Personal History

I was also uneducated in even the basics of the working world--how to relate to people professionally, how to tell them things they might not want to hear, how to give praise as well as criticism, how to use time to the best effect. I stumbled around the Post building talking to people, not realizing that I shouldn't always start with the first person I encountered, or that people would try to use me for their own purposes.

When people were hostile to my arrival on the scene, I took it personally. Some of the executives didn't know how to deal with a woman in their midst--particularly a woman who controlled the company. I didn't understand sexism or anything to do with it--nor, in fact, did many of the men with whom I worked. And I was encumbered by a deep feeling of uncertainty and inferiority and a need to please, to be liked.

Ironically, at the same time I was wishing he were there, all that Phil had been made my job more difficult. His having done everything so well--and, as it seemed to the world, so effortlessly--made it even more daunting for me. Not only had I mythologized him, but others shared the same idolatrous view, which added to my confusion. Everyone would come in and weep on my shoulder about him.

A presidential Trip

Flying Away With LBJ

Despite her insecurities, Mrs. Graham gradually began to learn and to enjoy herself. One of the rewards--and, at times, burdens--of her position was her access to top officials in the U.S. government and around the world. Lyndon Johnson, who had been close to Phil Graham, was eager for Mrs. Graham's friendship--and The Post's endorsement. When Mrs. Graham went to the Democratic convention in Atlantic City, N.J., in the summer of 1964, she was waiting impatiently for the president's plane to take off so her own plane could as well, when she was swept along, LBJ style.