Ben Bradlee Dies, 93

The former editor of the Washington Post who led the paper's coverage of the Watergate scandal and made the decision to publish the Pentagon Papers is dead at 93.

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They, along with Zayres, Caldors and Ames, helped to invent the discount department store concept.

I grew up in the same CT as you, but fondly remember the singletons, discount house with only 1 or 2 units. Stars/Nu-Stars, Barkers, Mammoth Mart, Treasure City and others. Our nearest Bradlees was in Hamden. "At Bradlees, you buy what Mrs. B Buys. And nobody can buy like Mrs. B"

Though not strictly Discount stores, we should not forget Grant's, Edw. Malley's and Kresge's. It seemed that all of the CT Grant's became K-Marts over night.

And he did...from Victor Lasky’s seminal book, “It Didn’t Start With Watergate;” here’s an excerpt featured in Ed Driscoll’s latest column, published today:

“And talk about sleaziness! In conversations with Benjamin C. Bradlee, President Kennedy would sound out his journalist friend on the possibility of obtaining and publishing information damaging to JFK’s political adversaries — Bradlee who as executive editor of the Washington Post, which claims to have had much to do with saving the Constitution from Richard Nixon’s depredations, apparently was not overly concerned· about such matters when they involved his presidential buddy.

For, as Bradlee discloses with little disapproval, wiretapping, prying into tax returns, election fraud, misuse of federal agencies — all of these, he admits in effect, were practiced and/or discussed in his presence by President Kennedy.”

Bradlee was a hypocrite of the first order, and that’s about the nicest thing I can say at his passing.

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