robin webb phil graham photos

Graham, Katharine (1917-2001) American newspaper publisher who guided the Washington Post through its most turbulent period when it published the "Pentagon Papers" and investigated the Watergate affair. He welcomed her with a carload of flowers, and together they flew to Sioux Falls, S.D., where he was to talk to the publisher of the local paper about buying it. Phil knew he controlled The Post because my father had given him the majority of A shares. He even got the patients to take a vote among themselves. Youve never known anything., I cant say I think Mother genuinely loved us, she writes. In the late nineteen-fifties, Phil Grahams health and behavior also presented increasingly difficult problemsproblems that might have been solved with medication, if he had not refused it. How Dangerous Is Getting Shot in the Shoulder? He had the ideas, the jokes, the games. Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to bar nine Negro students from the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock. She really does seem to believe that Watergate was an aberration. Tenants in Rent-Controlled Units Could See as Much as 8.9 Percent Increases, The Cranky Redskins Fans Guide to Dan Snyder. If one compares the approach of the liberal media (the Post, the Times, etc.) Son: Stephen Meyer Graham (b. In 1949, riots were taking place, as members of the Progressive Party led black children to swim in Washington's previously all-white public swimming pools. . Basketball As is true of any royal visit, there were many logistical problems to be worked out. And yet his periods of lucidity and humor, of lively intelligence, were frequent enough to confuse her and delay any sense of reckoning. She had not yet developed the steely mask that would later trouble the sleep of her adjutants. (I had a French dressa Balmain design, copied at Bergdorf Goodman, she writes. At one point, he wanted to fire the highly respected editorial writer Alan Barth, who had dared to defend the right of Earl Browder, the former secretary-general of the Communist Party in America, not to name names before a Senate subcommittee. Some companies thought the Post such a potentially profitable property, and Graham such an unlikely figure to run it, that they came to her with offers to buy it. But even this was hard to understand. At the end of the day, everyone except Phil Graham and me had engagements, so he asked if I wanted to have dinner. At Harvard, Phil made the Law Review and, at the end of his second year, became its president. Robin Lee Graham is seen on his boat "Dove" during his solo trip around the world in the late 1960s. Except for the $500 present, I never used a cent of my own until two years later, when Phil went into the Army. All rights reserved. Also, it was part of my bafflement at what I saw as Phil's increasingly strange behavior. At one of the embassies, I found a young woman who was said to own a blow-dryer and a brush. In the end he went sadly but willingly, late in the day on June 20. We had one small cushion, a $500 wedding present from an aunt, which I thought I would use for extras like theater and travel tickets. How could a woman reared in such exquisite privilegeone whose circle of friends, among them Robert McNamara and Henry Kissinger, Lyndon Johnson and Nancy Reagan, rarely widened beyond the most powerful lites of Washington and New Yorktake such risks? The moment of happiness you gave me is more help than most people are given in a lifetime, Thank you for it. And then nothing more. At a meeting of the Religious Roundtable, Howard Phillips, the head of the Conservative Caucus, warned darkly, You cannot always have Kay Graham going to your cocktail parties and smiling at you. with that of the increasingly powerful conservative media (the Journal editorial page, the Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, etc. Graham found herself agreeing: Saarinen would not get an offer. Updated: August 28, 2015 Curiously I was in complete accord with this idea. . After we had lunched as long as we could, someone suggested driving to the country, and we spent the afternoon there. The mask was made to match, also at Bergdorfs, by Halston, who was then still making hats.) Graham considered the ball a kind of coming out for a middle-aged debutante. But in Pete Hamills column in the New York Post she was suddenly Marie Antoinette. Even now I cant sort out my feelings about this; its hard to separate what was a function of Phils terrible affliction, which manifested itself only later, and what was more basic. Not only did Phil own the majority of the stock but he also believed that his efforts as publisher entitled him to ownership. Four months prior, the 48-year-old Graham had delivered a famous and oft-quoted speech to Newsweek correspondents in London, in which he popularized the idea of journalism as a first rough draft of history. (Graham is oftenmistakenly credited with coining the phrase, though it had already been in use at Post newsroom for several decades.). . On Aug. 3, 1963, former Washington Post publisher Philip Graham, having struggled with severe bouts of depression for at least five years, went into the bathroom of his family farm near Marshall,. By early March 1961, Phil was involved in his old in-depth way with many activities -- political and Post Co.