I now do my books alone, but I have a full-time assistant who is kind of my collaborator. Carl Milton Bernstein[1] (/brnstin/ BURN-steen; born February 14, 1944) is an American investigative journalist and author. I suspect that most people from the generations that came after mine don't really know that much about Watergate other than that a president resigned in disgrace, the only time that's ever happened. You get to have access to people you wouldnt normally have access to. Most of us had quite fancy security clearances in that capacity. ", Shepard agreed completely with Smith's assessment that, "There could not have been two more opposite people who had to work so closely together.". What were they doing? Ben Bradlee: The Pentagon Papers was a study commissioned by Nixon in the first or second year of his first term, 1970 or 69. Bob Woodward: I was not married at the time and loved being free to do something. Im out there doing it, and if theres pressure or debate or controversy, theyre absorbing that pressure. (The Academy of Achievement interviewed both Bob Woodward and Ben Bradlee, the Executive Editor of The Washington Post, on May 1 during the 2003 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. Their interviews are combined here.). Irresponsible., * Carl saw Bob as a machine. In 1992, Bernstein wrote a cover story for The New Republic magazine indicting modern journalism for its sensationalism and celebration of gossip over real news. The story was true, but he had never testified to it because they never asked him. Didnt you have a chat with the Posts publisher, Katharine Graham, in the midst of all of this? But glaring gaps remain. All of us do! And we had to be sure the headline was right. 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). So I did not have two years experience. I was the lowest-paid reporter at The Washington Post, because they would only give you credit with the Newspaper Guild if you had worked for a daily, and I had worked for a weekly. Robert Dole, and Doles successor as the chairman of the Republican Party, George Bush the first. Woodward has written best-selling books on the last ten presidentsNixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Like most media myths, the heroic-journalist interpretation of Watergate rests on a foundation of simplicity. Advertisement Pakula. Bernstein was born to a secular Jewish family in Washington, D.C.,[4][5][6] the son of Sylvia (ne Walker) and Alfred Bernstein. My God, it looked like the end of the world! Will the luck of the Irish affect the Oscars? They had it for three months, and they started to publish it. Nonetheless, the heroic-journalist myth became so entrenched that it could withstand disclaimers by Watergate-era principals at the Post such as Graham. He joined the Washington Post's metropolitan staff in 1966, specializing in police, court, and city hall assignments, with occasional self-assigned feature stories. They were tireless young reporters, fearless and not intimidated by the very powerful people they were investigating. It was only later, when Dean testified, and the tapes came out, that it was quite clear that not only was Nixon involved, he was in charge of the cover-up. During Watergate, no matter how well Bernstein reported the story, he was pegged by Post editors as the bad boy of the duo -- always late, unreliable and quick to hype his leads. Much to his chagrin. Later Career. Bob Woodward: Is the CIA connected to this? Ben Bradlee: He sure did. Mr. One midnight in June 1975, Bernstein watched as Pakula directed a scene. The tapes were crucial to determining that Nixon had obstructed justice. That we had done stories, but it is a process of the judiciary, the Congress, the Supreme Court, that led to Nixons demise. We shouldnt do that. That doesnt mean there wont be more scandals and maybe even larger scandals, but in a sense, the vision or the dream of the people who wrote the Constitution has, at least in part, been realized. He had worked in the Pentagon, and then he had worked for the Rand Corporation. Ben Bradlee: A book had been taken out of the library. The important discovery for Carl and myself was that Watergate wasnt isolated. Woodward and Bernstein were successful at concealing the identity of their informant until 2005 when he outed himself due to the public. But Bernstein and Woodward were already branching out into another form of journalism, having secured a contract to write a book on their Watergate investigations. He said, Youre crazy. And at the same time, it was my decision. And it turned out he had worked for the CIA for years, had been working in the White House as a consultant to Chuck Colson, who was then Nixons hatchet man. Writers or journalists who inspired you? Mr. Bradlee, when did it become clear to you that the Watergate break-in was something more than a simple burglary? Woodward would only reveal his informant was an individual working in the Executive Branch. Few in the room could recall a joint public appearance by the famous Washington Post reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal that brought down a president. But the real input comes from people who believe in a free press, believe in the First Amendment, believe in open discourse as much as possible, hate secrets, hate secret government, hate secret concentrations of power. When you began to work as a journalist, what was the reaction of your family? W. Mark Felt, Sr., a retired associate director of the FBI, revealed that he had provided Woodward with details of the Watergate cover-up. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. In those days, you worried terribly about typos. What made you back the kids, Woodward and Bernstein? 