Bob Woodward

I

Introduction

Bob Woodward, born in 1943, American journalist and author. As a reporter for the Washington Post in the 1970s, Woodward teamed with reporter Carl Bernstein to uncover many of the key elements of the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974).

Robert Upshur Woodward was born in Geneva, Illinois, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1965. He served in the United States Navy from 1965 to 1970. Woodward interned at the Washington Post in 1970 but was not hired due to his lack of experience. His reporting for the Montgomery County (Maryland) Sentinel yielded a number of significant stories, and in 1971 he came back to the Post as a full-time reporter.

II

Watergate Scandal

On June 17, 1972, Woodward and Bernstein were assigned to cover the arraignment of five men who had been arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Woodward and Bernstein’s reporting eventually revealed that the break-in had been orchestrated by high-ranking officials in the Nixon administration and on his campaign staff. Further investigation revealed that the crime was a part of a pattern of White House political “dirty tricks” that included wiretapping, burglary, and disruption of Democratic Party activities. The pair’s reporting earned the Post a Pulitzer Prize for public service in 1973.

Woodward and Bernstein authored two bestselling books, All the President’s Men (1974) and The Final Days (1976), based on their work on the Watergate stories. A successful motion picture based on the books, All the President's Men, was released in 1976.

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In May 2005 a magazine article revealed the identity of “Deep Throat,” a key source of information for Woodward during the Watergate investigation. Woodward confirmed that his famous anonymous source was W. Mark Felt, who at the time of the scandal was a high-ranking official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Woodward had promised not to reveal Deep Throat’s identity until the person died, but the 91-year-old Felt himself admitted to being the source in an interview with a writer from Vanity Fair magazine.

III

Later Writings

Woodward continued to work at the Post, eventually becoming an assistant managing editor at the paper. He has also written a number of other books, including The Brethren (coauthored with Scott Armstrong, 1979), about the 1970s-era U.S. Supreme Court; Wired (1984), a biography of comedian John Belushi; Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987 (1987); The Commanders (1991), an examination of the politics surrounding the Persian Gulf War; The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House (1994); The Choice (1996), covering the 1996 U.S. presidential election; and Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate (1999).

IV

Bush at War

In the early 2000s Woodward published three behind-the-scenes accounts, based on extensive interviews, of the planning and conduct of the U.S.-Iraq War by the administration of President George W. Bush. The first two books, for which Woodward had access to the president, were generally favorable toward Bush. Bush at War (2002) followed the political aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks and Plan of Attack (2004) described the decision to go to war. A third, less-flattering volume, State of Denial (2006), depicted a chaotic administration, plagued by infighting; a willful secretary of defense who failed to listen to military advisers; and an uninquisitive, ever-optimistic president who refused to recognize the worsening situation. The White House disputed Woodward’s account.

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