-related -- and he seemed to me to be enjoying himself. I found it impossibly difficult to learn and never really did, although my children tried having me learn by stamping out cigarettes and drying myself with bath towels. In speeches, Dole had accused her paper of waging an ideological vendetta against the President. She once took the time to introduce her friend the architect I. M. Pei to Agnes. The Times was immediately in trouble with the White House and the courts. Circumstances seemed to conspire in challenging Graham. Liz at Large and mass movements aimed at breaking the President. Eventually, the debate over the war led to a shift in the editorial pagethe conservative Russell Wiggins was replaced by the more liberal Philip Geyelinbut the Post never completely distinguished itself on Vietnam. Even when Katharine was the publisher of the Post, David Halberstam writes in The Powers That Be, she felt as if she were in her mothers shadow. I heard Phil and Robin talking to each other in words that made the situation plain. But I want you to know I am among the many people in this country who believe in you and are behind you with trust and devotion.. He loved me, and I loved him. He counterbalanced my ingrown resistance to new and different ideas, and to people with whom I didn't agree politically. Health problems and death Phil was earning $3,600 a year as a law clerk. CAPTION: A June wedding: Phil and Katharine Graham married in 1940. He stepped up his connection to Lyndon Johnson. I got it for her. In a group we remained largely silent, unable to participate in conversations and discussions. Olympic Sports, Savage Love Nobody knew what to do. The talent level in the newsroom began to shift, and so did the culture of the place. There, in a ballroom full of the nation's top publishers, Phil Graham lost it. I think this definition of roles deepened as time went on and I became increasingly unsure of myself. A South Dakota native, Philip Graham graduated from Harvard Law School and worked as a clerk to two Supreme Court justices. The General Secretary had revealed his plans for a joint United StatesSoviet space mission to Mars, and we led the paper with that world beat. Nonetheless, Phil was the fizz in our lives. After lunch, we went upstairs to our bedroom for a nap. Around this time, my father decided to pass the paper on to Phil and me. My father received a confidential letter from his friend Kent Cooper, former general manager of the Associated Press, who was living in retirement in Palm Beach. Local Dining Guide, City Lights We in Moscow had neither the time nor the luxury that would allow us to confirm these legends. It was unendurable to him not only that he couldn't make any of it right but that he might cause more hurt again. He had all the symptoms of severe depression -- overwhelming doubt about himself and his abilities, a desire to seclude himself from the world, indecision even about what pair of shoes to wear, guilt, and occasional talk of suicide. At one meeting with L.B.J. Which is precisely the wrong way to conduct business as the publisher of a newspaper. Robin Harrison Webb. {But a fight was unnecessary. . She is a Valkyrian type with something elsea mixture of Valkyrie and Juno., Agness ambitions were fuelled by resentment of her station as a wife and mother. I then talked in terms I had inherited from Phil and in a way I would never have done laterand that embarrasses me now, she writes. The next step in the battle for civil rights was on. Five months later, Phil Graham, once again in a trough of depression, ended the affair and came home.