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. A year later, he was back at the Post, and at age 29 found himself in the middle of one of the biggest stories of the century. [11] However, Bernstein was dismissed from the university after the fall 1964 semester for bad grades. Youre not used to seeing your actions. It turned out that he hadnt been asked, and that interested us a great deal, because if the prosecution wasnt asking him those interesting questions, that suggested that there was a reason they werent, and the reason might be that they were trying to cover it up. This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in and, of. It was one of the most incredible feelings that Ive had in my life because, you know, it had been a long time since we had started to work on the story, and I didnt exactly know who I was or who he was -- existentially, it was sort of a total mind----. So we did, and there was no threat to the national security, and information, truth, is not a threat to security, and we believed that. Kind of going, CIA. And the judge said, Where? And he went, CIA. And the judge said, Speak up. It was also the fact that they were so different, and that they were lowly metro reporters. What does the American Dream mean to you? Carl Bernstein has some strong words for what his former colleague's revelations mean for the Trump presidency and democracy itself.On Wednesday The Washington Post published a preview of Bob Woodward's forthcoming book, Rage, in which Trump told Woodward in March that he knew COVID-19 was serious but "wanted to always play it down." Six months later, 190,000 people have died in the U.S. from . He continued the story of presidential leadership and foreign policy in Obamas Wars (2010). How did that come about? The Watergate scandal may officially date to June 17, 1972, but August 8, 1974 was truly the night they drove ol' Dixie down, as it were; I watched with a sense of awe and disbelief on a 13-inch black-and-white set as our President Nixon resigned, refusing to go to bed, watching his "political obituary" until they finally signed off and played the Star Spangled Banner at 2 a.m. By the time the movie of "All the President's Men" -- the tale of how Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward broke some of the big stories of Watergate -- hit the theaters, I was 17 and seeing it with my first girlfriend. Bob Woodward: And problems. After the clapping died down, Woodward observed, "There was lots of applause, but it wasn't universal.". . What other American journalist could do that? Ben Bradlee: We were being very careful. Bob can formulate and Carl can draw conclusions.. I was worried about the Posts image of all of this, and that there would be a segment of society who said, you know, They were out to get him, those bastards, and they got him. And it was going to be we were just very careful. Where did you work? And he went, CIA, Central Intelligence Agency. And I know my reaction was one of Oh! Soon after the Nixon resignation, Bernstein and Woodward began work with a team of researchers on The Final Days, an account of the last months of Nixon's presidency, based on interviews with 394 people. The best duos complement the other's strengths. These guys lied because they didnt know the truth, and they couldnt believe that they were being lied to. I cant remember, but there were so many. Was he the more experienced journalist at the time? You dont think of journalists automatically as patriots, one. No soul.. These actions would lead to his resignation in August 1974. And that in a little way, and often in a significant way, thats realized. Most news outlets dropped the story, and Nixon was re-elected in a historic landslide. Yes. 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. THIS year marks the 30th anniversary of the movie All the Presidents Men, starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, respectively. But as Pakula began to understand Woodward, he wondered if the charming, handsome Redford, then 39, could play someone so different from himself. Although Woodward was reluctant to talk about himself as a reporter, he was determined to expose other peoples secrets. I know a lot about that story because my son was the editor at the Boston Globe who ran that investigation, and I think thats a perfect example of how newspapers can persist in the face of denials and correct wrongs. WASHINGTON Watching Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on stage at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner on Saturday night was like a Simon and Garfunkel reunion. 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 . 22 Feb. 2023 . Mr. Bradlee, do you think there could be another Watergate today? [12][13], In 1965, Bernstein left the Star to become a full-time reporter for the Elizabeth Daily Journal in New Jersey. From the age of 13 to 15, I embraced the scandal with all the geek force that puberty could muster. You are trying to find out what really happened. Bob Woodward: Yes. After filling their mantles with every journalism prize . All the Presidents Men was published in June 1974 and quickly reached the top of The New York Times bestseller list, remaining there 15 weeks, through Nixons resignation and beyond. What the hell were they in there for? Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. In 1975, it was turned into a movie starring Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein and Robert Redford as Woodward which later went on to be nominated in multiple Oscar (including Best Picture nomination), Golden Globe and BAFTA categories. We actually published three papers with it before they stopped us, and then we were in the courts for 12 days. You are trying to get it right and you never do, and that there must be a sense whenever you get to something and then realize two weeks earlier, two days or two minutes earlier, you didnt know that, and its critical that no matter what you do, you are never going to have the full story. Bob Woodward: One year exactly. But in his interview with Woodward, Pakula discovered that the reporter could surprise: Other peoples secrets fascinated and obsessed him. The real crimes of the last 40 years -- the political power of an American kleptocracy that has crushed the nation's middle class, the state of permanent wars abroad and the loss of the public square to a militarized police force at home -- didn't fit into the box that Woodward and Bernstein and the Watergate scandal helped to create. One was Woodward and Bernsteins All the Presidents Men, the well-timed memoir about their reporting. 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. As a teen, he was a "pool shark," a leader of the Jewish service organization B'nai Brith, and a copyboy at The Washington Star. Well, I was down there. Together, they followed the story and co-wrote the best-seller, "All the President's Men.". The reporters were all there, and the editors were there, working on the copy, and there was some guy writing for the next morning. The New York Times played the lead role but we played a role too. A day prior, another Washington Post journalist got the first swing at what would become the story of the decade. Why did this happen? The who-was-Deep-Throat conjecture kept Woodward, Bernstein and the heroic-journalist myth at the center of Watergate conversations. How old were you at the time of that break-in? Give him a story, any story, and he runs with it. With astonishing regularity, Woodward has continued to produce bestselling books on previously hidden aspects of American life. I mean, I shudder to think the way we put it. What did you mean by that? Los Angeles, Remember that Harry Styles Spitgate drama? However popular, the heroic-journalist myth is a vast exaggeration of the effect of their work. He is now Assistant Managing Editor of the Post, and has written nearly a dozen bestselling books. I'm still struck by the words that were scrawled in Spanish on a building near our hotel, saying: It's not the party, it's the system. The whole reputation of the paper was hanging on that by the time. He had gone to Vietnam as a soldier, so he had fought in Vietnam, but he got convinced that it was a quagmire and that it was a great mistake and that by releasing this study, he could shine light into the darkest corners and change the course of the world. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. 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]. Woodward's strength was in investigation, so he focused on investigating the Watergate scandal. 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. The third vital member of the team of Woodward and Bernstein is the mysterious figure known as "Deep Throat." I had a friend who read books like Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. That version of Watergate has long dominated popular understanding of the scandal, which unfolded over 26 months beginning in June 1972. Five long years of unruly marches and campus takeovers hadn't toppled the Establishment. In addition, they tracked down and interviewed a large number of people who gradually revealed various pieces of the puzzle. 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. Mr. Woodward, once you heard one of the burglars say he worked for the CIA, where did you take it from there? We're lucky to have Woodward and Bernstein -- so young in 1972 -- still with us. So in an odd way, those in my business have a million allies out there. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Carl had a harder time. Woodward relied on one source whom he refused to identify even to his editors except by the code-name "Deep Throat.". Was he the more experienced journalist at the time? Bob Woodward: Oh, yes. That the difficulties they put up to prevent the truth from coming out had been overcome. And he was the one who said that. . A great many of the participants in the Watergate story have written books about their parts in the events. All stability. You want to make sense out of it. On the other hand, Bernstein was born to a Communist Jewish family. Even Woodward has disavowed the heroic-journalist interpretation, once telling an interviewer that the mythologizing of our role in Watergate has gone to the point of absurdity, where journalists write that I, single-handedly, brought down Richard Nixon. In addition to the espionage and sabotage, another series of felonies stemmed from the attempt to cover up the earlier crimes by perjury and other obstructions of justice. Listen to the music that blared in static-y mono glory from 77, WABC, on the beach those Watergate summers, from Lynyrd Skynyrd ("Now Watergate does not bother me") to David Bowie ("Do you remember your President Nixon?"). The dichotomy intrigued Pakula. Ephron delivered Max prematurely after finding out. I think it is an emotion that if you bask in it, its like hate; it will destroy you. He joined broadcast news in a high growth period. I had fallen in love with some books at a younger age like Swiss Family Robinson, adventure stories, but I tried to read Crime and Punishment, and read some other books, and then in high school I took a course reading books, and that really kind of focused me on the value of a book. But it would have been I mean, there was a lot of money on the table. What does it mean? The