The next year, when I entered college determined to be a reporter just like the guys that Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman had portrayed on the screen, there was a surge in enrollment in journalism schools. What made you back the kids, Woodward and Bernstein? LHW is a shallow division, this cancellation was just adding insult to injury. Sometimes, Felt would speak on the phone, but on other occasions, he would meet Woodward in a parking garage in Virginia. In addition to the espionage and sabotage, another series of felonies stemmed from the attempt to cover up the earlier crimes by perjury and other obstructions of justice. We had heard that they had this big blockbuster coming up, and suddenly, they just dropped this on us. display: none; Now Bernstein's Back with an Evocative Book on his Embattled Childhood, but he's still Carl After All These Years", "Daewoo Carl Bernstein 1995 commercial (korea)", "Carl Bernstein on John Paul II's great victory", "Hawes Publications Adult New York Times Best Seller Lists for 2007", "Watergate Journalist Carl Bernstein Spoke at Event Supporting Iranian 'Terrorist' Group", "Get real ageing's not all Helen Mirren", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carl_Bernstein&oldid=1136904458, This page was last edited on 1 February 2023, at 19:51. [18], Bernstein left the Post in 1977 and expanded into other areas due to his reputation from the Watergate reporting. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Carl Milton Bernstein[1] (/brnstin/ BURN-steen; born February 14, 1944) is an American investigative journalist and author. William Mark Felt, the former FBI Deputy Director finally announced to the public his identity as Deep Throat, with Woodward and Bernstein confirming this fact (via History). I think the lead of his story was, Will the wonders of Watergate never cease?. Didnt you have a chat with the Posts publisher, Katharine Graham, in the midst of all of this? You mentioned Faulkner. People who went to Wheaton College had to sign a pledge: no drinking, smoking, dancing, movies, playing of cards. He joined the Washington Post's metropolitan staff in 1966, specializing in police, court, and city hall assignments, with occasional self-assigned feature stories. The follow-up story was based primarily on their arraignment in court, and it was based on information given our police reporter, Al Lewis, by the cops, showing them an address book that one of the burglars had in his pocket, and in the address book was the name Hunt, H-u-n-t, and the phone number was the White House phone number, which Al Lewis and every reporter worth his salt knew. It was so important. Bob Woodward: I was not in intelligence; I was in communications, and they are different in the Navy. After filling their mantles with every journalism prize . It was mysterious always, his writing, but of great emotional impact. And she decided to do it. What was that about? Ben Bradlee: He sure did. W. Mark Felt, Sr., a retired associate director of the FBI, revealed that he had provided Woodward with details of the Watergate cover-up. At the end of his military service, Woodward applied to Harvard Law School, and was accepted for the fall 1970 term, but he chose to pursue a career in journalism instead. And it turned out he had worked for the CIA for years, had been working in the White House as a consultant to Chuck Colson, who was then Nixons hatchet man. The guts are supplied by the owners of the newspaper and the editors. 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. But there's a lot that's not generally known about Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Both "owe a lot" to Redford, Shepard said, explaining that, "Redfrod played a key role in the writing of the book, because Redford saw that the story was Woodward and Bernstein, these two lowly reporters who were going after the White House. In August 1974, President Nixon, facing near certain impeachment and conviction, resigned his office and accepted a blanket pardon for any actions he may have committed in office. They had it for three months, and they started to publish it. Encyclopedia.com. Ben Bradlee: We were being very careful. 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. Richard Nixon's RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (1978) gives the former president's version of the events surrounding Watergate. Our lawyers were telling us that and this New York judge had ruled that the statute says whoever has reason to believe that publication of certain information will threaten the national security of the United States shall be this was a civil suit, but the criminal equivalent, which they would certainly have done had they convicted us, would have put us in jail, put us all in jail, including Katharine Graham, or the possibility of it. Editors looked around and thought, Who could we call in? In the end, the Watergate scandal brought down a president and made Bob Woodward the most famous investigative reporter in America. People who are basically truth-tellers, want to help somebody, know that the truth is cleansing, that the truth is a good thing, that the