Last week our newsroom took a field trip to see The Post, a motion picture about the Washington Post and its work surrounding the Pentagon Papers in 1971.
As we left, reporter Noah Jones ribbed me: “Better get ready, Larry. Here comes another Meryl Streep political commentary.”
Noah knows full well I detest such foolishness #WhoCares.
Yet he was correct, too. We could certainly get more politics from Streep, because the greatest actress of our generation, and the last generation, and the next generation was nominated for an Oscar on Tuesday.
This time the 68-year-old portrays Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. The Post, directed by Steven Spielberg and also starring Tom Hanks as editor Ben Bradlee, serves as a worthy prequel to All the President’s Men, perhaps the greatest movie ever made about journalism.
Interestingly, Graham was mentioned only once, in passing, in the latter film. Later she admitted her feelings were hurt because her role in exposing the Watergate scandal was ignored in the story — which earned Jason Robards an Oscar for an unforgettable portrayal of Bradlee.
There are no such concerns this time. This is Streep’s vehicle, and Graham’s story.
Graham became publisher of the Washington Post in 1963, as a last resort. Her father, Eugene Meyer, left the company to Graham’s husband Phil in 1946, noting that “no man should have to work for his wife.” Katharine Graham said she had no problem with that reasoning. It was right after World War II, she was a homemaker, mother, hostess and apparently content to be those things, although she had a college education and a brief tenure as a reporter in San Francisco and Washington.
But when Phil Graham committed suicide in 1963, Katharine took control of the company. Trepidation came with her, and she was surrounded by those who doubted her.
By the time we catch up to Graham in The Post, it’s eight years later and her newsroom, led by Bradlee, is involved in a passionate argument about coverage of a White House wedding. While the Washington Post publishes a wedding on its front page, the New York Times publishes the beginning of a series on the Pentagon Papers.
Hanks, as Bradlee, bristles at his editors, “We’re on the hind teet in our own town!”
It was true, but certainly not new. To that point the Washington Post was a second-rate metro better known for its style section than its provincial front page.
But just as the New York Times is beating a journalistic knot on her paper, Graham is about to take the company public. She yearns to head a serious news organization, but a golden profit opportunity looms, too. Both goals could dovetail barring a cataclysmic event — say ignoring a federal court order by publishing the Pentagon Papers.
Graham’s decision to publish and the peril she stared down in doing so are a remarkable story. Bradlee received virtually all of the credit for leading his reporter’s through the landmine of Watergate in All the President’s Men. But in The Post, what Graham risked was far more personal.
Of course Bradlee wanted to defy a court order and publish the Pentagon Papers. That’s the journalistic bent, and as his wife noted, he could easily get another job.
But for Graham the Washington Post was her life, her legacy, and the inheritance for her children and grandchildren. She also employed hundreds of people and felt a natural responsibility to them. Bradlee had none of those concerns. He might join her in a brief jail stint for defying a federal court order, but that was about it.
One thing more that should not be ignored, even Graham’s army of attorneys were united that she should not publish the Pentagon Papers.
In general, the relationship between the law and the media was summed up perfectly by Wilford Brimley in a line from Absence of Malice, another journalism flick.
“We hope that you people in the press will act responsibly, but when you don’t there isn’t a helluva lot anybody can do about it,” Brimley said to reporter Sally Field, after she veered off the ethical rails.
Hence, attorneys know crossing the line is a rare set of circumstances, and when they shout stop, that is the prudent course. Almost every publisher heeds such a directive.
Graham did not, and as a result launched her paper toward the dream she envisioned.
The New York Times deserves credit for breaking the story of the Pentagon Papers. It obeyed the court order to halt publication which gave The Washington Post a chance to catch up on the story. But viewing this picture through that prism is choosing the wrong lens.
The Post is a fascinating story because it’s a personal one. Graham was a pioneer for women, leading a multi-million dollar corporation while her board was populated by the Old Boys Club. Her real-life persona didn’t lend itself to boisterous, gloating behavior. But here her story blooms — 47 years later.
There is no one better than Streep to bring it to life, and she takes full advantage of the opportunity with a tempered, sensitive performance.
Just spare us the politics, Meryl, please?
