Katharine Graham

Katharine Graham was one of the most powerful women in American media. Her multi-millionaire father, Eugene Meyer, purchased The Washington Post in 1933. After much success in restoring the down-and-out Post, he died in 1946 and left the newspaper to Graham's husband. However, her husband suffered from alcoholism and depression, and committed suicide in 1963. With 4 young children, Graham became president of the company, at a time when most women were in charge of their households and little else. In 1969, Graham was named the Post's publisher, a title she held for a decade. Under Katharine Graham's leadership, The Washington Post became known for its hard-hitting investigations, including the publication of the Pentagon Papers (against the advice of the Post's lawyers), followed by Woodward and Bernstein's reporting of the Watergate scandal. Graham and her paper are often credited with bringing about the fall of President Richard Nixon. Graham served as the Washington Post Co.'s chief executive officer and chairman of the board from 1973-91. Though she retired in 1991, she remained chairman of the company's executive committee until her death. Graham wrote her memoirs, "Personal History," in 1997, which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography. She was injured in a fall in Idaho in June 2001, and died the following month at age 84.