In 1971, I became a journalism major. That was the year the Pentagon Papers were published by the NY Times and the Washington Post. A year later, The Post began reporting on a break-in at the Democratic National Committee that eventually brought down a president. The First Amendment is once again under attack by a President of the United States. Some things never change.
The Post (Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks) – The long-awaited screen pairing of Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg’s The Post makes movie magic. Streep and Hanks smoothly, comfortably, and seamlessly settle into their roles as Washington Post Publisher Katherine (Kay) Graham and Editor Ben Bradlee in this dramatization of the publishing of the Pentagon Papers in the summer of 1971.
These were the glory days of modern journalism, a confirmation of the essential role of a free press in a democracy. Yes, back then, the news media were called “the press” because newspapers were the dominant medium of journalism. Standing atop the heap was the New York Times, the Gray Lady herself. The Washington Post was considered mostly a local paper owned by the Graham family with deep roots in the D.C. social and political scene. After all, Kay Graham, who inherited the paper from her father, was a friend of Lyndon Johnson principals and Bob McNamara. Ben and Tony Bradlee were best friends with Jack and Jackie Kennedy (Jack and Tony were rumored to have had an affair). The relationships between the Post’s principals and the government were too close, as both acknowledged later.
The Post came of age with the Pentagon Papers, the scathing, objective, secret multi-volume report about U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War commissioned by McNamara. Stolen from the Rand Corporation, then copied and leaked by former Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg, the Papers revealed the lies that the Administrations of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon told the American people about U.S. political and military involvement in Indochina.
The movie opens up in Vietnam as Ellsberg goes into the field to assess the progress of the war. After telling McNamara that nothing has changed despite the addition of 100,000 troops, McNamara steps right off the plane and tells the assembled media that things are going swimmingly. Ellsberg goes rogue and leaks the document exclusively to the New York Times’ Neil Sheahan. After publishing two reports, the Nixon Justice Department goes to court and forces the Times to publish no more, arguing national security. This sets up a potential constitutional crisis between the First Amendment rights of the press and the government’s obligation to protect the citizenry.
The Post, clearly scooped by the Times, plays catch-up, gets a copy of most of the report, and has to decide whether to publish. Graham and her all-male board of directors had just taken the paper public. So publishing the Papers in direct opposition to the Nixon Administration and despite the court order against the Times could render the public offering a failure. Graham has to balance the interests of her Board and possibly the future of the newspaper against press freedom. Bradlee has no conflict whatsoever. He sees it as a historic moment.
The movie manages to create tension despite the fact that everyone over 50 knows what happens. In Spielberg’s superb directorial hands, we easily see the parallels between 46+-year-old history and the epic battle currently being waged by Donald Trump against the media. And in Kay Graham’s life, we see the incredible difficulties a woman faced in a man’s world where she was viewed as a debutante without the standing or intestinal fortitude to make a decision that would ultimately lead to the affirmation of the importance of the First Amendment.
The acting is superb, particularly Streep. She manages to capture Graham’s patrician manner and speech without over-playing it. She shows Graham gaining strength and standing by the day, ultimately siding with her smug editor over her financial advisors, lawyers and board members. Hanks has the unenviable task of taking on an Oscar-winning role made famous by Jason Robards so expertly in All The President’s Men. He is up to the task, playing Bradlee as in love with his job and relentless in the pursuit of journalistic justice. He is the one male character who treats Graham as both an equal and his boss. Hanks more than holds his own with Queen Meryl.
The Post may not end up being as celebrated as All The President’s Men but it should. It manages to serve as both historical drama and relevant social commentary.