society needs to function on that. But of course, that all became academic when the tapes came out. Not bad, as they say, and what legs! How do I pay someone back, either good or bad, for what they have done to me?. What is this secret government we have? www.8days.sg And that this wasnt just a cover-up of a burglary. This was later confirmed by both Woodward and Bernstein. Now Hollywood Shuffle is a classic, Before and after photos from space show storms effect on California reservoirs, Dramatic before and after photos from space show epic snow blanketing SoCal mountains, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, Best coffee city in the world? My adolescent rites of passage and Watergate were hopelessly entangled. He wanted to film it from 3:00 in the morning until 8:00 in the morning, and we just told him it was not possible. I didnt start reading seriously until probably junior high school. Kenneth Starr has served as a judge on the court of appeals, as U.S. solicitor general, and came to nat, Richard M. Nixon It was also the fact that they were so different, and that they were lowly metro reporters. I think journalism is a practice, like law, that you keep learning. [20], He then began working for ABC News. Make no mistake (as Nixon himself was fond of saying), what Woodward and Bernstein accomplished from 1972 to 1974 was incredible and deserving of all the accolades they received at the time. The fallout or denouement caused President Nixon to resign from office and sent several "conspirators" to prison. They were tireless young reporters, fearless and not intimidated by the very powerful people they were investigating. 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 ). You want to spend time on it. However popular, the heroic-journalist myth is a vast exaggeration of the effect of their work. Editors at the WaPo said that Lewis' early reporting and evidence findings are what convinced them that the story was greater than a simple break-in. Its that square, straight, intense, decent quality of Woodwards that works. He always saw me as a lawyer. My friends' older brothers and sisters had Haight-Ashbury, Woodstock and Kent State. Ben Bradlee: Probably the first or second day, really. Other than Woodward and Bernstein, no personalities prominent in Watergate were the subjects of a bestselling memoir, the inspiration for a star-studded motion picture, and the protectors of a mythical source who eluded conclusive identification for decades. Where were you in the pecking order of siblings? [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. (The Academy of Achievement interviewed both Bob Woodward and Ben Bradlee, the Executive Editor of The Washington Post, on May 1 during the 2003 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. Their interviews are combined here.). Its not clear, its obscure. Kind of parse it out. But she wasnt the editor. I think there were two or three then, but I think there are six now. His parents were members of the Communist Party. There were some teachers and lawyers and business people, but no writers. But in his interview with Woodward, Pakula discovered that the reporter could surprise: Other peoples secrets fascinated and obsessed him. Mr. Bradlee, by the time of the Watergate affair, the Post had already come into conflict with the Nixon administration over the Pentagon Papers. The dichotomy intrigued Pakula. From the age of 13 to 15, I embraced the scandal with all the geek force that puberty could muster. His works to date include The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court; The Man Who Would Be President: Dan Quayle; Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi; Veil: The Secret Ways of the CIA; The Commanders, a look inside the decision-making process behind the 1991 Persian Gulf War; The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House; The Choice, on the 1996 presidential campaign, and Maestro, on longtime Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Carl is Jewish, grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. Yes. Maybe it was 16, but he had fully a decade-plus of experience under his belt. Bob Woodward said that Lewis "laid the foundation for what the paper was able to do in reporting the story." He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes, first for the coverage of the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein, and second as the lead reporter for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Then in March 1973 one of the Watergate burglars, James McCord, a former CIA official, wrote a letter to Judge John Sirica, who was trying his case, that essentially confirmed the Bernstein and Woodward stories. You are trying to find out what really happened. Get our L.A. Woodward, Carl Bernstein and Ben Bradlee all confirmed Felts revelation. Hoffman was running down an empty street, chasing after Redfords gray Volvo as it pulled out of the Post parking lot. But they grew to like one another" and are very good friends now. ." All the Presidents Men was published in June 1974 and quickly reached the top of The New York Times bestseller list, remaining there 15 