than youth. Woodward, an enrolled Re- publican, is a graduate of Yale and the Navy officer corps. He is handsome, dresses old-campus conservative and H.R. Haldeman had access to a secret once considered a law career. Last sum- The Watergate Three campaign kitty used in part to fund po- mer he had had only a year's experi- When the Pulitzer Prizes are an- litical sabotage. Though other publica- ence with the Post, much of it covering nounced next week, the citation for pub- tions—principally TIME and the New local stories. He is considered a smooth lic service by a newspaper—barring a York Times—kept up a steady rhythm interviewer but a mediocre writer. last-minute reversal—will go to the of Watergate beats, Republican spokes- Bernstein, long of hair and sloppy Washington Post for its continuous dig- men reserved their harshest denuncia- of dress, a college dropout, is something ging into the Watergate case and relat- tions for the Post. The paper appeared out of The Front Page. Despite his prose ed campaign scandals. Certainly the to have been caught in a serious gaffe flair, he had a reputation for spotty per- Post deserves credit for its tenacity. But when it reported that an important wit- formance, dating partly from the time the trade knows that personal honors ness had established the Haldeman con- a superior caught him apparently asleep belong to an unlikely trio of relatively nection in testimony to a grand jury. in the city-hall press room. Bernstein lit- junior newsmen: the Post's District of Such testimony was not given, though erally throws himself at sources. Once, Columbia editor, , 38, Bernstein and Woodward had obtained after a hearing at the Watergate trial, and Reporters , 29, and the information directly from the same several defendants crowded into a sin- , 30. None of the three person. Attacks by the Post's critics in- gle cab. Bernstein lunged into the car was accustomed to covering stories of creased after the election, when Water- as it pulled away and was last seen on WALTER BENNETT a defendant's lap. Despite their differences in style and the fact that they see little of each oth- er socially, the men work well together under Sussman's avuncular guidance. Some stories are written in collabora- tion; in cases where only one does the writing, a double byline is retained be- cause they have developed a mutual pool of information. The trio's work has already won six major reporting prizes, netting $2,000 for Sussman and $3,250 each for Bern- stein and Woodward. The two report- ers are planning a book on Watergate and have already received a $55,000 ad- vance from Simon & Schuster. They are still uncovering new. chapters. Last week they reported that as early as last EDITOR SUSSMAN, REPORTERS WOODWARD & BERNSTEIN AT WASHINGTON POST December aides had warned President Prizes, uncommon backgrounds and a mutual obsession. Nixon of a White House cover-up of the Watergate case. The Administration national significance; all felt the intense gate stories faded for a time from the had no comment on the story—and no heat of Administration denunciations Post's pages. denunciation of the Post. that threatened to wilt their credibility, There were insinuations that the even among some fellow newsmen. Post had played the Watergate story Their partnership began by acci- heavily only to help George McGov- dent. Sussman paid an unusual Satur- ern's election chances. The Post was day visit to the office last June 17 after naturally eager to disprove that notion. learning that five men had been arrest- Working up to 16 hours a day, Bern- ed that morning while breaking into stein and Woodward hounded C.R.P. Democratic headquarters. He borrowed staffers in their homes and badgered Bernstein from the Virginia desk to White House aides with endless phone check the five suspects and called in calls. "It was like selling magazine sub- Woodward for help. These three—and scriptions," Bernstein remembers. "One other Post reporters—at first covered out of every 30 people will feel sorry the story as a rather exotic local bur- for you and buy one." glary. Then, following the Democratic Finally, their ;doggedness produced Convention in July, Managing Editor a fresh lead. In early December, they Howard Simons told Sussman to choose published a former White House sec- two reporters to work full time on Wa- retary's on-the-record statement that tergate; Sussman retained Bernstein Watergate Defendant E. Howard Hunt and Woodward. Jr. had possessed a special telephone Insinuations. The team's most im- line into his White House office. The portant news break came on Oct. 10, line bypassed the regular switchboard when it revealed the existence of a net- and the phone bills were routed through work of agents hired to undertake po- the secretary's home. "That story was litical espionage for the Committee for like opening a pressure valve," says the Re-Election of the President, and Sussman. "The criticism stopped imme- named Donald Segretti as one of the op- diately. It showed that there was more eratives. Five days later, the Post (along to the case." with TIME) linked Segretti to Presiden- The Post men came to share an ob- tial Appointments Secretary Dwight session with the story that had raised Chapin. On Oct. 25, Woodward and them from professional obscurity. Oth- Bernstein wrote that Presidential Aide erwise, they have little in common other 82