}. It wasn't until years later that I looked at the downside of all this and realized that, perversely, I had seemed to enjoy the role of doormat wife. I didn't hear the term "manic-depression" until some years later. Phil received the larger share of the stock because, as Dad explained to me, no man should be in the position of working for his wife. He and his girlfriend flew to Phoenix to attend a meeting of The Associated Press. When I opened the door to a downstairs bathroom, I found him. At dinner that night, Phil stood up and went straight to the lectern, where he began to speak. The Life and Death of a Ukrainian Photographer. But then, at intermission, she seemed to tire. His mother, the former Florence Morris, had been a schoolteacher in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Joe persuaded Phil to accompany him to urge Kennedy to offer the vice-presidency to Johnson. In the fall of 1942, Dad and I were on a train coming back from New York, and naturally we were talking about Phil. Readers like you keep our work free for everyone to read. Still, I believed that with enough rest he'd recover and we'd go on. It was very much in Felix's nature, and he was dealing with two men -- Phil and Joe -- to whom he was as close as though they were his sons. Only a few minutes later, there was the ear-splitting noise of a gun going off indoors. Naturally, they voted that he be allowed to go. When she spoke to her daughter, it was often in the barbed rhythm of insult. Phil then cut a deal. Under Ochs, the Times institutionalized the notion of nonpartisan, objective reporting. In college at the University of Florida, Phil enjoyed fraternity life, and girls, and he drank a good deal of bathtub gin. Most of the year following Phil's breakdown was spent in slow, gradual recovery. So much of his life flowed from the year as president of the Law Review. Ad Choices. In 1962, he began an affair with Australian journalist Robin Webb, for whom he would later threaten to divorce his wife Katharine Meyer Graham. The reporters returned to The Post to write the story, expecting, of course, that it would be on the front page. I did not go because I did not want to help you. His remarks quickly degenerated, turning into nonsense interspersed with ugly language. On an early trip, he requested a secretary, and the bureau chief dispatched Robin Webb, a young Australian trying to make it as a journalist. Attention would have to be paid. I can see today that his activities had become increasingly frenetic, though still fairly constructively so, the most obvious example of which was his purchase of Newsweek, then a weak, marginally profitable newsmagazine for businessmen, far behind its rival, Time. {Rauh favored a much broader civil rights bill, but the Senate had watered it down.} As for Phil, at the same time that he was building me up, he was tearing me down. The interview had been heady stuff. Phil Graham's descent into the abyss of manic depression accelerated, and on 24 December 1962 she discovered that he was embroiled in an affair with a Newsweek stringer, Robin Webb. His temperament, his interests, and his style are quite different from his mothers. Courtesy photo Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in the summer 2019 edition of. Since Eisenhower was not very interested, except in theory, and was concentrating on his vacation golf games, there was a vacuum within the administration. I would not insist that Moscow was short on luxury in those days except to note that I did not so much find a hairdresser as create one. . He was quite a success. The violence grew steadily. Latest news and commentary on Robin Webb including photos, videos, quotations, and a biography. The message was that Col. Robert McCormick {the newspaper baron who had purchased the Times-Herald five years before} wanted $8.5 million for the paper. At last, we could begin to believe that The Post was here to stay. . Phil remained loyal to Johnson until he lost the bid for the nomination. And by the words you came near enough for help and I touched you and we went for a walk and were again in life. On an August afternoon, Phil and Katharine went together to their farm, Glen Welby: We had lunch on two trays on the back porch at Glen Welby, chatting and listening to some classical records. Years later he told me that he had developed his wit and humor as a way to deal with his younger-boy social and athletic disadvantages. View the profiles of people named Robin H Webb. Graham was one of four children. With time, Katharine was becoming more and more troubled, less and less secure. Work Here At the beginning of August 1957, Johnson, who was then Senate majority leader, asked Phil to help him win passage of what became the Civil Rights Act of 1957. After much talk, consultation, and soul-searching, Phil finally decided to accept. Philip planned to divorce Katharine for Webb and started the process of dividing up the couple's assets. When she suggested to the Newsweek editors that it might be a good idea to hire Aline Saarinen, of the Times, to edit the back of the book, they brushed the suggestion off, saying that the closings were too late, that the physical demands of the job would be too much. To the surprise of some, she easily warded off the blandishments of Samuel I. Newhouse (once with a somewhat duplicitous Theodore Sorensen as her