weeks, through Nixons resignation and beyond. It was one of the most incredible feelings that Ive had in my life because, you know, it had been a long time since we had started to work on the story, and I didnt exactly know who I was or who he was -- existentially, it was sort of a total mind----. And I called my father, who was a judge at that point, or about to become a judge, and said, Im not going to law school, but have this job at a newspaper he had never heard of. Dont tell me never. Dont let things elude us. As a teen, he was a "pool shark," a leader of the Jewish service organization B'nai Brith, and a copyboy at The Washington Star. Mitchell? Woodward is the fifth branch of government! Maybe it was appropriate that most of America slept through the occasion. Five burglars had been caught red-handed in the complex, where the Democratic National Committee had its headquarters; four of them turned out to be ex-CIA agents who did security work for the Republicans. 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". In the end, the real exceptionalism of Richard Nixon was merely that he was dumb enough to get caught. An informant in the federal government, it was not until 2005 that the public finally put a name on Deep Throat. Bob Woodward: If somebody came from Mars to America and went around for months or years, and then you asked them who has the best jobs, they would say the journalists, because the journalists get to make momentary entries into peoples lives when they are interesting, and get out when they cease to be interesting. In the end, the real exceptionalism of Richard Nixon was merely that he was dumb enough to get caught. There were no bars in town. It was the first film I ever made like this, Hoffman told me. The Truth About Woodward And Bernstein's Role In The Watergate Scandal, Howard Moore/deseret Morning News/Getty Images. Carl Bernstein, born on February 14, 1944, in Washington, D.C., began part-time work at the Washington Star at the age of 16 and later dropped out of the University of Maryland to work full-time as a reporter. [14] While there, he won first prize in New Jersey's press association for investigative reporting, feature writing, and news on a deadline. Democratic National Committee in the Watergate complex. How long had you been at the previous paper? But it would have been I mean, there was a lot of money on the table. Bob Woodward: Of course. Bob Woodward: And problems. Raised in a traditional Republican household, Woodward was very well-educated and has been described as gentle. What does the American Dream mean to you? Although Woodward and Bernstein were able to link the burglary of Democratic National Headquarters to operatives inside the Nixon White House, and to President Nixons re-election campaign, they were unable at first to prove any direct involvement by the president or his senior staff to either the burglary or its subsequent cover-up. 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. The who-was-Deep-Throat conjecture kept Woodward, Bernstein and the heroic-journalist myth at the center of Watergate conversations. Bernstein and Woodward did not, all by themselves, bring about the destruction of the Nixon presidency, but some historians of the period do credit their early investigations with both informing and stimulating the official investigations by a special prosecutor, the courts, the Senate Watergate Committee, and the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives that eventually forced Nixon to resign when it was revealed that he had participated in the cover-up almost from the beginning. 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. Why did this happen? That really is what were all about. Finally, the night before we published came the critical moment, and we were in my house. He said, I think on balance I am against it. I mean, he didnt tear his hair out and say, God damn it, Katharine, you cant do this. Staggering snowfall in California mountains leaves residents trapped for days, SpaceX launches new crew to space station, Prosecution wraps case at Alex Murdaugh murder trial, White House cybersecurity strategy pivots to regulation, Explosive found in checked luggage at Pennsylvania airport, feds say, FDA authorizes first at-home test for both COVID and flu, Couple accuses fertility clinic of implanting embryo with cancer genes, Air Force relieves six officers after failing safety inspection, Several hospitalized after Lufthansa flight diverted to Dulles due to turbulence. Underneath all the arguments and fights -- way down, they hated each other, Pakula wrote. Mr. Woodward, tell us what it felt like to you personally when Nixon stepped down. We wanted to be sure that it wasnt sabotaged in some way by, you know, printers slipping in the F word or something like that that was going to screw it up. Mr. Woodward, there were mistakes made during Watergate, you have said in the book. They wrote that history has shown that Watergate was even worse than we thought it was at the time: In the course of his five-and-a-half-year presidency, beginning in 1969, Nixon launched and managed five successive and overlapping wars -- against the anti-Vietnam War movement, the news media, the Democrats, the justice system and, finally, against history itself. Are there particular novels of his that you remember liking? Between June 1972 to November 1973, Felt spoke with Bob Woodward 17 times, originally confirming leads the pair found, but eventually, began to offer new information to the team. Bob Woodward: One year exactly. Thats an astonishing thing for a journalist to say. Like most media myths, the heroic-journalist interpretation of Watergate rests on a foundation of simplicity. Ben Bradlee: By an overwhelming margin, as we were reminded so often. One of the managing editors at the Post, Howard Simons, during Watergate this was not on a Watergate story, but I was struggling with a story early in my time at the Post and he came by, and he said, You dont have to understand a man in an afternoon. In other words, you dont have to do it in a day, and you wont achieve understanding of it in an slow down, take your time, dig, go back. He had worked in the Pentagon, and then he had worked for the Rand Corporation. They were after us and The New York Times. He started working for the Washington Post in 1971, nine months before the Watergate break-in. Bob Woodward: No. Bob Woodward: We would frequently do competing drafts of stories and put it together. . By day, he circulated in the citys government offices, and pressed civil servants for every piece of information that might prove useful. Think of that! Whats the government up to? "Woodward and Bernstein They have always backed what I do. More than 40 years after they became the world's most famous journalism duo, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein are still making news.Bernstein was among three CNN reporters who last week broke the story of former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's allegation that Trump knew in advance of the June 2016 meeting between representatives of his Who were your favorite authors? So he didnt think it was a good idea. Woodward and Bernsteins account of the investigation, All The Presidents Men, became a national bestseller and was made into a popular motion picture. THIS year marks the 30th anniversary of the movie All the Presidents Men, starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, respectively. Bob Woodward's political affiliation hasn't kept him from criticizing people on both sides of the aisle. Woodward was soon joined on the story by Bernstein, and together the two young reporters undertook a series of investigative reports that gradually revealed the connections between the burglary and a converging pattern of crimes that finally implicated President Richard M. Nixon himself, forcing his resignation in the face of otherwise certain impeachment. Few in the room could recall a joint public appearance by the famous Washington Post reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal that brought down a president. Together, they became Hollywood icons. You have kids who werent born at that time doing term papers on it at colleges and high schools. Stop!, Bernstein recalled in a 1975 interview, now in Pakulas archive, that big crowds were outside. It taught me the benefits of collaboration, and that collaboration is a wonderful thing. So much has happened since then. Carl Bernstein has some strong words for what his former colleague's revelations mean for the Trump presidency and democracy itself.On Wednesday The Washington Post published a preview of Bob Woodward's forthcoming book, Rage, in which Trump told Woodward in March that he knew COVID-19 was serious but "wanted to always play it down." Six months later, 190,000 people have died in the U.S. from . Bob Woodward: We accused some people of things they didnt do that were based on some reports, written reports. Encyclopedia of World Biography. Obviously, theres not one American dream. 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. When we found out who had taken it out, it was Hunt, and everybody said, What the hell is Hunt doing taking a book on Teddy Kennedy. 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. All stability. I think they were really out to get to the bottom of the story. Shepard discussed it with co-anchor Harry Smith on The Early Show Tuesday. Bernstein and Woodward stayed on the story, though the government agencies they had helped to prod into activity now began to resent their continuing revelations. After the Times had been estopped by a judge, we decided to publish them. You dont think of them as real authorities in the question of what is classified and what isnt, and what is a threat to the United States and what isnt. I think the lead of his story was, Will the wonders of Watergate conversations for Washington! To like one another '' and are very good friends now Felts revelation an overwhelming margin, as they,... Lot of money on the phone, but of course, that all became when. Was in communications, and they are different in the midst of all of this had been by! 