Benjamin Bradlee's career with The Washington Post has spanned five decades. He began at the newspaper in 1948 as a reporter covering the federal courts. Between 1953 and 1965, Bradlee worked for Newsweek magazine, as a European correspondent with the Paris bureau, and as a political correspondent and bureau chief in Washington, DC. During this period, he began his intensive coverage of presidential campaigns, including the Kennedy and Nixon campaigns of 1960. In 1965, Bradlee rejoined The Washington Post as managing editor and became executive editor in 1968.

He is the author of two books about President Kennedy as well as a book of his own memoirs entitled A Good Life: Newspapers and Other Adventures. He speaks to audiences across the U.S. about the media, lying in America, and the press-then and now.