Graham, Katharine (1917-2001), was an influential American journalist. From 1973 to 1993, she served as chairman of the board of the Washington Post Company, which owned The Washington Post newspaper. Graham’s position at the Post gave her entry into circles of power, both political and corporate, that were normally closed to women at the time. She thus ranked as one of the most powerful women in the United States.
Graham was born Katharine Meyer on June 16, 1917, in New York City. Her father, Eugene Meyer, bought The Washington Post in 1933. Katharine graduated from the University of Chicago in 1938 and worked briefly as a reporter for the San Francisco News. She worked in the Post’s editorial and circulation departments from 1939 to 1945. In 1940, she married Philip L. Graham, who succeeded her father as president of the Washington Post Company in 1946.
Katharine assumed the company’s presidency after her husband’s death in 1963 and became its chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) in 1973. She served as the Post’s publisher from 1969 to 1979, heading the influential paper when it led the U.S. press in uncovering the Watergate scandal. Her son Donald E. Graham succeeded her as publisher and, later, as CEO and chairman of the board. Her memoir, Personal History (1997), won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for biography or autobiography. She died on July 17, 2001.
In 2013, The Washington Post was sold to Amazon.com founder Jeffrey P. Bezos. The Washington Post Company, which also owns several television stations, the Kaplan education company, an Internet and phone service company, and other companies, was renamed Graham Holdings Company later that year.
