2920 R St NW

Washington, DC

Katharine Graham (b. June 16, 1917; d. July 17, 2001) is as close to DC royalty as one can get. Graham was a writer early in her life. She grew up in the suburbs of DC, went to college and then began submitting articles to papers for publication. In 1933, Graham’s father bought The Washington Post at a bankruptcy auction and she began working for him. Eventually, her husband Philip took over the paper and she was relegated to family duties at home. Philip suffered from alcoholism and mental illness for many years. Graham bravely took the helm as publisher when he committed suicide in 1963, after which she was credited with breathing new life into the ailing Washington Post. It was under her leadership that the paper printed The Pentagon Papers and the famous Woodward and Bernstein series on the Watergate scandal. She held the position for the better part of two decades. Naturally, DC was Graham’s home base and she became a regular on the Washington social scene. She bought this house, located at 2920 R Street NW, in 1967.