woodward was born to a conservative family in the Midwest (via CBS News). Retrieved February 22, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/woodward-and-bernstein. So you had a certain amount of independence? After graduating from Yale University, he joined The Washington Post; nine months later, he was assigned the Watergate break-in story. Bob Woodward: I was going to go to law school after five years in the Navy, so I was age 27, and I got a job at a weekly paper in Montgomery County, Maryland for $110 a week. Make no mistake (as Nixon himself was fond of saying), what Woodward and Bernstein accomplished from 1972 to 1974 was incredible and deserving of all the accolades they received at the time. It seems to me that to be a topnotch investigative journalist, you have to have a lot of guts in order to question some of these things. [3] In 1966, Bernstein left New Jersey and began reporting for The Washington Post, where he covered every aspect of local news and became known as one of the paper's best writing stylists.[15]. And in that same space of time, Woodward's written five books. What the hell were they in there for? More than 40 years after they became the world's most famous journalism duo, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein are still making news.Bernstein was among three CNN reporters who last week broke the story of former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's allegation that Trump knew in advance of the June 2016 meeting between representatives of his The movie, which was released in April 1976 and starred Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, was relentlessly media-centric, ignoring the work of prosecutors and the FBI. What an incredible jump in your fortunes as a journalist, from one year on a little suburban paper to The Washington Post. In a sense, there were the two worlds: of the Navy, where all the opposite principles seemed to prevail; and then there was The Washington Post there at my doorstep every morning, kind of saying, Wait a minute. That we had done stories, but it is a process of the judiciary, the Congress, the Supreme Court, that led to Nixons demise. Encyclopedia.com. Anyway, it took two days, and we got confirmation that there was, and in fact there was a slush fund of $750,000. So you had the White House. Bernstein was born to a secular Jewish family in Washington, D.C.,[4][5][6] the son of Sylvia (ne Walker) and Alfred Bernstein. Hunt W. House. So I called the White House and asked for Mr. Hunt, and he came on, and I said, Why is your name in the address books of these two burglars who were caught in the Democratic Headquarters? And he screamed out, Good God! and hung up the phone. Woodward and Bernstein were successful at concealing the identity of their informant until 2005 when he outed himself due to the public. Five burglars had been caught red-handed in the complex, where the Democratic National Committee had its headquarters; four of them turned out to be ex-CIA agents who did security work for the Republicans. Bob Woodward: Quite late. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. There were spies in all the Democratic candidates campaigns that had been planted and paid by the Nixon campaign. He sat down with Woodward, then 32, Bernstein, then 31, their editors, their friends and the two women at the center of the reporters lives. You have to remember that the Attorney General, who prosecuted us was the first and only Attorney General in the history of the United States to go to jail. Starting with the Watergate burglars, the two young reporters traced the money used to finance the break-in, following it by October 1972 to John Mitchell, formerly Nixon's attorney general and at the time of the break-in the It risks the whole thing. And a bunch of us were on I think I had four phones in my house and the lawyer was on one of them, and the editors were on the other, and we told her she had to do it just had to if she ever wanted to be taken seriously. At 2 a.m. yesterday, the Watergate scandal turned 40. What did you do in the Navy? Mr. Woodward, in your bookShadowyou talk about how Nixons presidency affected the presidents whove come since. Mr. Bradlee, when did it become clear to you that the Watergate break-in was something more than a simple burglary? Despite their stark differences, they needed each another. 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