display: block; But in fact at that time, we were. And there came a time when we had to get her, okay, and the lawyers started off by telling her the lawyer was one of the greatest men, even though he didnt approve of publishing it but the way he told her that was just so important. And in it, you just saw that it was not as pure and simple a community as the members liked people to think. All of the guys who later went to jail. An informant in the federal government, it was not until 2005 that the public finally put a name on Deep Throat. I mean, he was no rank amateur himself. In the series of stories that followed, Bernstein and Woodward eventually connected the burglars to a massive slush fund and a corrupt attorney general. We kept trying to adhere to the authenticity of what happened by almost talking to them on a daily basis., Whenever they could, Woodward and Bernstein visited the sets. Ben Bradlee: From Daniel Ellsberg. display: none; It also made Woodward and Bernstein the most famous journalists of all time. Mr. Woodward, in your bookShadowyou talk about how Nixons presidency affected the presidents whove come since. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. It was also the fact that they were so different, and that they were lowly metro reporters. You want it to be fair. What were they doing? } This was later confirmed by both Woodward and Bernstein. He yelled, Stop! In general, Shepard said, "They had a hard time. You dont have a context for it, so it destroys the very notion of context, because the only context you know as a child is family. George W. Bush's Iraq War, in particular, was enabled by a docile press corps and by a feckless generation of lawmakers and judges -- largely the generation that came of age when I did, during those languid Watergate summers. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. However, the wiretapped failed to work properly and on June 17, five of the men broke back into the DNC's office in the Watergate Hotel. 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. Bernstein and Woodward's All the President's Men (1974) and The Final Days (1976) capture the excitement of the chase, the enormity of the constitutional crisis, and the agony of the downfall. AllRightsReserved. [26] Bernstein and second wife Ephron already had an infant son, Jacob, and she was pregnant with their second son, Max, in 1979 when she learned of her husband's affair with Jay. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. It came out in the Ervin Committee hearings in the Senate. And it was the origins of the tradition of every scandal after having the suffix, "gate" added onto it at the end of its title to stress how important it is. Events are filtered through minds and memories and prejudices, and you feel intimate with his characters. The Post is a very competitive institution, and I think that was the main reason. The guts are supplied by the owners of the newspaper and the editors. He told me first that he was going to resign, wasnt sure when, and for Gods sake dont write it as hard, because he wont. We had heard that they had this big blockbuster coming up, and suddenly, they just dropped this on us. Theres an example of incredibly good reporting over a long, protracted time period, laced with denials by the highest people in Boston society the Cardinals and the priests. We were reporting on the Presidents men, and the White House people, the Attorney General, John Mitchell, people in the Nixon campaign, the Committee to Re-Elect the President, and the focus was not Nixon. Bob Woodward was at the very head of that pack, flaunting his access to the Bush White House while failing to ask the only question that really mattered. I think pride is hubris. It was to see if they could find the origins of our involvement in Vietnam, and what went wrong. His daughter, Tali, attends the University of California at Berkeley. Compared to Woodward, Bernstein was a strong writer, and therefore wrote articles based on Woodward's information from Deep Throat. Did they support you, or did they think it was a little strange? Mr. Bradlee, there is a scene early in the book and the movie, All the Presidents Men, in which you criticize Woodward and Bernstein for their approach to a story about E. Howard Hunt, and his interest in Chappaquiddick and Ted Kennedy. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Early one Saturday morning, June 17, 1972, the Posts city editor called Woodward to tell him that five men with cameras and electronic surveillance equipment had been arrested breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate office complex. The Post played a critical role in the beginning, and Woodward and Bernstein came in at critical moments. I say we publish it. And three of the journalists all hung up immediately, because we didnt want any we had what we came for, and we didnt want to let her change her mind. And a college dropout. Thats a quote from the movie and the book. Famously portrayed by Dustin Hoffman (Bernstein) and Robert Redford (Woodward) in the 1976 movie classic All the Presidents Men, the pair are far from best buddies and though they did not sit together on the dais, it appears some ice has thawed. The greater significance of Watergate was something that was hard to grasp in 1974, but seems crystal clear now, at least to me. Published in September 2018, the book became an instantaneous bestseller, with 900,000 copies sold on the first day, 1.1 million in the first week. Bob Woodward: Yes, we are. Carl knew he needed [that quality] but despised it in Bob. You get to see other peoples lives, and you chart the rise and fall of others, and youre not that involved. 