Katharine Graham
Quality drives profitability.
A line from Katharine Graham
Do you know what my husband said about the news? He called it the first rough draft of history.
More lines from Katharine Graham
6 quotes
Katharine Graham
[to Robert McNamara]
I'm here asking your advice, Bob, not your permission.
Katharine Graham
When Phil died it was just - I was 45 years old and I had never held - I never had to hold a job in my life. But, I just, I loved the paper, you know. I do. I do so love the paper. I don't want it to be my fault. I don't want to be the one - I don't want to let Phil and my father and all of you kids and everybody down.
Katharine Graham
This company has been in my life for longer than most of the people working there have been alive. So, I don't need the lecture on legacy.
Katharine Graham
This is no longer my father's company. It's no longer my husband's company. It's my company.
Katharine Graham
My decision stands, and I'm going to bed.
Scenes with Katharine Graham
6 scenes
Ben Bradlee
[behind closed doors]
So, can I ask you a hypothetical question?
Katharine Graham
Oh, dear. I don't like hypothetical questions.
Ben Bradlee
Well, I don't think you're gonna like the real one, either.
Katharine Graham
[pause]
Do you have the Papers?
Ben Bradlee
[pause]
Not yet.
Robert McNamara
If you publish, you'll get the very worst of him, the Colsons and the Ehrlichmans and he'll crush you.
Katharine Graham
I know, he's just awful, but I...
Robert McNamara
[Interrupting and getting extremely angry]
He's a... Nixon's a son of a bitch! He hates you, he hates Ben, he's wanted to ruin the paper for years and you will not get a second chance, Kay. The Richard Nixon I know will muster the full power of the presidency and if there's a way to destroy your paper, by God, he'll find it.
Ben Bradlee
Jack Kennedy. The night he was assassinated, Tony and I were down at the Naval Hospital so we would be there to meet Jackie when she landed. She was bringing Jack's body back on the plane from Dallas and she walked into the room. She was still wearing that pink suit, with Jack's blood all over it. She fell into Tony's arms and they held each other for quite a long time. And then Jackie looked at me and said, "None of this. None of what you see. None of what I say, is *ever* going to be in your newspaper, Ben." And that just about broke my heart. I never - never thought of Jack as a source. I thought of him as a friend. And that was my mistake. And it was something that Jack knew all along. We can't be both. We have to choose. And - that's the point. The days of us smoking cigars together on Pennsylvania Avenue were over. [pause] We have to be the check on their power. If we don't hold them accountable, then, my God, who will?
Katharine Graham
Well, I've never smoked a cigar. And I have no problem holding Lyndon or Jack or Bob or any of them accountable. We can't hold them accountable if we don't have a newspaper.
Katharine Graham
The Nixon White House is nothing if not vindictive. Just this morning they barred us from covering Trisha Nixon's wedding.
Fritz Beebe
Somehow, I doubt that will rise to the level of catastrophe.
Katharine Graham
[laughs]
No. Probably not. Although, when Ben sets his mind to plunder, its not hard to imagine something more serious. Catastrophic events - do occur, you know.
Katharine Graham
Ben, that's not my role. You know that. I wouldn't presume to tell you how to write about him. Just as I wouldn't take it upon myself to tell him he should hand over a classified study, which would be a crime, by the way, just so he can serve as your source.
Ben Bradlee
Our source, Katherine.
Katharine Graham
Oh well, we don't always get it right. You know, we're not always perfect. But, I think if we just - keep on it, you know, that's the job, isn't it?
Ben Bradlee
Yes, it is.
