The Washington Post: Difference between revisions

The ''Post'' is credited with coining the term "[[McCarthyism]]" in a 1950 [[editorial cartoon]] by [[Herbert Block]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Chalmers McGeagh Roberts|title=The Washington Post: The First 100 Years|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OY61AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Herblock+in+fact+who+coined+the+term%22|year=1977|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=978-0-395-25854-5|page=280|access-date=September 18, 2018|archive-date=March 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323125145/https://books.google.com/books?id=OY61AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Herblock+in+fact+who+coined+the+term%22|url-status=live}}</ref> Depicting buckets of tar, it made fun of Sen. [[Joseph McCarthy]]'s "tarring" tactics, i.e., [[smear campaign]]s and character assassination against those targeted by his accusations. Sen. McCarthy was attempting to do for the Senate what the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] had been doing for years—investigating [[Soviet espionage in the United States|Soviet espionage in America]]. The [[HUAC]] made Richard Nixon nationally known for his role in the [[Alger Hiss|Hiss]]/[[Whittaker Chambers|Chambers]] case that exposed communist spying in the [[State Department]]. The committee had evolved from the [[John William McCormack|McCormack]]-[[Samuel Dickstein (congressman)|Dickstein]] Committee of the 1930s.<ref name=Duffy>{{cite news| author = Peter Duffy| title = The Congressman Who Spied for Russia: The Strange Case of Samuel Dickstein| publisher = Politico| url = https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/samuel-dickstein-congressman-russian-spy-111641?paginate=false| date = October 6, 2014| access-date = September 20, 2018| archive-date = September 20, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180920195522/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/samuel-dickstein-congressman-russian-spy-111641?paginate=false| url-status = live}}</ref>

Ben Bradlee became the editor-in-chief in 1968, and Kay Graham officially became the publisher in 1969, paving the way for the aggressive reporting of the ''[[Pentagon Papers]]'' and [[Watergate scandal]]s. The ''Post'' strengthened public opposition to the Vietnam War in 1971 when it published the ''Pentagon Papers''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pentagon Papers |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pentagon-Papers |work=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=July 12, 2020 |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622112034/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pentagon-Papers |url-status=live }}</ref> In the mid-1970s, some conservatives referred to the ''Post'' as "''[[Pravda]]'' on the [[Potomac River|Potomac]]" because of its perceived left-wing bias in both reporting and editorials.<ref>Bruce Bartlett (March 13, 2007), [http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/mar/13/20070313-090315-7881r/ "Partisan Press Parity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510011750/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/mar/13/20070313-090315-7881r/ |date=May 10, 2011 }}. ''The Washington Times''.</ref> Since then, the appellation has been used by both liberal and conservative critics of the newspaper.<ref>James Kirchick (February 17, 2009), [http://www.tnr.com/article/pravda-the-potomac "Pravda on the Potomac"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905065212/http://www.tnr.com/article/pravda-the-potomac |date=September 5, 2011 }}. ''The New Republic''.</ref><ref>William Greider (March 6, 2003), [http://www.thenation.com/article/washington-post-warriors "Washington Post Warriors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515044255/http://www.thenation.com/article/washington-post-warriors |date=May 15, 2011 }}, ''The Nation''</ref>