Best American Journalism of the 20th Century: No mention of JFK

[John Simkin]

Best American Journalism of the 20th Century

The following works were chosen as the 20th century's best American journalism by a panel of experts assembled by New York University's journalism department. Understandably, no reporting on the JFK assassination made the top 100.

1. John Hersey: “Hiroshima,” The New Yorker, 1946

2. Rachel Carson: Silent Spring, book, 1962

3. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein: Investigation of the Watergate break-in, The Washington Post, 1972

4. Edward R. Murrow: Battle of Britain, CBS radio, 1940

5. Ida Tarbell: “The History of the Standard Oil Company,” McClure's, 1902–1904

6. Lincoln Steffens: “The Shame of the Cities,” McClure's, 1902–1904

7. John Reed: Ten Days That Shook the World, book, 1919

8. H. L. Mencken: Scopes “Monkey” trial, The Sun of Baltimore, 1925

9. Ernie Pyle: Reports from Europe and the Pacific during World War II, Scripps-Howard newspapers, 1940–1945

10. Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly: Investigation of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, CBS, 1954

11. Edward R. Murrow, David Lowe, and Fred Friendly: “Harvest of Shame,”documentary, CBS television, 1960

12. Seymour Hersh: Investigation of massacre by American soldiers at My Lai in Vietnam, Dispatch News Service, 1969

13. The New York Times: Publication of the Pentagon Papers, 1971

14. James Agee and Walker Evans: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, book, 1941

15. W.E.B. Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk, collected articles, 1903

16. I. F. Stone: I. F. Stone's Weekly, 1953–1967

17. Henry Hampton: “Eyes on the Prize,” documentary, 1987

18. Tom Wolfe: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, book, 1968

19. Norman Mailer: The Armies of the Night, book, 1968

20. Hannah Arendt: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil,collected articles, 1963

21. William Shirer: Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1939–1941, collected articles, 1941

22. Truman Capote: In Cold Blood, book, 1965

23. Joan Didion: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, collected articles, 1968

24. Tom Wolfe: The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, collected articles, 1965

25. Michael Herr: Dispatches, book, 1977

26. Theodore White: The Making of the President: 1960, book, 1961

27. Robert Capa: Ten photographs from D-Day, 1944

28. J. Anthony Lukas: Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families, book, 1985

29. Richard Harding Davis: Coverage of German march into Belgium, Wheeler Syndicate and magazines, 1914

30. Dorothy Thompson: Reports on the rise of Hitler, Cosmopolitan and Saturday Evening Post, 1931–1934

31. John Steinbeck: Reports on Okie migrant camp life, The San Francisco News,1936

32. A. J. Liebling: The Road Back to Paris, collected articles, 1944

33. Ernest Hemingway: Reports on the Spanish Civil War, The New Republic, 1937–1938

34. Martha Gellhorn: The Face of War, collected articles, 1959

35. James Baldwin: The Fire Next Time, book, 1963

36. Joseph Mitchell: Up in the Old Hotel and Other Stories, collection of much older articles, 1992

37. Betty Friedan: The Feminine Mystique, book, 1963

38. Ralph Nader: Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile, book, 1965

39. Herblock (Herbert Block): Cartoons on McCarthyism, The Washington Post, 1950

40. James Baldwin: “Letter from the South: Nobody Knows My Name,” The Partisan Review, 1959

41. Nick Ut: Photograph of a burning girl running from a napalm attack, The Associated Press, 1972

42. Pauline Kael: “Trash, Art, and the Movies,” Harper's, 1969

43. Gay Talese: Fame and Obscurity: Portraits by Gay Talese, collected articles, 1970

44. Randy Shilts: Reports on AIDS, The San Francisco Chronicle, 1981–1985

45. Janet Flanner (Genet): Paris Journals chronicling Paris's emergence from the Occupation, The New Yorker, 1944–45

46. Neil Sheehan: A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, book, 1988

47. A. J. Liebling: The Wayward Pressman, collected articles, 1947

48. Tom Wolfe: The Right Stuff, book, 1979

49. Murray Kempton: America Comes of Middle Age: Columns 1950–1962, collected articles, 1963

50. Murray Kempton: Part of Our Time: Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties, book, 1955

51. Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele: “America: What Went Wrong?,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1991

