Watergate continues to be perhaps the most important political scandal in United States history. Now, the papers of the reporters and the editor who broke the story will all be housed in the same place thanks to an estate donation.
Ben Bradlee was the longtime editor of the Washington Post and best known for his role in breaking the Watergate scandal for which he was portrayed by Jason Robards in the film All the President's Men. Robards won an Oscar for the role.
In 2003 the reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, sold their personal papers concerning Watergate to the University of Texas' Harry Ransom Center, a humanities archive, for $5 million.
It has now been announced that Bradlee's estate agreed to donate his papers to the center.
The Washington Post reported the story in an article titled "Ben Bradlee's estate donate his papers to University of Texas archive."
Bradlee did not have a personal connection to the University of Texas, but he wanted all of the Watergate papers to be located in the same place for researchers.
His estate's donation accomplishes that goal, which explains why such valuable items were donated rather than sold.
The papers also contain other interesting items including a letter from Jackie Kennedy Onassis a month after JFK's assassination, a letter in Spanish from Fidel Castro and a letter from then sitting President Jimmy Carter.
The papers will be made available to the public and researchers once they are cataloged.
Reference: Washington Post (June 3, 2015) "Ben Bradlee's estate donate his papers to University of Texas archive."
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