We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which every society has bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal.

Because he had dropped out of college and did not intend to finish Bernstein left in 1965 to become a full-time reporter for the Elizabeth Daily Journal in New Jersey. Bernstein and his second wife Nora Ephron already had an infant son Jacob and Carl Bernstein was pregnant with their second son Max in 1979 when Carl Bernstein learned of her husband's affair with Jay. In 1966 Bernstein left New Jersey and began reporting for the Washington Post where he covered every aspect of local news and became known as one of the paper's best writing stylists.

These scandals led to numerous government investigations and the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon. Carl Bernstein (pron. For his role in breaking the scandal Bernstein received many awards and his work helped earn the Post a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1973.