The Damage Done by All the President’s Men

Since All the President’s Men was released 50 years ago, journalism has declined almost irreparably. After movie stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman glamorized the exploits of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters credited for breaking the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, journalism school enrollment was said to skyrocket. But now journalism is largely distrusted, and All the President’s Men can no longer be accepted as a taut thriller or a realistic portrayal of political and journalistic history. It should be regarded as a dubious example of political mythification.