A Life's Work: Fathers and Sons

Ben Bradlee’s all-American football player father lost his well-paying job in the Depression and never recovered his income but also never lost his balance and energy. Living on a borrowed estate, he undertook to clear the property, and his young son bonded with his father as they worked alongside each other in the woods. When thirteen-year-old Ben contracted polio, his father nursed him back to health until they could go to work again.

Ben Bradlee tells the story of how this lifelong love ...