May 3, 2009
This book was over six hundred pages and I enjoyed them all. While Katharine Graham's autobiography is ostensibly her own history, it's also the history of our country. Beginning with her father, Eugene Meyer, and his close dealings with the Hoover Administration and going all the way through her own birds-eye view of various presidents, including Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and, most fascinating of all, Nixon.
Graham's life was supposed to be much different. Married to Phil Graham who ran her family's paper, the Washington Post, with four children, she thought she would be mother, wife and hostess. Sadly, Phil's little understood bipolar disease created havoc for the family before causing him to take his own life. She was thrust into the position of taking over the Washington Post.
Vast in scope and yet filled with personal insights (President Kennedy sent a plane to bring Phil back to Washington when he had a public mental breakdown), it's a fascinating look at the way government really works, in the salons and dining rooms of Georgetown. Even though the press often had a tumultuous relationship with many of the administrations, it was interesting that they could all meet for dinner the next evening and behave in a civilized fashion. Until Nixon, that is. Even though most of us know that Watergate was bad, Mrs. Graham's book really made me realize how personal and how vicious Nixon and his White House Guard were. The Post was truly out there, hanging in the wind alone, for quite awhile before other papers joined them and the book takes the reader through a series of gutsy decisions that likely changed the course of our nation.
My greatest disappointment was learning that Kay Graham died in 2001. I wish I could have written her and let her know how much this book taught me and how much her life meant. From a self-doubting woman, who was always the only female in the boardroom, to a confident person, she is a wonderful teacher and role model for all of us. I read that her daughter, author Lally Weymouth, didn't want her to write this book. Perhaps it's because Graham discusses Phil's mental illness, infidelity and suicide. I felt she did it with grace and love, however, but I'm sure it was hard for her daughter. I, for one, however, am grateful she had to courage to do so.