The corporate landscape in 1972 seemed almost impenetrable for women who aspired to lead. When Katharine Graham was appointed CEO of the newly publicly traded Washington Post, she became the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 company during a period of extraordinary social-political change both inside the newspaper and out. 

On the heels of an education at Vasser and the University of Chicago, Katharine Graham got her start at the newspaper in 1938 on the editorial staff starting out as a copy boy, a messenger for the “Women’s Pages” — a section she would later change to be called Style.  Graham was probably inspired by her mother, Agnes (Ernst) Meyer, a trailblazing journalist in her own right was the first female reporter at the New York Sun. 

Following her marriage to law clerk, Philip Graham, she put her career on hold, working at home as a mother to their children. During this time, Philip Graham became publisher of The Post in 1946 when her father stepped down, and the couple purchased the voting stock of the paper. A man tortured by mental illness, Philip Graham took his own life in 1963 and Katharine stepped into leadership for the first time when she became president of the paper. Gaining visibility created new challenges for her, navigating the previously undisclosed long standing relationships and agreements that Philip Graham had developed. Specifically, President Lyndon B. Johnson indicated that he had hoped that giving her access to his campaign would lead to an endorsement from the Post. 

A woman in a position of leadership at a time when race and gender roles were being transformed and tensions were high across nation was no small feat. Katherine Graham was frequently disregarded by her male colleagues and not taken seriously by her employees. Steeled by these formidable times, or almost in spite of them, she curated a salon-style atmosphere in her Georgetown home where notable elite and elegant, or intelligent and witty came together. This transitional period where Graham's understanding of the world was being expanded by people like Gloria Steinem was crucial for developing new decision making skills and transforming the way she saw herself.

Admired, but not always beloved, as many in media leadership, Graham carried a heavy burden. In 1966 Truman Capote threw her a masquerade party to lift her spirits. It was renowned for the guest list, the glamorousness, the size of it and even how potentially controversial it was to have a ball while the Vietnam War was being fought. Though having cultivated  a position of power and prominence, Graham’s mettle would not truly be tested until six years later when on the cusp of the Watergate scandal she assumed the role of publisher. When the phone call came from editor Ben Bradlee weighing the decision to publish the Pentagon Papers, it was a history changing, life changing and potentially damning moment that Graham only hesitated momentarily to make. Her role in uncovering of the Watergate scandal led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. 

Graham was stereotypically characterized by those that were not used to female leadership, or those who didn’t like the decisions she made. When the Washington Post pressmen went on strike in 1975, equipment was damaged and her likeness was burned in effigy.

There are more women in the newsroom today than when Katharine Graham was in the industry, but much of the institutional sexism present in the 1960s and 1970s still exists.

Women are making strides in leadership at publicly traded companies, but it is happening at a snail's pace. Still, doors are opening ever-so-slowly thanks to pioneering leaders like Katherine Graham, the first woman to hold the position of CEO at a Fortune 500 company.

While Graham is the first CEO to lead a Fortune 500 company, she is not the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 firm. That designation goes to Olive Ann Beech, the president and chairperson of Beech Aircraft Corporation in 1950 before the title of CEO was commonly used. Beechcraft became public in 1936, and in 1955, the first year of the Fortune 500 list, was ranked 351. Beech founded the Beech Aircraft Company with her husband, Walter. As chairwoman of the board and president of the corporation following her husband’s death, the company became involved in the space program. She directed a diversified manufacturing complex whose products range from a 150 mile-an-hour training airplane to supersonic missile targets and serve in civilian and military roles worldwide. Beech was known as the “First Lady of Aviation” because she earned more awards, honorary appointments, and special citations than any woman in aviation history.