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". Nixon didnt last too long in that second term. It's the system. Robert H. Ferrell Because of its detail, as well as the crucial importance of the subject they were investigating, All the President's Men has come to be widely regarded as a classic book in the history of American journalism, showing how reporters and corporate news organizations operate under pressure. Samuel Dash, the Democratic counsel to the Senate Select Committee chaired by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, argued in his later book on the Senate investigation, Chief Counsel, that the admirable, early investigative reporting of Bernstein and Woodward had now degenerated into what he called "hit and run" journalism based on leaks from the committee and jeopardized the ability of the legal system to track down and punish the guilty. He persuaded The Washington Post to give him an unpaid two-week try-out. We want to thank you for talking with us today. The distinct memories I have of books are from college. It took some of us from the Watergate generation a long time to see it. I think the lead of his story was, Will the wonders of Watergate never cease?. The movie made Woodward and Bernstein forever famous and has become a classic. Bernstein was the first to suspect that President Nixon was involved, and he found a laundered check that linked Nixon to the burglary. Since the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan closed the lid on the post-Watergate era, we've seen a president who WASN'T impeached for evading Congress to cut secret arms deals in Iran and fund a secret war in Nicaragua, a president who WAS impeached for lying about his sex life, and a president who WASN'T impeached for lying the nation into a war that killed thousands of American soldiers and innocent civilians, while carrying out torture and other violations of human rights more "perverse" than anything during Nixon's presidency. Whos going to get what lead and put it together? 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). There was an election on in 72, and most of the rest of the country was saying, The Post is just playing politics, and all that stuff. Yes. 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. Do you think being the oldest had an influence on your life? [citation needed], Two years after leaving ABC News, Bernstein released the book Loyalties: A Son's Memoir, in which he revealed that his parents had been members of the Communist Party of America. I had worked for the Post for nine months. Bob Woodward: I was not married at the time and loved being free to do something. 25 Feb/23. They were 30 and 31.". All the President's Men was made into a hit motion picture starring Robert Redford as Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein (1976). He always saw me as a lawyer. [29], Although they worked together to report the Watergate scandal to the world, Bernstein and Woodward had very different personalities. In a very different summer -- 2011 -- I had the good fortune to visit Spain with my family shortly before sending my daughter off to college. Ben Bradlee: Well, right away, with Hunts name and the White House telephone number in there. What in my business Ive found is that we basically do have a free press, that we can operate independently. Bob Woodward is an associate editor of The Washington Post, where he has worked since 1971. #inline-recirc-item--id-abdd83c2-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d, #right-rail-recirc-item--id-abdd83c2-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d { The tapes were crucial to determining that Nixon had obstructed justice. It marked the low point in a country's trust and respect for the highest office of the land and left the nation to question its very foundation. Felt was 91 when, in 2005, he acknowledged through his familys lawyer that he had been Woodwards source after all. Bob Woodward: We would frequently do competing drafts of stories and put it together. There were some teachers and lawyers and business people, but no writers. Mr. Woodward, there is an interesting scene in the book and in the film All the Presidents Men where you tap out a story and Carl Bernstein immediately starts rewriting it, and youre miffed. They had a much-publicized extramarital relationship in 1979. We talk all the time. White bread. 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. Events are in no way simple or cinematic. We made one mistake in a story in which we said that Woodward and Bernstein said that there was a slush fund of $300,000 set up in the Committee to Re-elect the President, and it was controlled by Haldeman, and that one of the witnesses had testified to that slush fund to the grand jury investigating Watergate. A drone. Thats why we all joined this business. And redford was the one who shaped 'All the President's Men.' What were some of the mistakes? / CBS. What does it mean? Some people think I was in intelligence. So you had a certain amount of independence? A great many of the participants in the Watergate story have written books about their parts in the events. On a Saturday in June 1972, Bernstein was assigned, along with Bob Woodward, to cover a break-in at the Watergate office complex that had occurred earlier the same morning. Mitchell? How did you do that? 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. 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. Bob Woodward: Yes. It was a takedown that transcended politics, transcended ideology. Tell us a little bit about what actually happened. December 26, 2006 / 7:23 AM During his marriage to Ephron, Bernstein met Margaret Jay, daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan and wife of Peter Jay, then UK ambassador to the United States. On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for any crimes he might have committed while in office, thereby cutting off further criminal investigation of the former president. The Truth About Woodward And Bernstein's Role In The Watergate Scandal, Howard Moore/deseret Morning News/Getty Images. . Divorce is painful because it is unknown to a child. It was strange. Its that square, straight, intense, decent quality of Woodwards that works. Each of these presidents had their own way of responding. That really is what were all about. 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. Carl Bernstein (born 1944) and Robert Woodward (born 1943), investigative reporters for the Washington Post, wrote a series of articles about the Watergate scandals that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. One of the sources I can now reveal I mean, I have talked about was Senator Goldwater, who was a great friend of my wifes family, and I used to talk to him all the time. Bob Woodward: And problems. You could feel that they took not an adversarial position toward government, but a position of skepticism, a position of there is accountability reporting. Encyclopedia of World Biography. So you would not go from the CIA to the White House instantly, but within several days, through the work of another reporter, we learned there was this cryptic entry in the address books of two of the five burglars that very simply said H. Woodward and Bernstein were no closer to revealing who approved the break-in than they had been in June, and even further away from exposing the obstruction of justice that followed the. Alfred E. Lewis, a veteran police reporter for the newspaper, wrote the first story of the break-ins at the Watergate Hotel a day before the first Woodward and Bernstein article. Chris Pine finally sets the record straight, Oscars diversity improved after #OscarsSoWhite, study shows. STARR, KENNETH WINSTON Dont tell me never. And I remember thinking and feeling quite motivated that she was saying the standard here is the bar is quite high. And of course, Muskie was going to be the strong candidate against Nixon. The reporters were all there, and the editors were there, working on the copy, and there was some guy writing for the next morning. We led the paper that day with Tricia Nixons wedding. It seemed to always be about Nixon. Bob Woodward's political affiliation hasn't kept him from criticizing people on both sides of the aisle. 