By Liam Gallups Posted October 24, 2014
In a release dated October 21, 2014, President Barack Obama made a memoir statement about the death of Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Benjamin Bradlee.
Benjamin Bradlee died of natural causes on October 21, 2014, at his home in Washington, D.C., at the age of 93. A member of the Boston Brahmin Crowninshield family, Bradlee was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 26, 1921. Bradlee, the second of three children, grew up in a wealthy family with domestic staff. With his brother, Freddy, and sister, Constance, he learned French, took piano lessons, and went to the symphony and the opera. In 1946, Bradlee became a reporter at the New Hampshire Sunday News, a venture he helped launch. Besides this, he also worked for the government as a staff member of the Office of U.S. Information and Educational Exchange (USIE), the embassy’s propaganda unit. He’s also worked for Newsweek, and The Washington Post, and published an autobiography in 1995, A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures. Bradlee was named as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama on August 8, 2013, and was presented the medal at a White House ceremony on November 20, 2013. This is some of what was said by Barack Obama when he awarded Bradlee with the award:
“For Benjamin Bradlee, journalism was more than a profession – it was a public good vital to our democracy. A true newspaperman, he transformed the Washington Post into one of the country’s finest newspapers, and with him at the helm, a growing army of reporters published the Pentagon Papers, exposed Watergate, and told stories that needed to be told – stories that helped us understand our world and one another a little bit better.
“The standard he set – a standard for honest, objective, meticulous reporting – encouraged so many others to enter the profession. And that standard is why, last year, I was proud to honor Ben with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Today, we offer our thoughts and prayers to Ben’s family, and all who were fortunate to share in what truly was a good life.”
