Lally Weymouth

Last updated

Lally Weymouth
Lally Weymouth.jpg
Weymouth in 2009
Born
Elizabeth Morris Graham

(1943-07-03) July 3, 1943 (age 80)
Washington D.C., US
Alma mater Radcliffe College
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1963;div. 1969)​
Children2, including Katharine Weymouth
Parents
Family Donald E. Graham (brother)
Eugene Meyer (grandfather)
Ernest R. Graham (grandfather)
Bob Graham (uncle)
Florence Meyer (aunt)
Gwen Graham (cousin)
Joseph Newmark (great great-grandfather)

Elizabeth Morris "Lally" Graham Weymouth (born July 3, 1943) [1] is an American journalist, and senior associate editor of The Washington Post . She was previously special diplomatic correspondent for Newsweek magazine during her family's ownership of the publication.

Contents

Early life and education

She is the eldest of the four children of Katharine Graham and Philip Graham, both of whom were publishers of The Post. Her maternal grandmother, Agnes Meyer, was a Lutheran of German ancestry. [2] [3] Her mother was baptised as a Lutheran but attended an Episcopal church while growing up. [4] Her father, Philip (Phil) Leslie Graham, was born to a Lutheran family in Terry, South Dakota. [5] The eldest of her three younger brothers is Donald E. Graham, who was the publisher of The Post from 1979 to 2000, a position held by Weymouth's daughter Katharine Weymouth from 2008 until 2014, the co-founder of Graham Holdings Company, which has Kaplan tutoring services and The Washington Post among its various subsidiaries.

Weymouth attended The Madeira School [6] and graduated from Radcliffe College at Harvard University cum laude with a degree in American history and literature. [7] Her father died by suicide in 1963 in the summer preceding her junior year at college. [8]

Career

From 1968 to 1969, Weymouth worked at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation.

Weymouth edited and compiled Thomas Jefferson: The Man, His World, His Influence (1973, G.P. Putnam), a collection which includes contributions from leading Jeffersonian scholars. She is the author of America in 1876, The Way We Were (1976, Random House). She worked as a freelance journalist and contributing editor from 1977 to 1983 for such publications as New York magazine, The New York Times Magazine , Esquire , Atlantic Monthly , and Parade . From 1983 to 1986 she was a contributing editor for the Los Angeles Times .

Weymouth presently serves as Senior Associate Editor of The Washington Post . She has been writing on foreign affairs and conducting exclusive interviews with foreign heads of state since 1986. She is well known for having secured hard-to-get exclusive interviews with heads of state. Among her most famous interviews are her 1984 interview with Saddam Hussein, which was the first interview he granted an American journalist; her 2002 interview with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in his tent in the Libyan Desert; and her 2007 interview with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto two weeks before she was assassinated. She has also conducted exclusive interviews with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi and Hosni Mubarak; Jordan’s King Abdullah II; and Syria’s Presidents Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad. In 2022, she interviewed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky just before the war broke out.

In June 2017, Lally Weymouth conducted the first foreign interview with South Korea's new President Moon Jae-in in Seoul to discuss the crisis in North Korea. In April, Lally Weymouth interviewed Italy's new Prime Minister Gentilioni to discuss the flow of refugees into that country. Jordan's King Abdullah II also granted Mrs. Weymouth an interview in April and he discussed the Islamic State and the future of Syria. In March 2017, she travelled to Estonia to interview President Kersti Kaljulaid about the threat from Russia. She then went to Lithuania, where she interviewed President Dailia Grybauskaite about the same topics. In January, Lally Weymouth interviewed Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, about the battle for Mosul. In December 2016, Lally Weymouth travelled to Peru to conduct an interview with Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. In September 2016, she interviewed Colombia's President Manuel Santos and Italy's former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen gave Mrs. Weymouth her first interview after taking office in Taipei in July 2016. Brazil's president Michel Temer granted his first foreign interview to Lally Weymouth in June 2016. In November 2016, she travelled to Myanmar to interview Aung San Suu Kyi following her party's overwhelming victory in the country's elections. Lally Weymouth has spent significant time in the Middle East. Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein granted her the first print interview he gave to an American journalist. She also interviewed Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in his tent in the Libyan desert. Both Syrian Presidents Hafez and Bashar Assad granted her exclusive interviews. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi has given three interviews to Lally Weymouth. She has interviewed every Israeli Prime Minister since 1981, including Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, and, most recently, Benjamin Netanyahu. Lally Weymouth conducted the last interview with Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto before her assassination in December 2007.