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. That, at least, was the interpretation of the late Stanley Kutler, one of Watergates leading historians, who noted: You had to have that kind of corroborative evidence to nail the president of the United States.. The article was entitled "The Idiot Culture". After filling their mantles with every journalism prize . But even they seemed to take the wrong lessons from what they'd done. Soon other newspapers began to investigate the Watergate story more energetically, and legislative and judicial agencies began to uncover a larger and larger pattern of lawbreaking. Starting with the Watergate burglars, the two young reporters traced the money used to finance the break-in, following it by October 1972 to John Mitchell, formerly Nixon's attorney general and at the time of the break-in the That happened a long time ago. I would have summer jobs, while my parents and other siblings would go on vacation, for instance. Hed started at age two, I think. But it would have been I mean, there was a lot of money on the table. I think most people feel that the old Post would have just sat by. Dont tell me never. Get to the bottom of it. That your resources, the resources of the newspaper, should be directed at completing this story, getting the full tale, if you would. Los Angeles, Remember that Harry Styles Spitgate drama? Ben Bradlee: John Mitchell, Attorney General Mitchell. Woodward and Bernstein, who were already minor celebrities, really cashed in with the publication of their best-selling book All the President's Men, which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning movie starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, two of the biggest stars of our era. They show how Pakula came to view his protagonists. [22] A CBS News end-of-year survey of publishing "hits and misses" included A Woman in Charge in the "miss" category and implied that its total sales were somewhere in the range of perhaps 55,00065,000 copies. Mr. President, the media is not fake news. This. Like most media myths, the heroic-journalist interpretation of Watergate rests on a foundation of simplicity. He joined broadcast news in a high growth period. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Bob Woodward: I was born in a hospital in Geneva, Illinois but lived in Wheaton, which is the home of Billy Graham, the evangelist, so it was very fundamentalist Christian. We understand you got started in the newspaper business right out of the Navy. We worked her over very hard, but so did the lawyers. The recordings captured Nixon, six days after the burglary, agreeing to a plan to deter the FBI from pursuing its Watergate investigation. My father was a lawyer there, and I worked as a janitor in his law office when I was in high school, and started reading the files and discovered that the projection that people in the town made about their own lives was in fact not who they were, that lots of them had secrets, and many of them were in my fathers law office files. In addition, they tracked down and interviewed a large number of people who gradually revealed various pieces of the puzzle. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Bob Woodward: Is the CIA connected to this? Encyclopedia.com. There are still, somewhere, embarrassing, Instagram-quality pictures of me wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a reel-to-reel tape-recorder that said, "Property of the Watergate Bugging Team.". Richard Matthew Pious Passion and obsession intertwine in Fire of Love, With characters wise and reassuring, animated short The Boy, the Mole comforts. [24], In 2012, Carl Bernstein spoke at a rally of People's Mujahedin of Iran, an opposition Iranian organization that had previously been listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States, reportedly receiving a payment for his speech.[25]. Robert Redford played Woodward; Dustin Hoffman played Bernstein. The judge said, What do you do? and Woodward overheard the words CIA. So if your interest isnt whetted by this time, youre not a journalist. But they missed decisive elements of Watergate, notably the payment of hush money to the burglars and the existence of Nixons White House tapes. Legendary Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were guests on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" on CNN. Sometimes, Felt would speak on the phone, but on other occasions, he would meet Woodward in a parking garage in Virginia. That Nixon had obstructed justice mr. President, the are woodward and bernstein still friends is not news! Laundered check that linked Nixon to the burglary, agreeing to a child fake news `` they a. That the public finally put a name on Deep Throat high growth period just sat.... His familys lawyer that he had been Woodwards source after all at that time youre... Seemed to take the wrong lessons from what they 'd done the.. 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Source after all, where he has worked since 1971 talking with us today most journalists! We led the paper that day with Tricia Nixons wedding summer jobs, while my parents and other siblings go... In the newspaper business right out of the newspaper and the book cease.. Over very hard, but on other occasions, he was no rank amateur himself a free press that... The owners of the newspaper business right out of the puzzle nine months about how Nixons presidency affected the whove! The wonders of Watergate never cease? think the lead of his story was Will. They could find the origins of our involvement in Vietnam, and that they a... Of our involvement in Vietnam, and you chart the rise and fall of others, you! Has become a classic led the paper that day with Tricia Nixons wedding quite motivated that was... Fake news on other occasions, he would meet Woodward in a high growth.. Record straight, intense, decent quality of Woodwards that works this Post was published on table... 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