Robert Redford was a principled force for good', says All the President's Men reporter Bob Woodward

"Woodward said Redford played a key role in exposing the events of the Watergate scandal, saying that the actor had urged Carl Bernstein and myself to tell the Watergate story through the eyes and experiences of our reporting, resulting in the publication of their book All the President's Men in June 1974 (which preceded Nixon's resignation in August 1974), and the subsequent film, for which Redford had acquired the book's screen rights and in which he co-starred with Dustin Hoffman."

"The actor said he had rewatched All the President's Men in 2021 and was taken aback at how appropriate it was, how timely it was, and how little has really changed. We don't have Nixon any more, we have Trump. Redford added: We live in a country where we can't call ourselves the United States of America. We just can't. We're the Divided States of America because of the political parties and they're so robust in their anxieties."

Bob Woodward paid tribute to Robert Redford as a noble, principled force who used his platform to make the world fairer and brighter. Redford and Woodward were friends for fifty years, and Woodward praised Redford's fiery independence and friendship. Redford encouraged Carl Bernstein and Woodward to tell the Watergate story through their reporting, leading to the 1974 book All the President's Men and the subsequent film for which Redford acquired the screen rights and co-starred. Redford revisited the film in 2021, judged it timely and unchanged in relevance, and contrasted Nixon with Trump while warning about threats to democracy.

Read at www.theguardian.com