Ben Bradlee, the imfamous editor whose newspaper helped topple President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, died yesterday aged 93.
Bradlee´s death at his Washington home of natural causes was announced by the Post, which reported late last month that its former editor had begun hospice care after suffering from Alzheimer´s disease for the past several years.
As executive editor from 1968 until 1991, Bradlee became one of the most important figures in Washington, as well as part of journalism history, while transforming the Post from a staid morning daily into one of the most dynamic and respected publications in the United States.
Bradlee´s work guiding the up and coming reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they traced a 1972 burglary at Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office and apartment complex back to the Nixon White House has been celebrated through out the world and even made its way into cinematographic history.
The Post won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the scandal, which forced Nixon to quit under threat of impeachment in August 1974.
Under Bradlee’s tutelage, the newspaper published about 400 articles about Watergate over 28 months.
