Trivia

Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 by President Barack Obama.

He was a friend (and neighbor) of John F. Kennedy in Washington before Kennedy was president.

He and Sally Quinn met when she was a reporter at the Post. Although he was much older, she began sending him anonymous love notes. After she had left the Post, they lived together for some years - in the Watergate building. He told a reporter in 1973 that only way they would get married would be -- if a Polish pope was elected! When this "absurd" idea came true, they got married four days later.

Children: Ben Bradlee Jr., with Jean; Dominic ("Dino") and Marina, with Antoinette; Quinn, with Sally Quinn.

Is fluent in French.

(April 19, 2005) Bradlee and wife Sally Quinn were "roasted" by the American Newswomen's Club in Washington D.C. In attendance were Bob Woodward and Elsa Walsh, James Carville and Mary Matalin, Chris Matthews and Kathleen Matthews, George Stephanopoulos and Alexandra Wentworth, and Richard Cohen, Al Hunt, and Judy Woodruff. Bradlee responded to the roast with, "What an honor to be roasted by such a distinguished group of hacks. If you weren't on television, no one would have ever heard of any of you, except for Woodward!"

Father of son, Josiah Quinn Crowninshield Bradlee (born in 1982) with Sally Quinn; Father-in-law of Pary Anbaz-Williamson (born in 1977) both of Washington D.C.

Died one day after his 36th wedding anniversary with Sally Quinn.

After service in the Navy during WW2, he began a career in journalism. From 1965 to 1991 he was Managing Editor and then Executive Editor of the Washington Post - a period highlighted by the paper's exposure of the Watergate scandal.

He was played by Henderson Forsythe (a man some four years his senior) in the 1989 film "Chances Are", starring Cybill Shepherd and Robert Downey Jr. This version of Bradlee was a potential employer for Downey's Alex Finch, and the boss of Ryan O'Neal's character.

Bradlee and wife Sally Quinn were neighbors and friends of spouses Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw in East Hampton, New York.