Katherine Graham was the owner and former publisher of The Washington Post.
Katherine Graham fell in to, and found her
way through Newspaper publishing in what
had long been a man's world.
Her award-winning autobiography entitled Personal History was published when she was 79. It discusses her life and career.
Katherine Graham writes -- and these are her words
"I had very little idea of what I was supposed to be
doing, so I set out to learn."
"I would go to a meeting. It would be addressed by a man saying very self-consciously, 'Lady and Gentlemen', or 'Gentlemen and Mrs. Graham'. I mean, you'd always stick out as something unusual."
But, she decided to persevere, saying that it was the right time and the right place.
"It was the woman's movement. You know, Gloria Steinem was a great friend and she said 'Look here, you've got to be aware of these things. She was right."
Under Katherine Graham's leadership, The Washington Post, and affiliated companies, continued to prosper and grow.
Katherine Graham describes herself as being shy and insecure when she took over The Washington Post. But her on-the-job training paid off.
In time, she became a respected member of the newspaper publishing community.
When it was announced that her memoir, Personal History had won a Pulitzer Prize in the biography category, Mrs. Graham said that she "always associated the Pulitzer with reporters and
editors and was always proud when we won one. But," she continued, "it's a whole other scene when you win one yourself. Especially for your first and only book."
Katherine Graham is the one who broke the Watergate story & made the decision to publish it.
In the 1970's an attempted burglary of the Democratic National Committee's
offices in Washington's Watergate complex was investigated by Post reporters who followed a trail that eventually led directly to the Nixon White House.
"It was a feeling of vindication when the facts began to come out and the feeling that we were proved to have been right."