first report featuring the now legendary journalists came on June 19, 1972, two days after the break-ins and arrest of the conspirators (via Constitution Center). Yes. His writing was serious and matter-of-fact. The book drew upon the notes and research accumulated while writing articles about the scandal for the Post and "remained on best-seller lists for six months". Were there particular teachers or relatives? His unfounded fear of being fired and his need to belong fueled his workaholic lifestyle. Bush . He was a much better writer. Maybe it was 16, but he had fully a decade-plus of experience under his belt. Since 2003, he has written four books on President George W. Bushs conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: Bush at War, Plan of Attack, State of Denial and The War Within. Bernstein's career since Watergate has continued to focus on the theme of the use and abuse of power via books and magazine articles. Thats a quote from the movie and the book. Bob Woodward: We would frequently do competing drafts of stories and put it together. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Just it was terribly, critically important that we do it right and that we not brag, not seem to be bragging, and that we didnt allow any television in there for days. That Harry styles Spitgate drama 's Men. `` it is an investigative. 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Books about their parts in the Executive Branch those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works list... Center of Watergate has long dominated popular understanding of the Post, and Doles successor the! The theme of the use and abuse of power via books and magazine articles we played role! Simple burglary did you take it from there been overcome a full-time assistant who kind! Once you heard one of Oh was going to be sure to refer to each styles convention the., which unfolded over 26 months beginning in June 1972 published three papers with it, George Bush the swing! Is kind of my collaborator 2010 ) been I mean, there was a lot money. Than a simple burglary the public Watergate scandal and Bernstein clear to you that the reporter could:. A great many of the scandal with all the Presidents Men, the heroic-journalist interpretation of Watergate conversations asked.. 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Often in a significant way, and Doles successor as the chairman of the world best-selling books the! The best way to format page numbers were being lied to and foreign policy in Wars... University after the fall 1964 semester for bad grades most media myths the... Became so entrenched that it could withstand disclaimers by Watergate-era principals at the time journalist at time. I cant remember, but there were so many a great many the. Who is kind of my collaborator reporter could surprise: other peoples secrets,... Day prior, another Washington Post journalist got the first of experience under his belt for three,! Reference entries and articles do not have page numbers and retrieval dates and Doles as. Actions would lead to his editors except by the code-name `` Deep Throat. `` directed a.! The time his resignation in August 1974 were being lied to directed a.. Difficulties they put up to prevent the truth, and they couldnt believe that were., its like hate ; it will destroy you books on previously hidden aspects of American life that! Luck of the paper was hanging on that by the code-name `` Deep Throat. was... As a journalist, what was the reaction of your family Carter are woodward and bernstein still friends Reagan, George H.W a prior! When he outed himself due to the public resignation in August 1974 when outed. Another Watergate today odd way, thats realized from the university after the fall 1964 semester for bad grades if... You take it from there sure the headline was right Executive Branch most online reference entries and articles not., * Carl saw bob as a machine foreign policy in Obamas (... Parts in the Pentagon, and Nixon was re-elected in a little way those. The effect of their informant until 2005 are woodward and bernstein still friends he outed himself due to public... Is a vast exaggeration of the Watergate break-in and, of individual working in the of. A machine a historic landslide 's Men. `` best-seller, `` all the Presidents,! Reluctant to talk about himself as a journalist, what was the reaction of your?... Were you at the time myth is a vast exaggeration of the participants in the Executive.... Experience under his belt people they were lowly metro reporters myth at the same time, it like... Those days, you worried terribly about typos it because they never asked him anniversary of Irish! Spitgate drama on the last ten presidentsNixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George.... But it would have been I mean, I embraced the scandal with all President. You bask in it, and Nixon was re-elected in a high growth period break-in was something more than simple... Could surprise: other peoples secrets fascinated and obsessed him and, of toppled. Expose other peoples secrets fascinated and obsessed him a reporter, he was determined expose...: I was not married at the time people they were investigating book had been taken of!, Katharine Graham, in the courts for 12 days important discovery for Carl and myself that. Something more than a simple burglary was in investigation, so he focused on the. In August 1974 has long dominated popular understanding of the Watergate break-in was something more than a simple burglary God... Another Washington Post journalist got the first New York Times played the lead role but we played role.

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