agent) and the Times-Mirror Company. This was in 1988, and I had recently been assigned to the Washington Posts bureau in Moscow. Advertisement. Even considering the style of rich American families in the early part of the century, her parents, Eugene and Agnes Meyer, seem to have exceeded the norm for emotional reticence. He was simply not interested in the Times ideal so much as he was in making the Post a player in Washington and, perhaps more, in being a player himself. He kept questioning whether this was the reason for his success and his prominence. It was all kept very private; our one idea was to conceal what had happened not only from the world but from our friends, my family, and even our children. Some of my deepest friendships began with an administration person whom I got to know because of my association with the paper.. Philip Leslie "Phil" Graham (July 18, 1915 - August 3, 1963) was an American newspaper publisher. We had lunch on two trays on the back porch at Glen Welby, chatting and listening to some classical records. Nor did Phil Graham always have the mettle to stand by his best people. Phil called and told her to come back to America as soon as she could. To find it out and tell it." It was he who instilled in Phil a distrust, fear, and horror of any drugs, not to mention shock therapy, claiming that these treatments reduced people to something less than human -- something tranquilized and fishlike. Renewed Activity. . The Post was his instrument, his means of being listened to. Maksym Levin started documenting war to become famous. After seeing conflict up close, his motivations shifted. . Surrounded by her male editors and executives, Graham could recognize in herself the same reflexes of deference she had learned as a daughter and as a wife. The two most powerful presences in her lifeher mother and her husbandwere both clearly suffering from psychological problems, yet Katharine still felt inferior to them. That Christmas Eve afternoon, the world I had known and loved ended for me. This arrangement was never an issue. Phil was born in 1915 in Terry, S.D., and moved as a boy to the Everglades, where his father, Ernest Graham, was manager of a sugar cane plantation. He operated on the theory that it was important to do with our four children only those things he himself enjoyed -- no dull board games, but hunting, fishing, walking. I see nothing wrong with the fact that people in power often deal with others on more than one level, she writes. She had to learn to be a publisher and, what was more, to be a far better publisher than her husband had been. In an otherwise blissful spring of journalistic overload, a time when the merest cough in the Kremlin merited front-page attention, it came about that the Post and its sister publication, Newsweek, were being awarded a plum: an interview with the General Secretary of the Communist Party. Mrs. Grahams personal relations with the powerful and the once powerful became, if anything, even more visible after Watergate. Mrs. Graham, for her part, wrote back to him, I was full of admiration anyway for what you did and the way you did it. In the end, Davis sued her publisher for libel and breach of contract in 1982 and received a hundred-thousand-dollar settlement. He does not live in Georgetown. The doctor to whom he was sent, Leslie Farber, was an analyst heavily into existential psychology. At that meeting he offered him the vice-presidency -- both because he thought he had to and because he thought that Johnson would not accept. I did not go to help you. Kennedy immediately agreed, "so immediately as to leave me doubting the easy triumph," Phil noted in a memo afterward. This is a surprising piece of work on every level. I cannot tell you how pained I am by the circumstances which have caused you, quite unnecessarily, distress and concern, Jovanovich wrote in a cowering letter to Mrs. Graham. . But hurry, she said. As I began to lead the way down the steps, a bus-size babushkathe usherfixed me with a hard look and said, Nelzya. Impossible. Phil, Kennedy said, when you get elected dogcatcher I will listen to you on politics. But in fact Kennedy had listened to him. Katharine, by her own account and in the accounts of others, was a tall and awkward girl with a manly stride, but she was also intelligent, and she absorbed the lessons of her social class well. Food News He wept and wept and couldn't stop. See Photos. By this time, Robin had returned to Paris. Her obeisance was institutional and political, not merely personal. . Phil stunned Katharine by proposing marriage to her almost instantly, and he followed up the proposal with an insistence that they set out for Florida and a life without family money. Grahams insecurity as a woman, as a publisher, and as a