Bradlee Quotes & Sayings

They cut about seven minutes from that broadcast, but it was still vital to the story's momentum. — Ben Bradlee

Bradlee had been recruited with the idea that the New York Times need nod exercise absolute preeminence in American journalism.
That vision had suffered a setback in 1971 when the Times published the Pentagon Papers. Though the Post was the second news organization to obtain a copy of the secret study of the Vietnam war, Bradlee noted that 'there was blood on every word' of the Times' initial stories. Bradlee could convey his opinions with a single disgusted glance at an indolent reporter or editor.
Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward — Carl Bernstein

We made only one real mistake. And even then we were right. — Ben Bradlee

News is the first draft of history. — Ben Bradlee

A moment from another world! Imagine a reporter dictating an exclusive story, a lead story, sourced from the President of the United States, from a telephone just off the White House dance floor to the strains of Lester Lanin's dance band. — Ben Bradlee

It's very hard to stand up to the government which is saying that publication will threaten national security. People don't seem to realize that reporters and editors know something about national security and care deeply about it. — Ben Bradlee

If an investigative reporter finds out that someone has been robbing the store, that may be 'gotcha' journalism, but it's also good journalism. — Ben Bradlee

I think the conscientious pursuit of happiness by itself can validate decisions to change, to try again, especially when failure to change will lead to lives of duplicity, dishonesty, and deceit. — Ben Bradlee

The Nixon administration really put a lot of pressure on CBS not to run the second broadcast. — Ben Bradlee

The biggest difference between Kennedy and Nixon, as far as the press is concerned, is simply this: Jack Kennedy really liked newspaper people and he really enjoyed sparring with journalists. — Ben Bradlee

Cherchez la femme" is good advice for investigative reporters. "Follow the money" is even better advice. — Ben Bradlee

Maybe some of today's papers have too many 'feel-good' features, but there is a lot of good news out there. — Ben Bradlee

The champagne was flowing like the Potomac in flood. — Ben Bradlee

National security is a really big problem for journalists, because no journalist worth his salt wants to endanger the national security, but the law talks about anyone who endangers the security of the United States is going to go to jail. So, here you are, especially in the Pentagon. Some guy tells you something. He says that's a national security matter. Well, you're supposed to tremble and get scared and it never, almost never means the security of the national government. More likely to mean the security or the personal happiness of the guy who is telling you something. — Ben Bradlee

Hire people smarter than you are and encourage them to bloom. — Ben Bradlee

There is nothing like daily journalism! Best damn job in the world! — Ben Bradlee

But journalists thrive on not knowing exactly what the future holds. That's part of the excitement. Something interesting, something important, will happen somewhere, as sure as God made sour apples, and a good aggressive newspaper will become part of that something. — Ben Bradlee

It is my experience that most claims of national security are part of a campaign to avoid telling the truth. — Ben Bradlee

Hardly unaware of his image, Bradlee even cultivated it. He delighted in displaying his street savvy, telling a reporter to get his ass moving and talk to some real cops, not lieutenants and captains behind a desk; then rising to greet some visiting dignitary from Le Monde or L'Express in formal, flawless French, complete with a peck on each cheek.

-- Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward — Carl Bernstein

I don't want to disappoint too many people, but the number of interesting political, historical conversations we had, you could stick in your ear, it wasn't that many. We talked about friends, family and of course girls. — Ben Bradlee

There have been as many investigative reporters on this newspaper working on Clinton's many problems as I can remember there were working on Watergate. — Ben Bradlee

I must be out of it, but I don't know any good journalists who have excused Clinton's problems. — Ben Bradlee

We were right about the slush fund. But Sloan did not testify about it to the Grand Jury. — Ben Bradlee

Those [Watergate] tapes are going to take me to my grave with a huge smile on my face.. — Ben Bradlee

To hell with news! I'm no longer interested in news. I'm interested in causes. We don't print the truth. We don't pretend to print the truth. We print what people tell us. It's up to the public to decide what's true. — Ben Bradlee

