Carl Bernstein - After Watergate

After Watergate

Bernstein left the Washington Post in 1977 and began investigating a secret relationship between the CIA and American media during the Cold War. He spent a year researching the article, which was published as a 25,000-word piece in Rolling Stone magazine.

He then began working for ABC News. Between 1980 and 1984, Bernstein was the network's Washington Bureau Chief and then a senior correspondent. In 1982, for ABC's Nightline, Bernstein was the first to report during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon that Ariel Sharon had "deceived the cabinet about the real intention of the operation -- to drive the Palestinians out of Lebanon, not (as he had claimed) to merely establish a 25 kilometer security zone north from the border."

Two years after leaving ABC News, Bernstein released the book Loyalties: A Son's Memoir, in which he revealed that his parents had been members of the Communist Party. The assertion shocked some because even J. Edgar Hoover had tried and been unable to prove that Bernstein's parents had been party members. According to the memoir, which was highly acclaimed, the FBI conducted surveillance on his family over a 30 year period and produced over 2,500 pages of documents, including notes taken by agents staking out Bernstein's bar mitzvah.

Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1989, Bernstein went to Iraq to cover the events for Time magazine. In a special report several weeks before the Gulf War began, Bernstein revealed the discontent and hatred felt against Saddam Hussein by many in Iraq. He was subsequently expelled from the country and flown out to Egypt.

In 1992, also for Time, Bernstein wrote a cover story exposing an alliance between Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan. Later, along with Vatican expert Marco Politi, he published a papal biography entitled His Holiness. Bernstein wrote in the 1996 book that the Pope’s role in supporting the Solidarity in his native Poland, and his geopolitical dexterity combined with enormous spiritual influence, was a principal factor in the downfall of communism in Europe.

In 1992, Bernstein wrote a cover story for The New Republic magazine indicting modern journalism for its sensationalism and celebration of gossip over real news. The article was entitled "The Idiot Culture."

Bernstein's most recent book is a biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton. A Woman In Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton was published by Alfred A. Knopf on June 5, 2007 and became both a New York Times and national bestseller.

Bernstein is a frequent guest and analyst on television news programs, and most recently wrote articles for Newsweek/The Daily Beast, comparing Rupert Murdoch's News of The World phone-hacking scandal to Watergate.