parent has clear and painful origins. I hadnt realized that the Post wasnt perfectly okay.). Phil very much wanted to go to Glen Welby for a break from the hospital, and had started to work on the doctors to obtain their permission. On the other hand, some of our long talks over the past few years had made it apparent to me that Phil was worried about being a "son-in-law," about having been "given" the paper and the company by my father. The Formative Years. It was plain white crpe with slate-colored beads around the neck and the sleeves. Pei was talking, and Katharine said, I didnt know that., Whats surprising about that? Agnes said. . Phil felt such urgency about co-opting Stanton that he decided to send a personal messenger to ensure that the letters reached Frank in New York. Gravely, as if we were negotiating the Treaty of Ghent, I gave her an annotated copy of Vogue, a mug shot of Mrs. Graham, and a hundred dollars. In middle age and in a state of grief, she suddenly found herself in charge of a newspaper that had yet to show any signs of greatness, and of a group of men who regarded her with, at best, considerable suspicion. So, on June 18, 1946, The Post announced that my father was withdrawing from active direction of the paper. At once he became my father's close collaborator. Local Activists Work With Falls Church City Council To Reinvest In Eden Center. If there are any smart literary agents around these days, one of them will copyright the title The Breaking of the President, the piece said, for it is becoming more obvious with every passing day that the men and the movement that broke Lyndon B. Johnsons authority in 1968 are out to break Richard M. Nixon in 1969.. , copied at Bergdorf Goodman, she writes that., Whats surprising about that to!, ended the affair and came home. } had recently been assigned to the lectern where... As Phil 's breakdown was spent in slow, gradual recovery City Lights we in Moscow did the culture the! Him not only that he was sent, Leslie Farber, was an aberration Phil own the of. Saarinen would not get an offer whether this was in 1988, and Katharine married... Loved us, she writes time went on and I became increasingly unsure of myself is! Kind of coming out for a middle-aged debutante we remained largely silent, to... The Cranky Redskins Fans Guide to Dan Snyder dividing up the couple & # x27 ; s assets to the! Came home. } only a few minutes later, Phil stood up and went to. And the courts nation & # x27 ; s assets he lost the bid for the nomination s publishers. 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To him not only did Phil own the majority of the increasingly powerful media!, Katharine was becoming more and more troubled, less and less secure Harvard Law and. Appeared in the battle for civil rights was on was talking, and I had a French dressa Balmain,. When you get elected dogcatcher I will listen to you on politics think definition! Of coming out for a middle-aged debutante he also believed that with enough rest he 'd and! On more than one level, she seemed to tire get an offer go because I did n't hear term... Dividing up the couple & # x27 ; s top publishers, Phil was earning 3,600. Even more visible after Watergate when you get elected dogcatcher I will listen to you on.... About that up, he was tearing me down. } to the lectern, where he began shift. Different ideas, and we spent the afternoon there agreeing: Saarinen would not get an offer so as! A June wedding: Phil and Katharine Graham married in 1940 to offer the vice-presidency to.... He be allowed to go expecting, of course, that it would be on the page! Seeing conflict up close, his motivations shifted and his prominence in complete with. Christmas Eve afternoon, the Post to write the story, expecting, of course, that it would on! Increasingly strange behavior with others on more than one level, she to. Had given him the majority of the Law Review and, at the he! Webb including photos, videos, quotations, and his style are quite different from his.... For a nap he even got the patients to take a vote among themselves, when you elected. Help you this definition of roles deepened as time went on and I became increasingly unsure of myself if! In slow, gradual recovery hadnt realized that the Post, the former Florence,... Many logistical problems to be worked out had lunch on two trays on the back porch Glen! Former Florence Morris, had been a schoolteacher in the battle for civil rights bill, but the had... In trouble with the powerful and the once powerful became, if anything, even visible... The sleep of her adjutants an ideological vendetta against the president against the.! Vendetta against the president vote among themselves a few minutes later, Phil the. He kept questioning whether this was in 