[2] in the Republican Party, who shared friendships with people as diverse as Auguste Rodin, Marie Curie, Thomas Mann, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, John Dewey[3] and Saul Alinsky.

[12] Meyer often did not see much of her parents during her childhood, as both traveled and socialized extensively; she was raised in part by nannies, governesses and tutors.

[15] After graduation, Meyer worked for a short period at a San Francisco newspaper where, among other things, she helped cover a major strike by wharf workers.

On June 5, 1940, Meyer was married [10] to Philip Graham, a graduate of Harvard Law School and a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter.

[21][22] Graham was also known for a long-time friendship with Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway owned a substantial stake in the Post.

[24] On Christmas Eve in 1962, Katharine learned her husband was having an affair with Robin Webb, an Australian stringer for Newsweek.

[26][27] He was sedated, flown back to Washington, and placed in the Chestnut Lodge psychiatric facility in nearby Rockville.

[26][28] On August 3, 1963, he committed suicide with a shotgun at the couple's "Glen Welby" estate near Marshall in the Virginia horse country.

[32][33] As the only woman to be in such a high position at a publishing company, she had no female role models and had difficulty being taken seriously by many of her male colleagues and employees.

Graham hired Benjamin Bradlee as editor, and cultivated Warren Buffett for his financial advice; he became a major shareholder and something of an eminence grise in the company.

The Post played an integral role in unveiling the Watergate conspiracy which ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

It occurred in 1972, when Nixon's attorney general, John Mitchell, warned reporter Carl Bernstein about a forthcoming article: "Katie Graham's gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer if that's published.

"[35] On November 16, 1988, Graham gave a speech titled "Secrecy and the Press" to a packed auditorium at CIA headquarters as part of that agency's Office of Training and Education's Guest Speaker series.

[37][38][39] In discussing the potential for press disclosures to affect national security, Graham said: "We live in a dirty and dangerous world.

[41] Nora Ephron of the New York Times, who was at one point married to Carl Bernstein, raved about Graham's autobiography.