The heart of The Post covers a tumultuous seven-week period from May 13, 1971, to July 1, 1971-the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Pentagon Papers case in favor of the Washington Post and New York Times. It is a crucial period in the history of the Washington Post, as it seeks to become more than a local newspaper, under the leadership of the publisher Katharine Graham (played by Meryl Streep) and the executive editor Ben Bradlee (played by Tom Hanks). Graham had become the publisher eight years earlier, following the death by suicide of her husband, Philip Graham, whom her father, Eugene Meyer, had designated as his successor.The heart of The Post covers a tumultuous seven-week period from May 13, 1971, to July 1, 1971-the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Pentagon Papers case in favor of the Washington Post and New York Times. It is a crucial period in the history of the Washington Post, as it seeks to become more than a local newspaper, under the leadership of the publisher Katharine Graham (played by Meryl Streep) and the executive editor Ben Bradlee (played by Tom Hanks). Graham had become the publisher eight years earlier, following the death by suicide of her husband, Philip Graham, whom her father, Eugene Meyer, had designated as his successor.
