It could safely be said of Katherine Graham that few women had a greater influence on 20th-century American history. When she died last year at the age of 84, people from all walks of life were swift and generous in their eulogies.

Long-time owner of the Washington Post, Graham was a female pioneer in the “man's world” of serious journalism. Her decision to publish the controversial Pentagon Papers in 1971 ensured that her name would always be linked to the ideals of press freedom.

Katherine Meyer was born in 1917 to a wealthy and privileged family. Her father was a multimillionaire who gave up business and government service to buy the ailing Washington Post in 1933. Katherine shared his love of journalism, and worked on the paper's editing desk for a few years before getting married.

Her husband, Phil Graham, was a bright young lawyer who took over at the Post in 1945. The couple became a popular part of the Washington social scene. Behind the facade, however, lay a different story. Phil was given to wild mood swings and abusive behavior that caused Katherine a great deal of mental anguish. He suffered from manic depression, which gradually got worse, culminating in his suicide when Katherine was 46. Suddenly, she found herself in control of the Post.

Despite her personal tragedy, Graham was determined to keep the Washington Post in the family, and took over the day-to-day running of the paper herself. Skeptics who had doubted her ability to make a success of it were dumbfounded as her enthusiasm and tenacity proved them wrong.

Graham was never afraid of making a courageous decision. Against the advice of the Post's lawyers, she sided with her editors and published the Pentagon Papers. The papers were top secret documents about the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. She later remained steadfast in the face of government pressure not to pursue the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Graham handed over the control of the Post to her son in 1991, when she was 74 years old. By that time, she was often being described as the most powerful woman in America. Whether or not that was true, few would disagree with the assessment of one of her many admirers, that without her, Washington “would have been a much less civilized place.”

Avid readers who look to biography for inspiration could do worse than pick up a copy of Katherine Graham's Pulitzer Prize-winning “Personal History.” It is a rich chronicle of momentous events and the people that played their part in them. It is also the fascinating story of a person of character and values that many would like to emulate.

1. eulogy n. 頌詞，悼詞

2. pioneer n. 先鋒，先驅

3. ailing a. 痛苦的，境況不佳

4. anguish n. 劇烈痛苦

5. dumbfounded a. 啞然的

6. steadfast a. 堅定的

7. assessment n. 評價

8. momentous a. 重大的

我們可以有把握地說，沒有幾個婦女像凱瑟琳·格拉罕對20世紀美國歷史有這么大的影響的。去年她與世長辭，享年84歲，各界人士紛紛趕往悼念，表示敬意。

在由男性主導的嚴肅的新聞業中，《華盛頓郵報》的長期業主格拉罕是一位女性先驅。1971年，她決定出版備受爭議的《五角大樓文件》。這就確定了她的名字會永遠與出版自由的理想聯系在一起。

凱瑟琳·邁耶1917年出生在一個富裕的特權家庭。她的父親是一位大富豪，他放棄了工作和政府部門的職位，在1933年買下了境況不佳的《華盛頓郵報》。凱瑟琳承襲了父親對新聞的熱愛，婚前在這家報社的編輯部工作了數年。

她的丈夫菲爾·格拉罕曾是一位很出色的年輕律師，他1945年接管了華盛頓郵報。夫婦倆成為頗受華盛頓社交屆歡迎的一對。然而，他們私下又是另外一種狀況。菲爾喜怒無常的情緒變化和虐待行為帶給凱瑟琳精神上巨大的痛苦。他深為躁狂抑郁癥所苦，病情日漸惡化，最后在凱瑟琳46歲時自殺身亡。突然間，她感到管理郵報的責任落在了自己身上。

盡管個人的境遇悲慘，格拉罕仍決心要為家族保住《華盛頓郵報》，她接管了郵報每日的運作。當她以熱忱和執著證明了那些曾懷疑她能力不足的人是錯誤的時候，他們都啞口無言。

格拉罕從來不怕果斷地作決定。她不聽從郵報律師們的勸告，而支持她手下的編輯們，發表了《五角大樓文件》，這些文件是有關美國卷入越戰的最高機密文件。即使面臨政府施加的壓力，要她不要再追究后來迫使尼克松總統下臺的水門事件，她始終立場堅定。

1991年，葛拉罕74歲時，將掌管郵報的權力移交給了她的兒子。那時，她常被形容為美國最有影響的女人。無論這種說法是否正確，相信多數人都會認同她眾多仰慕者之一給予的評價：沒有她，華盛頓“就會是遠不如現在文明的地方”。

想從傳記中獲得啟發的熱忱讀者，不妨選讀凱瑟琳·格拉罕獲得了普立策獎的《自傳》。它是一部記載重大事件及參與其中的相關人物的內容豐富的編年史書。同時也是一部引人入勝的故事，人物的性格和價值觀都是大家愿意仿效的。