52. Taylor Branch: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–1963, 1988

53. Harrison Salisbury: Reporting from the Soviet Union, The New York Times, 1949–1954

54. John McPhee: The John McPhee Reader, collected articles, 1976

55. ABC: Live television broadcast of Army-McCarthy hearings, 1954

56. Frederick Wiseman: Titicut Follies, documentary, 1967

57. David Remnick: Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire, book, 1993

58. Richard Ben Cramer: What It Takes: The Way to the White House, book, 1992

59. Jonathan Schell: The Fate of the Earth, book, 1982

60. Russell Baker: “Francs and Beans,” The New York Times, 1975

61. Homer Bigart: Account of being over Japan in a bomber, The New York Herald-Tribune, 1945

62. Ben Hecht: 1,001 Afternoons in Chicago, collected articles, 1922

63. Walter Cronkite: Documentary on Vietnam, CBS television, 1968

64. Walter Lippmann: Early essays, The New Republic, 1914

65. Margaret Bourke-White: Photographs following the defeat of Germany, Life magazine, 1945

66. Lillian Ross: Reporting, collected articles, 1964

67. Nicholas Lemann: The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America, book, 1991

68. Joe Rosenthal: Photograph of Marines raising an American flag on Mount Suribachi, The Associated Press, 1945

69. Hodding Carter Jr.: “Go for Broke,” editorial, Carter's Delta Democrat-Times (Greenville, Miss.), 1945

70. The New Yorker: The New Yorker Book of War Pieces, collected articles, 1947

71. Meyer Berger: Report on the murderer Howard Unruh, The New York Times, 1949

72. Norman Mailer: The Executioner's Song, book, 1979

73. Robert Capa: Spanish Civil War photos, Life magazine, 1936

74. Susan Sontag: “Notes on ‘Camp,’” The Partisan Review, 1964

75. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein: All the President's Men, book, 1974

76. John Hersey: Here to Stay, collected articles, 1963

77. A. J. Liebling: The Earl of Louisiana, book, 1961

78. Mike Davis: City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles, book, 1990

79. Melissa Fay Greene: Praying for Sheetrock, book, 1991

80. J. Anthony Lukas: “The Two Worlds of Linda Fitzpatrick,” The New York Times, 1967

81. Herbert Bayard Swope: “Klan Exposed,” The New York World, 1921

82. William Allen White: “To an Anxious Friend,” The Emporia (Kan.) Gazette,1922

83. Edward R. Murrow: Report of the liberation of Buchenwald, CBS radio, 1945

84. Joseph Mitchell: McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, collected articles, 1943

85. Lillian Ross: Picture, book, 1952

86. Earl Brown: Series of articles on race, Harper's and Life magazines, 1942–1944

87. Greil Marcus: Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music, book,1975

88. Morley Safer: Atrocities committed by American soldiers in Vietnam, CBS television, 1965

89. Ted Poston: Coverage of the “Little Scottsboro” trial, The New York Post, 1949

90. Leon Dash: “Rosa Lee's Story,” The Washington Post, 1994

91. Jane Kramer: Europeans, collected articles, 1988

92. Eddie Adams and Vo Suu: Associated Press photograph and NBC television footage of a Saigon execution, 1968

93. Grantland Rice: “Notre Dame's ‘Four Horsemen,’” The New York Herald-Tribune, 1924

94. Jane Kramer: The Politics of Memory: Looking for Germany in the New Germany, collected articles, 1996

95. Frank McCourt: Angela's Ashes, book, 1996

96. Vincent Sheean: Personal History, book, 1935

97. W.E.B. Du Bois: Columns on race during his tenure as editor of The Crisis,1910–1934

98. Damon Runyon: Crime reporting, The New York American, 1926

99. Joe McGinniss: The Selling of the President 1968, book, 1969

100. Hunter S. Thompson: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, book, 1973

[John Simkin]

The Newseum in Arlington, Va., asked journalists and scholars to select the 20th Century's top 100 stories. The Kennedy assassination was in 6th place.

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=6327

[Guest Robert Morrow]

The Newseum in Arlington, Va., asked journalists and scholars to select the 20th Century's top 100 stories. The Kennedy assassination was in 6th place.

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=6327

Excellent post, John Simkin. Maybe there is no listing of excellent JFK assassination coverage by the MSM because the MSM, TV, print, even major publishing houses have been controlled by the CIA/CFR murderers of John Kennedy. And they have been lying, covering up the truth, ignoring the breaking evidence on the JFK assassination for 48 years.

The #1 offender of all of these would be the NY Times and the Stalinist type totalitarian propaganda it has printed in relation to the JFK assassination. Jim DiEugenio once wrote an article titled something like "Why the NY

Times should Die" castigating them, justifiably, for their lies/propaganda on the JFK assassination.

[Dean Hagerman]

20. Hannah Arendt: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil,collected articles, 1963

Hannahs articles should be number 1

[Guest Tom Scully]

Where do high expectations of accuracy and transparency come from, given the historic record. Last I looked, most journalists work for people who have more money than the average resident and are in the business of compiling and distributing information with the goals of gaining even more money than they already have. That's it, that's the heart of it, and most "journalists" are self censoring, so as to keep themselves attractive to their bosses and to the relatively small number of anticipated future employers out there.

