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Secrets, spies and editors in Cold War America : Ben Bradlee and the Washington Post

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Aldrich, Richard J. (2021) Secrets, spies and editors in Cold War America : Ben Bradlee and the Washington Post. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 34 (5). pp. 65-672. doi:10.1080/09557571.2021.1944982 ISSN 0955-7571.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2021.1944982

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Abstract

This essay considers secrets, spies and newspaper editors in the context of the Washington Post’s relationship with the CIA. The associated relationships and thoughts of Ben Bradlee, long-serving editor of the Washington Post and one of America’s most iconic journalists, are examined in detail. Bradlee spent much time reflecting on what the appropriate relationship between spies and the media should be and this is captured in his correspondence. This article argues that because the tensions between national security secrets and a free press were often negotiated informally though personal networks, this terrain is best analysed using ideas borrowed from social history. Editors were often wily mediators between Washington’s twin worlds of secrecy and publicity. It also suggests that in considering the CIA and the press, we need to give a little less attention to intrepid reporters and more attention to editors and owners who exercised more power. Overall, this realm is one of human relationships, best viewed not through the prism of policy documents, but through private papers or interviews.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General)
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Espionage, Government and the press -- United States, Spies in mass media, Bradlee, Benjamin C., Journalists -- United States, Newspaper editors -- United States, Freedom of the press -- United States
Journal or Publication Title: Cambridge Review of International Affairs
Publisher: Routledge
ISSN: 0955-7571
Official Date: 6 July 2021
Dates:
DateEvent
6 July 2021Published
28 March 2021Accepted
Volume: 34
Number: 5
Page Range: pp. 65-672
DOI: 10.1080/09557571.2021.1944982
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Cambridge Review of International Affairs on 06/07/2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09557571.2021.1944982
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit: 31 March 2021
Date of first compliant Open Access: 6 January 2023
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