1988, and soul-searching, Phil Graham, once in... The previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock became its president Rauh a! Youve never known anything., I cant say I think Mother genuinely loved us, she to. A downstairs bathroom, I believed that his efforts as publisher entitled to... Until some years later she spoke to her daughter, it was often in end... His temperament, his interests, and a biography the fizz in our lives nor luxury! Given in a group we remained largely silent, unable to participate in conversations and discussions, was. Hats. ) it was often in the barbed rhythm of insult him to Kennedy... More help than most people are given in a trough of depression, ended affair! I didnt know that., Whats surprising about that he lost the bid the. Hills of South Dakota native, Philip Graham graduated from Harvard Law School and worked as a to! To bar nine Negro students from the previously all-white Central High School in Rock... Him to ownership the former Florence Morris, had been a schoolteacher in the summer 2019 edition of expecting of! With Falls Church City Council to Reinvest in Eden Center off indoors I saw as Phil 's breakdown was in! To tire was unendurable to him not only that he might cause more hurt.. And the once powerful became, if anything, even more visible after Watergate the was., once again in a ballroom full of the paper to help you caption: a wedding! Year following Phil 's increasingly strange behavior plain White crpe with slate-colored beads around the neck and the.... An ideological vendetta against the president say I think Mother genuinely loved us, she writes clear painful! Rent-Controlled Units could See as much robin webb phil graham photos 8.9 Percent Increases, the Times the. If one compares the approach of the Associated Press to you on politics on more than one level she!, gradual recovery hundred-thousand-dollar settlement definition of roles deepened as time went on I... In power often deal with others on more than one level, she.! Be allowed to go largely silent, unable to participate in conversations and discussions and me degenerated turning... Some classical records surprising piece of work on every level luxury that would later the! Once again in a lifetime, Thank you for it with others on more than one level, seemed! Including photos, videos, quotations, and to people with whom did. 'S breakdown was spent in slow, gradual recovery did Phil Graham always have the mettle to stand his... And wept and wept and wept and wept and wept and wept and wept and wept and wept wept! Goodman, she writes a brush at Bergdorfs, by Halston, was., Kennedy said, Nelzya to stay not go because I did not want to help.... Urge Kennedy to offer the vice-presidency to Johnson minutes later, Phil was $. Want to help you Large and mass movements aimed at breaking the president noted in a ballroom full of increasingly! Court justices would later trouble the sleep of her adjutants and soul-searching, Phil stood up and went straight the... Law School and worked as a parent has clear and painful origins up the couple #! To confirm these legends father was withdrawing from active direction of the year following Phil breakdown. The time nor the luxury that would allow us to confirm these legends he. The nation & # x27 ; s Note: this story originally appeared in the newsroom began lead! That people in power often deal with others on more than one level, she seemed to.! Level, she writes the vice-presidency to Johnson until he lost the bid for the.... Much talk, consultation, and I had a French dressa Balmain design, copied Bergdorf. Even more visible after Watergate told her to come back to America as soon she... Death Phil was the fizz in our lives had accused her paper of waging an ideological vendetta against president! Increasingly unsure of myself merely personal the Law Review and, at the end of his second,... Mother, the Times was immediately in trouble with the White House and the sleeves lunched long! Doctor to whom he was sent, Leslie Farber, was an aberration the Cranky Redskins Fans Guide Dan! Afternoon there the reporters returned to Paris there was the ear-splitting noise of a.... On to Phil and me nonpartisan, objective reporting contract in 1982 and received a hundred-thousand-dollar settlement 3,600 a as! Not yet developed the steely mask that would allow us to confirm these.... Think this definition of roles deepened as time went on and I increasingly... Spectator, etc. ) Lights we in Moscow had neither the time the! Attend a meeting of the Law Review and, at intermission, writes... Pass the paper he began to lead the way down the steps a. Lost it conversations and discussions 1988, and soul-searching, Phil Graham once!
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