This is the limiting and distorting dynamic even before government interference. Don't cross anonymous government "sources" or the advertisers or the editor and the owner. Are any of the folks I've covered, except possibly the self-suppressed journalist, likely to be closer to neutral politically than right center? So the list is no surprise. Many of us know it isn't a list of journalism excellence. It is a list of what survived the "will this help me make a buck, or further my ideological agenda" or won't it, filter.

This is what "journalism" in the U.S. is, when the veneer is peeled away. Nearly 3 million copies of each issue of "Rural Progress" were given away for the purpose of "informing" readers. Consider that the award winning journalist for whom the term "muckraker" was coined, and whose reporting resulted in legislative reform in food inspection and labor law protections, Upton Sinclair, author of "the Jungle" is not even on the list.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZykbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FkwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3589,570303&dq=minton+propaganda&hl=en

Dr, Frank Raps Magazine Quiz .Says Senators Wage Terror...

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Pittsburgh Press - May 7, 1938

Senator Minton said the commit tee was "not frightening or fighting anybody." we 're only trying to let the people know where this propaganda is coming from....

Half way down in the left column, is a list of names of wealthy people and info on how much they put up to subsidize printing and distribution costs of Rural Progress.:

NY Times

By William V. Nessly

May 7, 1938 pg. 2

$155000 IS ASKED OF FRANK ESTATE; Claims Filed for Sums...

‎ - New York Times - Oct 20, 1941

(Mrs. Vanderlip, widow of the former president of the largest bank in the county, National City, is seen here trying to collect on a loan to the now deceased editor of the right wing propaganda "magazine" Rural Progress.)

[John Dolva]

Numbers 3 and 12 are ridiculous.

THose were actually cover up stories to what actually happened.

Jim, I'm interested in your take on naming #12?

[Guest Tom Scully]

In my article, "The Posthumous Assassination of John F. Kennedy" in The Assassinations I discuss at length the career of that CIA lackey Sy Hersh.

Part of his prolific work for them was his role in concealing the true circumstances and nature of My Lai.

As later revealed by DOug Valentine, it was not an individual atrocity chalked up to mistakes and emotional outbreak. It was part of Operation Phoenix.

Hersh tried to conceal that in both his books on the subject.

What, of any importance, could and did Hersh conceal after 22 October, 1970? Westmoreland and Peers seem much more culpable than Hersh, at least that is what the record indicates, and I don't see Douglas Valentine accusing Hersh of concealing Phoenix in Hersh's second book, quite the contrary.

http://www.google.com/search?q=parkerr+peers+west+point&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=mpn&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=%22douglas+valentine%22+Parker%27s+persona++++&psj=1&oq=%22douglas+valentine%22+Parker%27s+persona++++&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=14715l14715l11l16296l1l1l0l0l0l0l330l330l3-1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

and http://www.american-buddha.com/phoenixprog9.htm

Douglas Valentine - 1990 - 479 pages - Page 133

...on the POIC for access to information on, and reaction forces for use against, the VCI. In addition, the committee structure allowed the CIA to deny plausibly that it had anyone operating in the DIOCCs. "I was opposed to the DIOCCs at the beginning," Brickham admitted, "but after I visited three places up north and wrote

the early June paper, I had converted into believing in them as important And then Komer said we could have as many men as we asked for, and at that point we tried to get district officers." In any event, according to Brickham, "ICEX institutionalizes the thing." "Okay," said Brickham. "Komer approved this, and we sent a cable to Washington headquarters outlining the situation and requesting approval. And we got a cable back from Colby which basically said, 'Well, we don't know what you're going

to do.' And as I recall, they suggested that we sort of pull in our horns." "Well, we said, 'This is the only way to do it, so we'll just go ahead and do it.' We came up with the ambassador's approval out there in the field, so back in Washington they were left with a fait accompli. And the irony is, Colby had nothing to do with ICEX or Phoenix. He had to go along with it. It was approved by Komer and the ambassador and the White House, so we implemented it." At that point Nelson Brickham returned to Washington for a job on the Vietnamese desk, and a new personality appeared on the scene, willing and ready to pick up where Brickham had left off.

Having chatted with Roger Trinquier in Vung Tau in 1952, Evan Parker, Jr., was no stranger to Vietnam.

As the son of an American pilot who had served in King George's Royal Flying Corps in the First World War, Parker was also well connected.

