Bob Woodward is an associate editor of The Washington Post, where he has worked since 1971. He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes, first for the coverage of the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein, and second as the lead reporter for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Woodward has written bestselling books on the last nine US presidents — Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama and Trump — as well as the CIA, the Joint Chiefs, Hollywood and the Supreme Court.
He has authored or co-authored 21 books, all of which have been US non-fiction bestsellers, including his most recent book Peril, which was Woodward’s third book on the Trump administration.
Newsweek magazine has excerpted six of Woodward’s books in headline-making cover stories. 60 Minutes has done pieces on eight of his books; three of his books have been made into movies.
Robert Gates, former director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense, said of Woodward, “He has an extraordinary ability to get otherwise responsible adults to spill [their] guts to him...his ability to get people to talk about stuff they shouldn’t be talking about is just extraordinary and may be unique.”
Bob Schieffer of CBS News has said, “Woodward has established himself as the best reporter of our time. He may be the best reporter of all time.”
In listing the all-time 100 best non-fiction books, TIME Magazine has called All the President’s Men, by Bernstein and Woodward, as “perhaps the most influential piece of journalism in history”.
Woodward was born in Illinois and graduated from Yale University in 1965. He served five years as a communications officer in the U.S. Navy before beginning his journalism career at the Montgomery County (Maryland) Sentinel, where he was a reporter for one year before joining the Post.