Sometimes I am convinced there is nothing wrong with this country that couldn't be cured by the magical implantation of ethical standards on us all - leaders and followers. Until that becomes doable, the Center for Public Integrity is just about the best thing we have going for us. — Ben Bradlee

Generals who can write always make me nervous. — Ben Bradlee

Simons, as restrained as Bradlee could be hard-charging and obstreperous, liked to tell of watching Bradlee grind his cigarrettes out in a demitasse cup during a formal dinner party. Bradlee was one of the few persons who could pull that kind of thing off and leave the hostess saying how charming he was.
Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward — Carl Bernstein

The really tough thing would have been to decide to take Woodward and Bernstein off the story. They were carrying the coal for us - in that their stories were right. — Ben Bradlee

Our best today; better tomorrow, — Ben Bradlee

The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all. — Ben Bradlee

Olive's private view is that life depends on what she thinks of as "big bursts" and "little bursts." Big bursts are things like marriage or children, intimacies that keep you afloat, but these big bursts hold dangerous, unseen currents. Which is why you need the little bursts as well: a friendly clerk at Bradlee's, let's say, or the waitress at Dunkin' Donuts who knows how you like your coffee. Tricky business, really. — Elizabeth Strout

Nothing's riding on this, except the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f-k up again, I'm gonna get mad. — Ben Bradlee

I keep thinking of Kon-Tiki as we fly along... the ocean is very blue. Sometimes we fly over white cloud banks that extend for miles and miles to the horizon.I feel content and very appreciative of the sunshine and good company, the little things which mean so much." This from a young man going to war.
"No peace treaty, no international government, is any good at all without the spirit underneath it. I look to the principles of a Christian life, not stopping at a 'gentlemanly' Christian life but working toward a saintly one. I hope one day to find and work toward God." And I never even knew what religion [Doug Bradlee] was, some sort of Protestant, I suppose. — James Brady

I think he had a strange, passionate devotion to the truth and a horror at what he saw going on. — Ben Bradlee

As long as a journalist tells the truth, in conscience and fairness, it is not his job to worry about consequences. The truth is never as dangerous as a lie in the long run. I truly believe the truth sets men free. — Ben Bradlee

Sure, some journalists use anonymous sources just because they're lazy and I think editors ought to insist on more precise identification even if they remain anonymous. — Ben Bradlee

It changes your life, the pursuit of truth, — Ben Bradlee

In the perfect world every source could be identified, but like the man said, "It's not a perfect world." — Ben Bradlee

I do worry about how newspapers respond to falling circulation figures. I'm not sure that the answer is for newspapers to try to cater to whatever seems to be the fad of the day. — Ben Bradlee

They walked across 15th Street to the Madison Hotel's Montpelier Room, an opulent French restaurant. Bradlee asked for a corner table, and began the conversation. 'You'd better bring me up to date because ... ' He turned to order lunch in perfect French, and then turned back to Woodward. ' ... our cocks are on the chopping block now and I just want to know a little bit more about this. — Carl Bernstein

It took us about a day and a half to find out what had gone wrong. — Ben Bradlee

As a child, one looks for compliments. As an adult, one looks for evidence of effectiveness. — Ben Bradlee

A prize-winning science reporter, Simons had become the number-two editor at the Post a year before. An intent, sensitive man with a large nose, thin face and deep-set eyes, he looks like the kind of Harvard teaching assistant who carries a slide ruler strapped to his belt. But he is skillful with fragile egos, and also the perfect counterpoint to Bradlee. Bradlee is more like Woodward: he wants hard information first and is impatient with theories.

-- Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward — Carl Bernstein

I give Cronkite a whole lot of credit. — Ben Bradlee

Everybody who talks to a newspaper has a motive. That's just a given. And good reporters always, repeat always, probe to find out what that motive is. — Ben Bradlee

The first rough draft of history. — Ben Bradlee

You never monkey with the truth. — Ben Bradlee

There will always be leaks; in Washington, everywhere. — Ben Bradlee

I never believed that Nixon could fully resurrect himself. And the proof of that was in the obits. — Ben Bradlee