Carl Bernstein was born Feb. 14, 1944 in Washington D.C. to civil rights activists Alfred Bernstein and his wife Sylvia Walker, whom Bernstein later revealed were members of the Communist party. He worked on his high school newspaper and The Washington Star before entering the University of Maryland-College Park where he wrote for The Diamondback until poor grades forced him to leave college. He got a job as a reporter at the Elizabeth Daily Journal where he won first prizes from New Jersey’s press association for investigative reporting, feature writing, and news on deadline. The Washington Post hired him in 1966 as a local news reporter.
He teamed with Bob Woodward in June 1972 to cover a break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate office complex, learning that four of the five burglars who had been caught were ex-CIA agents who did security work for the Republicans. Assiduously following tips given to Woodward by Deputy FBI Director Mark Felt, then identified only as the anonymous source “Deep Throat,” Woodward and Bernstein linked the burglars to a slush fund, the slush fund to former Attorney General John Mitchell, who was then head of the Committee for the Reelection of the President. and Mitchell to President Richard M. Nixon, triggering congressional investigations and a House Judiciary Committee recommendation that Nixon be impeached. Before the issue could be taken up on the House floor, Nixon resigned from office – the first President to do so.
Bernstein and Woodard became journalistic heroes, recounting their experiences in the book All the President’s Men, which later became a movie starring Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein and Robert Redford as Woodward. A follow up book, The Final Days, chronicled Nixon’s last days in office. Bernstein left the Washington Post in 1977 to become a television commentator. He also authored some more books, including a biography of Hillary Clinton.
He was married three times. In succession, his wives were Carol Honsa; Nora Ephron with whom he had two sons, Jacob and Max; and Christine Kuehbeck.
Tomorrow, February 15: Harvey Korman
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