Personal life

In 1964, then a senior at Radcliffe, she married architect Yann Weymouth. [7] [8] They divorced in 1969. [9] They had two daughters: Katharine Weymouth, publisher of the Washington Post from 2008 to 2013, [10] and Pamela Alma Weymouth, a writer for Huffington Post. [11]

Weymouth was portrayed in the 2017 film The Post by Alison Brie. [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Washington Post</i> American daily newspaper

The Washington Post, also known as the Post and, informally, WaPo, is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington metropolitan area and has a national audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tina Weymouth</span> American musician, bassist, singer-songwriter (b. 1950)

Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and a founding member and bassist of the new wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club, which she co-founded with her husband, Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz. In 2002, Weymouth was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Talking Heads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Graham</span> American newspaper publisher

Katharine Meyer Graham was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. She was the first 20th century female publisher of a major American newspaper and the first woman elected to the board of the Associated Press.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistan People's Party</span> Social-democratic political party in Pakistan

The Pakistan People's Party is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the second-largest party in the Senate. The party was founded in 1967 in Lahore, when a number of prominent left-wing politicians in the country joined hands against the military rule of president Muhammad Ayub Khan, under the leadership of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. It is affiliated with the Socialist International. The PPP's platform was formerly socialist, and its stated priorities continue to include transforming Pakistan into a social-democratic state, promoting egalitarian values, establishing social justice, and maintaining a strong military. The party, alongside the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, is one of the three largest political parties of Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Graham</span> American newspaper publisher

Philip Leslie Graham was an American newspaperman. He served as publisher and later co-owner of The Washington Post and its parent company, The Washington Post Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Meyer (financier)</span> American financier and newspaper publisher (1875–1959)

Eugene Isaac Meyer was an American banker, businessman, financier, and newspaper publisher. Through his public career, he served as the 5th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1930 to 1933 and was the first president of the World Bank Group from June to December 1946. Meyer published The Washington Post from 1933 to 1946, and the paper stayed in his family throughout the rest of the 20th century.

Donald Edward Graham is the majority owner and chairman of Graham Holdings Company. He was formerly the publisher of The Washington Post (1979–2000) and later was the lead independent director of Facebook's board of directors (2009–2015).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamid Mir</span> Pakistani journalist, columnist, and author

Hamid Mir is a Pakistani journalist, columnist and writer. Born in Lahore to a journalistic family, Mir initially worked as a journalist with Pakistani newspapers. He has hosted the political talk show Capital Talk on Geo News intermittently since 2002. He writes columns for Urdu as well as English newspapers, both national and international. He has been a contributor to the Global Opinions section of The Washington Post since June 2021. He is well known for his stance against the dominance of the Establishment in Pakistan. Hamid Mir has survived two assassination attempts, has been banned from television three times, and has lost his job twice due to his stand for press freedom and human rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeira School</span> School in McLean, Virginia, United States

The Madeira School is an elite, private, day and boarding college-preparatory school for girls from grades 9-12 in McLean, Virginia, United States. The school has 336 students.

Ali Saleem, best known by his alter-ego Begum Nawazish Ali, is a Pakistani television host, actor, scriptwriter, and impressionist. He became a contestant in Bigg Boss Season 4 in 2010. He broke into the mainstream audiences through his impersonations of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and later playing the cross-dressing Begum Nawazish Ali on various television channels, including Aaj TV, Dawn News, and Geo TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Brennan</span> American journalist

Margaret Brennan is an American journalist based in Washington, D.C. The current moderator of Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan on CBS News, she is also a fill-in and substitute anchor for CBS Evening News, and the network's chief foreign affairs correspondent. Brennan was previously a White House correspondent for CBS and has covered Washington since 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Weymouth</span> American lawyer and businesswoman (born 1966)

Katharine Bouchage Weymouth is an American lawyer and businesswoman who from 2008 to 2014 was publisher of The Washington Post and chief executive officer of Washington Post Media.

Events from the year 2007 in Pakistan.

