History

Remembering Katharine Graham (1917-2001)

Kay Graham's Management Career

Timeline

1917
Born June 16 in New York City, to Agnes Ernst Meyer and Eugene Meyer.

1933
Eugene Meyer purchases The Washington Post at a bankruptcy sale for $825,000.

1934
Works as a copy girl for The Post while still in high school at the Madeira School.

1936 to 1938
Attends Vassar College for two years, then transfers to the University of Chicago; graduates in 1938.

1939
Works as a reporter for the San Francisco News for nearly a year. Returns to Washington and joins the staff of The Post, working in the editorial and circulation departments.

1940
Marries U.S. Supreme Court law clerk Philip L. Graham in Mount Kisco, N.Y.

1943
Gives birth to daughter, Elizabeth Morris Graham, "Lally."

1945
A son, Donald Edward Graham, is born.

1946
Philip Graham succeeds Eugene Meyer as publisher of The Post.

1948
A second son, William Graham, is born.

1952
A third son and last child, Stephen Graham, is born.

1963
Philip Graham commits suicide; Katharine Graham takes over as president of The Post.

1971
Decides The Post will print a copy of the Pentagon Papers, the “top secret” documents detailing the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Graham talks to reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward during the height of the Watergate coverage. (Mark Godfrey)

1972
The Post begins its Watergate coverage with a story about a break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office building.

1973
Mrs. Graham becomes chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the company; given the Zenger Award for Freedom of the Press and the People’s Right to Know for her leadership in publication of the Pentagon Papers and for authorizing the Watergate coverage. The Washington Post is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service for its Watergate investigation.

1975
Union pressmen strike for several months. The paper missed only one day’s publication, and in the end broke the strike.

1979
Donald Graham is named publisher of The Post, while his mother retains her corporate positions of chairman of the board and chief executive officer of The Washington Post Co.

1991, 1993
Donald Graham succeeds his mother as chief executive and then as chairman of the board. Katharine Graham became chairman of the board’s executive committee.

1997
Press Club’s President’s Award for lifetime achievement in journalism; publishes her autobiography, “Personal History.”

1998
Wins the Pulitzer Prize for “Personal History.”

2001
Katharine Graham dies July 17, three days after suffering head injuries during a fall in Sun Valley, Idaho, where she was attending an annual conference of media executives.