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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
David Smith in Washington

Carl Bernstein: ‘Our democracy, before Trump, had ceased to be working well’

Carl Bernstein joined the Washington Star as a teenager: ‘I was 16 years old. I got the best seat in the country … I think the thrill never left me.’
Carl Bernstein joined the Washington Star as a teenager: ‘I was 16 years old. I got the best seat in the country … I think the thrill never left me.’ Photograph: Jonathan Becker

Carl Bernstein is crying. He slips an index finger behind his spectacles to push away a tear. He repeats the action to wipe his other eye.

Nearly six decades have passed since Bernstein, a young newsman in a hurry, was told by a colleague that President John F Kennedy was dead. But the gut punch of that moment surfaces as if it were yesterday. “I still have trouble with it,” Bernstein admits, quickly regaining his composure. “It’s very strange.”

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