The Graham family connection to The Washington Post began on June 1, 1933 when Eugene Meyer, the great-grandfather of Katharine Weymouth, bought the paper at a bankruptcy sale for $825,000.
We have compiled this short timeline about Weymouth and The Post as a reminder of the most interesting chapters in the history of the Graham dynasty’s relationship with its former paper.
May 1966
Katharine Weymouth is born to Lally and Yann Weymouth. She grows up in New York City. Her mother is the eldest of four children of Katharine and Philip Graham.
1968
Benjamin Bradlee is named executive editor of The Post.
June 15, 1971
The Washington Post Company goes public with the sale of common stock.
June 18, 1971
The newspaper starts publishing the Pentagon Papers.
June 1972
The Post begins to report on Watergate.
October 1972
The new Washington Post building at 1150 15th Street, N.W. is dedicated.
1979
Donald Graham succeeds his mother, Katharine Graham, as the publisher of The Post.
1988
Katharine Weymouth graduates from Harvard College with a BA in literature.
1992
Weymouth earns a JD from Stanford Law School.
1993
She begins practicing law at Williams & Connolly in Washington, DC.
1996
Weymouth joins The Post as assistant counsel.
June 1996
The newspaper’s website, Washingtonpost.com, is started.
February 1997
Katharine Graham gives an interview about her book “Personal History,” which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize the following year:
1998
Weymouth becomes associate counsel for Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI).
2000
Weymouth serves as The Post’s advertising department’s liaison between the newspaper and WPNI.
2002
Weymouth becomes director of the advertising department’s jobs unit.
April 2004
Weymouth is named director of advertising sales.
January 2005
Weymouth becomes The Post’s vice president of advertising.
February 2008
Weymouth is named CEO and publisher of The Post and chief executive of Washington Post Media.
July 2008
The Post announces Marcus Brauchli will succeed Leonard Downie, Jr. as executive editor.
July 2009
Weymouth cancels a series of policy dinners after fliers are released promising special access to public officials in exchange for donations.
May 2010
Weymouth visits Poynter during a colloquium inspired by the book, “The Edge of Change: Women in the 21st Century Press.” During her moderated conversation at the beginning of the program, Weymouth discusses the challenges of creating a sustainable business model for journalism:
“It’s scary from the business perspective, how do you sustain quality journalism? But the demand for news and the ability to get news is greater than ever… People write about and talk a lot about the decline of circulation of newspapers and oh my God, what’s happening? We have a bigger audience than we have ever had … our challenge is to figure out how do you pay for it.”
November 2012
The Post announces that Marty Baron will become the paper’s next executive editor, effective January 2013.
February 2013
Weymouth announces that the Washington Post building is for sale:
“I wanted to let everyone know that we are actively exploring relocating our headquarters.
This building has given us so much and has watched history unfold. It is hard to imagine moving after so many years. And yet, once we removed the presses from this building over ten years ago, we were no longer tied to this particular location. We understand that this is a big undertaking and a change for all of us. We take all of this seriously.”
May 2013
Baron and Weymouth discuss The Post with Economic Club president David Rubenstein:
August 5, 2013
The Post announces the paper will be sold to Amazon.com founder Jeffrey Bezos:
“The Washington Post Co. agreed Monday to sell its flagship newspaper to Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos, ending the Graham family’s stewardship of one of America’s leading news organizations after four generations.”
Former publisher Donald Graham discusses the deal:
Weymouth gives her account of the sale:
September 2014
The Post announces Fred Ryan will succeed Weymouth as publisher:
“Washington Post owner Jeffrey P. Bezos is replacing Publisher Katharine Weymouth with Frederick J. Ryan Jr., a former Reagan administration official who was part of the founding leadership team of Politico, a primarily digital news organization that competes with The Post on political coverage, the company announced Tuesday.”
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