Weymouth can refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1993 Pakistani general election</span>

General elections were held in Pakistan on 6 October 1993 to elect the members of National Assembly. The elections took place after both the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan resigned to resolve a power struggle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military coups in Pakistan</span> Coups détat executed by the military in Pakistan

Military coups in Pakistan began in 1958 when military officer Muhammad Ayub Khan overthrew and exiled president Iskandar Ali Mirza. Since its creation in 1947, Pakistan has spent several decades under military rule. After their respective terms in office, each of the past five prime ministers of Pakistan has faced convictions or imprisonment. This trend highlights a significant aspect of Pakistan's political landscape: the prevailing rule that the Pakistani military exercises influence wherever it deems necessary, often persisting despite potential repercussions. Throughout Pakistan's history, the military has played a prominent role in governance, with periods where it has directly ruled the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yann Weymouth</span> American architect

Yann Weymouth is a St. Petersburg, Florida-based architect and the designer of the Salvador Dalí Museum. Early in his career, he served as chief of design for I. M. Pei on the Grand Louvre Project in Paris.

<i>The Post</i> (film) 2017 film by Steven Spielberg

The Post is a 2017 American political thriller film about The Washington Post and the publication of the Pentagon Papers. It was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, and written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer. It stars Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham, the publisher of the Washington Post, and Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee, the longtime executive editor of The Washington Post, with Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Carrie Coon, Alison Brie, and Matthew Rhys in supporting roles.

<i>Fear: Trump in the White House</i> 2018 non-fiction book by Bob Woodward about Donald Trumps presidency

Fear: Trump in the White House is a non-fiction book by American journalist Bob Woodward about the presidency of Donald Trump. The book was released on September 11, 2018. Woodward based the book on hundreds of hours of interviews with members of the Trump administration. The book's publisher Simon & Schuster announced that it had sold 1.1 million copies in the first week of its release, making it the fastest selling opener in the company's history.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg is an American journalist based in Washington, D.C., who covers health policy for The New York Times. She is a former Congressional correspondent and White House correspondent who covered Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and shared in two Pulitzer Prizes while at the Los Angeles Times. She has appeared as a political analyst on ABC, PBS, Fox, MSNBC and WNYC. She is a regular contributor to the news program 1A, which is syndicated on National Public Radio.

References

  1. ↑ Graham, Katharine (1997). Personal History . A.A. Knopf. p.  151. ISBN   9780394585857 . Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  2. ↑ The Guardian: "Katharine Graham – Washington Post publisher who took over the family business after her husband's suicide and saw it through the Watergate scandal" by Godfrey Hodgson July 18, 2001
  3. ↑ USA Today: "'Washington Post' icon Katharine Graham, 84, dies" July 18, 2001
  4. ↑ Zweigenhaft, Richard L. and G. William Domhoff The New CEOs : Women, African American, Latino, and Asian American Leaders of Fortune 500 Companies Published: 2014-03-18 |Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
  5. ↑ Silbiger, Steve (May 25, 2000). The Jewish Phenomenon: Seven Keys to the Enduring Wealth of a People. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 190
  6. ↑ "Engagement Announcements". The Washington Post. September 20, 1964. p. F2.
  7. 1 2 "Elizabeth Morris Graham Is Married; Publisher's Daughter Is Bride of Yann Ralph Weymouth". The New York Times. November 29, 1964. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  8. 1 2 People: "Lally Weymouth Has a Lot Going for Her: Brains, Glamor, a Famous Family and Now a Big Book" By Barbara Kevles July 5, 1976| "Phil Graham committed suicide. "I thought it was the end," she says. "He was always the someone there in case you did something disastrous....in the summer of '63, her junior year. The next year, at the age of 20, Lally married Yann Weymouth, son of a Navy admiral."
  9. ↑ People: "Lally Weymouth Has a Lot Going for Her: Brains, Glamor, a Famous Family and Now a Big Book" By Barbara Kevles July 5, 1976| "After six years and a second baby, they were divorced. She adjusted to the loneliness of single life "not very well. I just shuffled along."
  10. ↑ Wired.com: "Post's Weymouth: The Last Media Tycoon" By Lloyd Grove July 16, 2008 | "Her mother, Newsweek senior editor Lally Weymouth, who is Don's older sister, and father, Yann Weymouth, a prominent architect, separated when Katharine was 5. She grew up with her younger sister, Pamela"
  11. ↑ Huffington Post: "Pamela Alma Weymouth" retrieved February 16, 2013
  12. ↑ Galuppo, Mia (January 8, 2018). "Alison Brie Talks Finding "Meaningful" Projects: "After 'GLOW,' I Became Very Picky"". The Hollywood Reporter .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.