Printable Biography of Ben Bradlee

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Ben Bradlee may be the most influential newspaper editor of our time. Currently vice president-at-large of The Washington Post, his illustrious career exemplifies journalistic achievement. Executive editor of The Post from 1968 through 1991, Bradlee helmed the paper through one of the most turbulent quarter centuries in the nation's history. Under his leadership, the paper won 18 Pulitzer Prizes and by the time of his retirement in 1991, he had transformed The Post into one of the most influential and respected news publications in the world, reinventing modern investigative journalism and redefining the way news is reported, published and read.

Bradlee first made history when he challenged the federal government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers--and won. His ingenuity, and the spirited reporting of Sally Quinn, now his wife, led to the creation of the Style Section, a revolutionary newspaper feature in its time, now copied by just about every paper in the country. His leadership during The Post's investigation of the Watergate cover-up led to the first ever resignation of a U.S. president.

At the lecture podium, Bradlee shares his insight into the newspaper industry, past and present, offering his perspective from what he describes as "a ringside seat at some of the century's most vital moments." In a fascinating program, entitled "The Newspaper Business, Then and Now," Bradlee expands upon his national best-selling memoir, A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures, offering audiences an insider's view into many milestone events of the past quarter century, including the JFK assassination, the Pentagon Papers, and Watergate, as well as his views on the future of journalism.