As editor of The Washington Post, Ben Bradlee directed the newspaper's coverage of the Watergate scandal -- which led to the only U.S. presidential resignation in history.

Neil Foote, principal lecturer in the University of North Texas' Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism, worked under Bradlee at the Post from 1986 to 1990 and is available for comment about Bradlee, who died yesterday (Tuesday, Oct. 21) at age 93.

"My guess is that Ben Bradlee probably didn't know who I was other than 'some kid' who was hired from the Miami Herald to cover real estate news," Foote says. "On the day I interviewed with him, I waited nervously outside his office. When he came out, he was chatting with Katharine Graham (the Post's publisher, who died in 2001). At the end of my job interview with him, he looked at me, and in his matter-of-fact style, said, 'Well, you sound like a good kid. You want to work here?'"

Foote says he learned three valuable lessons from Bradlee:

• Command respect -- "No matter where he would go, he never wavered when it came to the newspaper's commitment to doing great journalism," Foote says. "Every person in the newsroom -- no matter what his or her role was -- knew that he or she each played a role in commanding respect from its readers, its sources and the powers that be that it was holding accountable. Bradlee sent a message that the way you look, you act, and live your life commands respect from everyone."
• Competition breeds excellence -- Foote recalled Bradlee saying that he "used to like to slip on a little blood" every morning when he went into the newsroom.
  "I never confirmed whether this was true. It didn't matter. Everyone in the newsroom knew that to survive at Washington Post, you needed to have a thick skin, sharp elbows and an undying curiosity for news -- whether it was a brief for inside Metro or a front page story unveiling the wrongdoings of an elected official or business executive," Foote says. "As a reporter, you were competing against each other in the newsroom, and against other media -- locally and nationally -- to do great journalism. No excuses.
• Don't let the bozos drag you down -- "Ben Bradlee surrounded himself with the best journalists he could find. He didn't make any excuses for actively recruiting and hiring reporters who had graduated from Ivy League universities," says Foote, adding that Bradlee "was a Harvard man himself."

"At the same time, he recruited the best journalists from newspapers around the country. He had editors who pushed reporters to their limits. You worked as many hours as it took to get the story as complete as possible. You knew as a reporter that the more a source refused to return your call or didn't answer your questions directly, the more you dug in to find more sources to get the story," he says.

Foote says Bradlee will be missed because "he represented the kind of journalism that every news organization needs to rekindle."

"There were no shortcuts -- just good, old-fashioned reporting and writing that set the bar high for every journalist and every media organization," he says.

Foote may be reached at 214-448-3765 or foote@unt.edu.