Ben Bradlee He says we can't, I say we can. There, you're caught up.
Played by Tom Hanks 
The Post (2017) · 26 quotes
The Post (2017) · 26 quotes
2nd most-quoted character in The Post (2017): in 10 of its 26 quotes
Most scenes with: Katharine Graham (4), Fritz Beebe (2)
They'll be defending the first amendment. We'll tell them that the only way to protect the right to publish - is to publish.
More lines from Ben Bradlee
2 quotes Ben Bradlee Ben Bradlee No matter what happens tomorrow, we are not a little local paper anymore.
Scenes with Ben Bradlee
7 scenes Ben Bradlee [behind closed doors]
So, can I ask you a hypothetical question?
Oh, dear. I don't like hypothetical questions.
Ben Bradlee Well, I don't think you're gonna like the real one, either.
Ben Bradlee [pause]
Not yet.
Anthony Essaye
Ben, look, we know your reporters are talented. But, The New York Times spent three months going over these documents. You've got, what? Seven hours now until the paper goes to press? Can you honestly tell me that that is enough time to make sure not a single military plan, not a single U.S. soldier, not a single American life will be put in harms way? That this will do no damage to the United States if you publish?
Ben Bradlee Yes.
Roger Clark
And you're sure about that?
Ben Bradlee No! That's why I've called you guys.
Roger Clark
What if we wait? What if we hold off on printing today. Instead we call the Attorney General and we tell them that we intend to print on Sunday. That way we give them and us time to figure out the legality of all of it, while the Court in New York decides the Times case.
Ben Bradlee Are you suggesting we alert the Attorney General to the fact that we have these documents, that we're going to print, in a few days?
Roger Clark
Well, yes, that is the idea.
Yeah, well, outside of landing the Hindenburg in a lightning storm, that's about the shittiest idea I've ever heard.
Oh boy!
If the government wins and we're convicted, the Washington Post as we know it will cease to exist.
Ben Bradlee Well, if we live in a world where the government could tell us what we can and cannot print, then the Washington Post as we know it has already ceased to exist.
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?
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.
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.
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.
