Chapter thirty: The Post

Yay!!!!! This one's gonna be good, I promise.

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In the midst of the Vietnam war, hot ticket photocopies of papers have leaked from Washington by an anonymous source. Those papers would come to be known as The Pentagon Papers, which uncover secrets regarding the US military involvement with Vietnam. These are secrets that it seems elected officials have known for at least the past decade and have tried to hide from the American people. By now at the time of the movie, it's 1971 and Richard Nixon is in office as president. Not far from him are two newspaper companies- The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Katherine (Kay) Graham (Meryl) is the publisher for one of these major newspaper companies, The Washington Post. She's also the first female publisher of such a widely known newspaper company in America, following her husband's suicidal death. The company was Kay's father's, later given to her husband, then to her as it should have from the beginning. Kay is getting adjusted to the priorities of the business, while still trying to balance her everyday life. She's awaiting her company's new launch into the stock market, and is generally finding her footing with all of these businessmen around her. It's indescribably painful to see how undervalued Kay is treated during meetings, but she's breaking the double standards that she is faced with at her own pace.

With these new implements taking place at The Post, it allows time for The New York Times to be the first of the two companies to display excerpts of The Pentagon Papers for societal viewing, and that action alone is groundbreaking. It also exemplifies Ben Bradlee's statement that The Times always appears to be one step ahead of them. Ben Bradlee is the chief editor for The Washington Post, sort of like Kay's right hand man, and he is played by Tom Hanks, thus putting two Hollywood legends in one room.

A few pass and by now The Post has finally found new passages from The Pentagon Papers that The Times have yet to write about. But, the hope is short-lived because The Times still manages to beat them to the punch. This cycle repeats until Nixon takes action with a statement ordering The Times to keep quiet. The Post uses the order to their advantage, and with The Times now restricted from publication on the subject, a veteran Post journalist travels out to meet with a person whom he believes has custody of the photo copied papers, and returns back home with an entire truckload full of evidence unknown to the rest of the public.

That evening, (Thursday, June 17th, 1971) staff members gather at Ben Bradlee's house, typing away until their fingers are numb, so that the fresh story can make the deadline to be printed as soon as possible. The biggest problem during these hours is deciding whether or not to send the articles on to the printers to be published on Friday, or wait over the weekend. If they go ahead on Friday, it will be the revealing of historic information, but with a tight deadline. If they wait through the weekend, the news they have, may not be news anymore. So, Kay grants permission to publish, and her staff keeps busy at the typewriters. However, it has come to their attention that their source appears to be the same as The Times, which is not good in terms of Nixon's order, and could damage the company's credibility. So, if they decide to publish on Friday, the reward may be greater, but so is the risk. The decision again lies in Kay's hands alone as she is forced to rethink.

Her male colleagues try and talk her out of it, speaking in terms of a certain prison indictment and endangerment of the company, but Kay knows that a newspaper company has a responsible to report to public, and in true badass fashion she says,

"This is no longer my father's company. It's not my husband's company. It's my company. And anyone who thinks otherwise, probably doesn't belong on my board. My decision stands and I'm going to bed."

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The Papers Roll

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The next morning, (Friday, June 18th, 1971) after the delivery of the papers, the Nixon administration fights back with a suit against both The Post and The Times which is taken to the Supreme Court. The two newspaper companies plead to the first amendment and emerge victoriously favored 6-3 with this statement following the court's decision,

"The press was to serve the govern; not the governors."

Which I think is a statement that some people in Washington even today need to hear more than once. The movie ends with the discovery of Watergate, which is another story the Washington Post uncovered, and it led to Nixon's resignation.

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I love this movie. It combines the agility of a thrilling film with the sincerity of a drama, which makes sense for a Stephen Spielberg movie.

I find it to be so wonderful because it shows the great power that words and stories have to make an imprint on the future. But perhaps the greatest part about all of it is that the movie is a true story- real history. It's not only about a woman's rise to success at a time when such was declared unthinkable, but it's also about one of the greatest feats in the journalism world. It's still very relevant to today, especially if the Trump administration had it their way.

As always, thank you for the entertainment, Meryl.