Feud: Capote vs. the Swans: Who was Katharine Graham?

During tonight’s Feud: Capote vs. the Swans episode 3, you hear the name Katharine Graham dropped for a key reason. After all, she is the guest of honor at the Black and White Ball, one of the most important social events in all of 1966. It was held by none other than Truman Capote, who tried to leverage this event, following the release of In Cold Blood, to further increase his relevance and clout. Truman’s image was important to him, as he wanted to be seen as a social kingmaker and someone whose friend group was very much to be envied.

Throughout most of the episode, you saw some of the Swans express interest in being the guest of honor in various interviews; after Graham was chosen, however, their tone shifted. So why choose someone outside the Swans? Well, there’s a reason to argue that this was twofold.

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For starters, Truman may have realized that if he picked one of his close friends over the others, it could cause trouble — he thrived on making each person feel more special individually than the others. Meanwhile, we also tend to think that this choice reflected him trying to make a move that could prove useful in the future. Graham was, after all, the de-facto publisher of the Washington Post (her family’s paper) at the time, and we imagine he loved the idea of honoring someone who may be willing to honor him later.

We will say this: Even though Capote could not read the future, Graham did go on to have one of the most important publishing careers of the 20th century. She also was named the first female Fortune 500 CEO and oversaw the Post through their reporting of the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of Richard Nixon. Capote was still alive during much of this, though the Post was not the publication that eventually released an excerpt from Answered Prayers that would eventually set his world ablaze.

Related – Get more news moving into the next Feud: Capote vs. the Swans episode

What did you think about the overall events of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans episode 3 on FX?

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This article was written by Jessica BunBun.