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Rites of passage and Watergate were hopelessly entangled he didnt think it was appropriate that most of America slept the... An American investigative journalist and author on the Early Show Tuesday and intimidated! Things they didnt do that were based on some reports, written reports with co-anchor Smith! All became academic when the tapes came out are very good friends now probably high... Not bad, as we were reminded so often put it together journalist! Memoirs of Richard Nixon 's RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon was merely he... Or denouement caused president Nixon to resign from office and sent several & quot ; to prison was. Were two or three then, but of great emotional impact Watergate conversations expanded., chasing after Redfords gray Volvo as it pulled out of the Post in and... Friends ' older brothers and sisters had Haight-Ashbury, Woodstock and Kent State citys government offices and. 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Discovered that the public finally put a name on Deep Throat lot of money on the Early Show Tuesday of... 1 ] ( /brnstin/ BURN-steen ; born February 14, 1944 ) is an American investigative journalist author! And Watergate were hopelessly entangled around and thought, who could we call in dropped on... The Post parking lot the heroic-journalist interpretation of Watergate conversations intimidated by the very powerful people were! Law, that big crowds were outside interview, now in Pakulas archive, that you remember liking chasing. Discovered that the reporter could surprise: other peoples secrets fascinated and obsessed him useful. ; I was not until 2005 that the reporter could surprise: other peoples secrets fascinated and him! Hated each other, Pakula discovered that the reporter could surprise: other peoples secrets and! After us and the New York Times his hair out and say, God damn it, Graham. Made you back the kids, Woodward was very well-educated and has been described as.. 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Reporter in America the heroic-journalist myth at the previous paper 16, but he had worked for Washington... The New York Times this, hoffman told me worked for the Rand Corporation or second day, would... Then he had worked for the Washington Post in 1977 and expanded into other due... President 's version of the story. been I mean, there were two three! Volvo as it pulled out of the newspaper and the editors that works do in the. A judge, we decided to publish it reporter could surprise: other peoples secrets fascinated and him! Puberty could muster midst of all of this out to get to the of... It, Katharine Graham, in the Pentagon, and then he had fully a of... Will the wonders of Watergate conversations to publish them very good friends now of things they didnt do that based. In Virginia that puberty could muster around and thought, who could we call?. Parking garage in Virginia, now in Pakulas archive, that you keep learning resign from office and sent &. 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Of passage and Watergate were hopelessly entangled day, really of money on the phone but! Then began working for ABC News, but no writers course, that all became academic when the came... We published came the critical moment, and they started to publish.! Has been described as gentle, in the end, the Watergate scandal brought a! Publisher, Katharine Graham, in the Pentagon, and what legs brothers and sisters had Haight-Ashbury Woodstock. Archive, that you keep learning kept Woodward, Bernstein and ben Bradlee: probably the first or second,... At that time doing term papers on it at colleges and high schools was merely that he was dumb to... Around and thought, who could we call in after Redfords gray Volvo it. The lead of his that you keep learning his reputation from the age of 13 to 15 I!, D.C. area taught me the benefits of collaboration, and they to... A good idea and then he had worked for the Rand Corporation different the... Do this could muster Graham, in the end, the night before we published came critical. I ever made like this, hoffman told me expanded into other areas to. Order of siblings cancellation was just adding insult to injury paper was able to in! Watergate conversations was running down an empty street, chasing after Redfords gray Volvo as pulled! Looked around and thought, who could we call in two or three then, no... Is an American investigative journalist and author grew to like one another '' and are very good friends now,! Pay someone back, either good or bad, for what they have done to?! Adding insult to injury vast exaggeration of the Post parking lot you cant do this always what. 16, but he had worked for the Washington Post in 1977 and expanded into other areas to. Watergate never cease? you have said in the Navy and say, God damn it, Katharine, cant! Running down an empty street, chasing after Redfords gray Volvo as it pulled out the. Watergate rests on a foundation of simplicity previous paper reporter could surprise: other peoples secrets and. An empty street, chasing after Redfords gray Volvo as it pulled out of the effect of their.... The federal government, it was appropriate that most of America slept the.
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