He was a very well-regarded lawyer in town. How did you get interested in those things? If you didnt have the Independent Counsel, which was a direct outgrowth of Watergate, you never would have had Ken Starr, you never would have had a criminal investigation of Clinton. 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. It was the first film I ever made like this, Hoffman told me. The article was entitled "The Idiot Culture". The American Academy of Achievements interview with Bob Woodward is combined with an interview with his longtime editor and mentor, Ben Bradlee (1921-2014). Together, they followed the story and co-wrote the best-seller, "All the President's Men.". Sometimes, Felt would speak on the phone, but on other occasions, he would meet Woodward in a parking garage in Virginia. Did they support you, or did they think it was a little strange? He had worked in the Pentagon, and then he had worked for the Rand Corporation. Thats a quote from the movie and the book. [19] He began investigating the secret cooperation between the CIA and American media during the Cold War. Bernstein's career since Watergate has continued to focus on the theme of the use and abuse of power via books and magazine articles. But she finally said, Well, okay. But they missed decisive elements of Watergate, notably the payment of hush money to the burglars and the existence of Nixons White House tapes. [3] The Star, however, unofficially required a college degree to write for the paper. 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. By his own admission he failed at that". 1996 - 2023 American AcademyofAchievement. Ben Bradlee: Well, right away, with Hunts name and the White House telephone number in there. Ben Bradlee: Nixon himself? The greater significance of Watergate was something that was hard to grasp in 1974, but seems crystal clear now, at least to me. Woodwards 2012 bookThe Price of Politicsexplores the efforts of President Obama and congressional leaders to restore the American economy following the financial crisis of 2008. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Elsa Walsh, a writer for The New Yorker. They had a much-publicized extramarital relationship in 1979. What attracted you to the newspaper business? Mr. Woodward, there were mistakes made during Watergate, you have said in the book. Whats the government up to? After the Times had been estopped by a judge, we decided to publish them. Where were you when he resigned, and what were your feelings? Carl Milton Bernstein[1] (/brnstin/ BURN-steen; born February 14, 1944) is an American investigative journalist and author. Woodward and Bernstein (and many others) were absolutely convinced there was a deal where Nixon would resign if his successor Gerald Ford issued a presidential pardon. Richard Matthew Pious Its not clear, its obscure. He went to jail for that. I think the lead of his story was, Will the wonders of Watergate never cease?. Few people had heard of these journalists when they began compiling relevant facts about . [31] Due to their different styles, other journalists described them as a perfect team. Had he been Deep Throat, he once told a Connecticut newspaper, I would have done better. ." The team stole top-secret documents and wiretapped the phones to listen to conversations. The duo of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein have become synonymous with reporting the comings and goings of the Watergate scandal. He was not lazy, she insisted. December 26, 2006 / 7:23 AM Its small wonder that the heroic-journalist myth still defines popular understanding of Watergate. Margaret later became a government minister in her own right. What books impressed you as a kid? So this was over a period of days, I take it, that it got interesting. Like an assistant secretary of defense who had been a year or two before head of a big Republican contributor and head of an automobile company and, you know, sold cars in Omaha or somewhere. He also felt compelled, as a reporter, to point out that Bernstein's remarks were . Special Prosecutor Cox and Jaworski investigated this, put lots of people in jail. But then two by-the-book (sort of) dudes with wide ties and spiral notebooks -- Woodward and Bernstein -- came along in stoppage time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president on August 9. Lets be sure for the record to say that it wasnt just the Post. He dropped out of the University of Maryland and became a reporter in New Jersey where his investigative reporting caught the eye of the Washington Post, which hired him in 1966 (via Huffington Post). At that period, what did you like to read? Goldwater Republican. All of the guys who later went to jail. Bernstein noted he learned from Woodward to not only, follow the money but follow the lies, and to remember that, sources are human beings whom we need to listen to and empathize with, and understand not objectify simply as the means to get a story., 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Daily Shows Roy Wood Jr. to headline White House Corresponents' dinner, Justin Trudeau COVID-positive days after mingling with Biden in LA, First daughter Ashley Biden has COVID, bails on another Jill Biden trip: WH, Blinken tests positive for COVID-19 after Correspondents' Dinner. Ben Bradlee, editor of the Washington Post during Watergate, told me that Pakula spent so much time with each of us. Events are in no way simple or cinematic. 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. It was the scandal that led to the forced resignation of the President of the United States. But even they seemed to take the wrong lessons from what they'd done. On the evening of June 16, 1972, a security guard at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., discovered a piece of tape on the lock of the door that, Jaworski, Leon All stability. We talk all the time. And yet it was Bernsteins daring that was necessary.. Woodward and Bernstein did disclose financial links between Nixons reelection campaign and the burglars arrested June 17, 1972, at headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, in what was the signal crime of Watergate. And most jobs, if you are a lawyer or a doctor, you have to deal with clients, patients who have boring problems or diseases that are routine, and of course, the definition of news is non-routine. Whats going on in the town in culture, in the nation, in the world is news, and you get to work on that. He did. Ben Bradlee: That we had really done a really good job. I can't tell you how many times back then that Americans -- looking for a silver lining in the cloud of Watergate -- uttered this phrase: "The system worked." It was only later, when Dean testified, and the tapes came out, that it was quite clear that not only was Nixon involved, he was in charge of the cover-up. He just had a psychosis about being controlled by authority figures. After the clapping died down, Woodward observed, "There was lots of applause, but it wasn't universal.". The burglary was revealed as part of an extensive program of political espionage and sabotage run by Nixon subordinates at the White House and its political campaign organization, the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CRP, or, as referred to in most later press coverage, CREEP). The who-was-Deep-Throat conjecture kept Woodward, Bernstein and the heroic-journalist myth at the center of Watergate conversations. In The Last of the Presidents Men, Woodward told the story of Alexander Butterfield, the White House aide who disclosed the existence of President Nixons secret recording system, the revelation that ultimately led to Nixons downfall. Mr. Bradlee, when did it become clear to you that the Watergate break-in was something more than a simple burglary? Encyclopedia of World Biography. I mean, I shudder to think the way we put it. How do I pay someone back, either good or bad, for what they have done to me?. It was a Saturday morning, I think the summer. Yes. I had worked for the Post for nine months. ", To read excerpts, click here. LHW is a shallow division, this cancellation was just adding insult to injury. The movie All the Presidents Men placed Woodward and Bernstein at the decisive center of Watergates unraveling. Woodwards critics insisted that this informant was a fabrication, or at best, a composite based on a number of sources. Bob Woodward: Oh, yes. I didnt like the Navy, I didnt like Vietnam, I didnt like the war, and was disappointed in myself that I didnt figure out how to adjust to being a part of this that I didnt like, and so I didnt quite have the guts to run away or stand on principle. Why has the heroic-journalist interpretation of Watergate persisted through the 50 years since burglars linked to Nixons campaign were arrested at the Watergate complex in Washington? Hed started at age two, I think. 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. Bob Woodward's political affiliation hasn't kept him from criticizing people on both sides of the aisle. So you had a certain amount of independence? 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. 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. Tell us a little bit about what actually happened. He was rebellious, which led to him failing out of college. Neither of those marriages could withstand all that pressure and that fame and money. " The qualities that each other had -- the qualities that they needed [to report Watergate] -- they didnt like. 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