The thing women must do to rise to power is to redefine their femininity. Once, power was considered a masculine attribute. In fact power has no sex.
-- Katharine Graham

Like most other interesting and important fields, journalism has traditionally been the province of men. Women journalists, few as they are, have too often been relegated to "society" pages, covering weddings and cake-decorating competitions rather than real news. Rising into the upper echelons of journalism, serving as editors and even owners of newspapers and publishing companies, has traditionally been a wholly male undertaking, from William Randolph Hearst to Rupert Murdoch.

One very notable exception to this rule is Katharine Graham.

Katharine Graham was born in 1917. Her publisher father, Eugene Meyer, bought The Washington Post at a bankruptcy sale in 1933. After attending Vassar and graduating from the University of Chicago, Katharine worked at the Post from 1937 until 1945, when she left to raise her family.

In 1940, Katharine married Florida lawyer turned newspaperman Philip Graham. Over the course of the next few years, Graham took ownership of the Post, buying out his father-in-law's stock. During this same time period, the Post's holdings increased, including takeovers of the Times-Herald and Newsweek magazine.

The Grahams' marriage was not reported to be a happy one. Philip Graham suffered from manic depression and was unfaithful to his wife. Katharine, by most accounts, kept a stiff upper lip, raising her four children and flawlessly executing her social responsibilities as the wife of a publishing mogul. In 1963, Philip Graham committed suicide.

After her husband's death, many assumed Katharine would retain ownership of the publishing company only as a figurehead. Katharine had other ideas. She became increasingly involved in both the business and journalistic sides of her holdings. After assuming control of The Washington Post Company upon her husband's death, she moved on to also become the publisher of the newspaper from 1969 through 1979, board chairperson and CEO of the publishing company until 1991, and head of the Executive Committee until her death.

Though many of her achievements are notable, it is Katharine's tenure as the publisher of the Post that deserves the greatest accolades. During her time at the helm, the Post gained a reputation for hard-hitting political journalism, culminating in the 1971 publishing of the Pentagon Papers and Woodward and Bernstein's reporting on the Watergate scandal. Though it is not an often-discussed aspect of the story, Katharine took a considerable risk in allowing the two reporters and Post editor Ben Bradlee to take on the Nixon administration, and she reportedly suffered threats to both her business and her person because of it.

In the 1970s and '80s, Katharine oversaw growth of her company into broadcast and cable television networks. For years, she was the only woman to head a Fortune 500 company. Although she "retired" from her position as CEO of The Washington Post Company in 1991, passing the position to her son Donald, Katharine remained very involved with her newspaper and other holdings. In 1997, she published a critically acclaimed autobiography, Personal History.

Katharine died in 2001 at the age of 84 after suffering a fall at an Idaho conference.

Sources:

Graham, Katharine, Personal History, Knopf, 1997.

Hoagland, Jim, "A Journalist First," The Washington Post, July 18, 2001 (washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2001/07/18/AR2005032305178.html)

Mcgrory, Mary, "Evolution of a Newspaperwoman" The Washington Post, July 19, 2001 (washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/20/AR2006032000780.html)

The Washington Post Company Directors & Officers Biographies: Katharine Graham (washpostco.com/dir%5Fkg.htm)

Obituary: Katharine Graham, The Washington Post, July 18, 2001 (washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/20/AR2006032000789.html)