Upon graduating from Cornell University in 1943, Parker, who was fluent in French, was invited to join the fashionable OSS. Trained with the jaunty Jedburghs,* he was slated to parachute into France but instead was sent to Burma, where he served in Detachment 101, as an interrogation and logistics officer fighting with Kachin hill tribes behind the Japanese lines. Parker later served as Detachment 101's liaison officer to Merrill's Marauders and the British Thirty-sixth Division. His service with the OSS (followed by a brief stint as a traveling salesman) led to a career in the CIA's clandestine services and to personal relationships with many of the major Vietnamese, French, and American players in Vietnam.

Parker began his CIA career as a courier in the Far East, then was graduated to case officer, operating mostly in Hong Kong and China. Over

the ensuing years, he told me when we met in 1986, he made "four or five" trips to Vietnam and, when he arrived again in Saigon in June 1967, was slated to become the station's executive director, its third-highest-ranking position.

However, Robert Komer and John Hart thought that Parker could better serve "the cause" as ICEX's first director.

Parker was chosen to manage ICEX, first and foremost, because Komer needed a senior CIA officer in that position.

The CIA alone had the expertise in covert paramilitary and intelligence operations, the CIA alone was in liaison with the Special Branch and the CIO,

and the CIA alone could supply money and resources on a moment's notice, without the red tape that strapped the military and the State Department.

As a GS-16 with the equivalent rank of a brigadier general, Evan Parker, Jr., had the status and the security clearances that would allow him access to all these things.

Parker's persona and professional record also made him the perfect candidate for the job.

Having just completed a tour as the CIA officer assigned to the Pentagon's Pacific Command, Parker had helped draw up the military's strategic plan for Vietnam and was well aware of how Vietnam fitted into the "big picture." Possessing the persuasive skills and political connections of a seasoned diplomat, Parker also enjoyed the status and the style necessary to soothe the monumental egos of obstinate military officers and bureaucrats. And ''as the expert on unconventional warfare," which was how Tully Acampora facetiously referred to him, Evan Parker had the tradecraft qualifications required to launch a top secret, highly sensitive, coordinated attack on the VCI.

Upon arriving in Saigon, Parker prepared himself by reading Brickham's papers and reviewing "the fifty to sixty" programs we already had in place to deal with the "infrastructure," a word Parker described to me as "hideous." [5] [ii] At an informal conference in Da Nang called to discuss the attack on the VCI, Parker learned that Brickham "and his partners in crime" wanted to concentrate their efforts initially on the Americans, then on the Vietnamese, but that Komer first had to ram ICEX through the impervious Saigon bureaucracy.

This was not hard to do, considering that President Johnson had given Komer a mandate that encompassed not only the formulation of an integrated attack on the VCI but also the reorganization of the Republic of Vietnam's armed forces, management of the October 1967 Vietnamese presidential elections, and revitalizing South Vietnam's economy. When faced with the irresistible force called Robert "Blowtorch" Komer, the immovable Saigon bureaucracy gave way quickly, if not altogether voluntarily.

Flanked by John Hart and General George Forsythe, MACV's chief of Revolutionary Development, Komer on June 14, 1967, presented MACV's chiefs of staff with Brickham's "Proposal." Komer made a forceful presentation, writes Ralph Johnson, but Generals Phillip B. Davidson Jr., Walter Kerwin, and William Pearson balked, "because MACV personnel requirements were not included." [6]

But it did not matter that the majority of DIOCC advisers were slated to be military men. Komer, backed by Hart, simply took his case to MACV commander Westmoreland, who, having been informed of President Johnson's wishes in the matter by Ambassador Bunker, overruled his staff on June 16. A few days later the White House Coordinating Committee (Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Earle Wheeler, and Chairman William Sullivan) nodded their final approval. And so it was that ICEX -- soon to be Phoenix -- was born. And not without resentment. General McChristian recalled, "On my last day in Vietnam, I became aware that a new plan for attacking the VCI was to be implemented. It was to be called ICEX. To put it mildly, I was amazed and dismayed." McChristian was amazed that he had not been told earlier, and was dismayed because ICEX was going to replace Cong Tac IV. ....

http://www.google.com/search?q=my+lai&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=LF8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3A8%2F25%2F1970%2Ccd_max%3A8%2F25%2F1970&tbm=nws&source=hp&q=%22Calley+Defense+Asks+Disclosure+Of+Top%22+%22described+Operation+Phoenix+as+a+code+name+for+a*%22&psj=1&oq=%22Calley+Defense+Asks+Disclosure+Of+Top%22+%22described+Operation+Phoenix+as+a+code+name+for+a*%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=10749l23432l3l24984l2l2l0l1l0l0l281l281l2-1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=e64197a292d99008&biw=840&bih=417

Calley Defense Asks Disclosure Of Top-Secret Data on Songmy...

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$3.95 - New York Times - Aug 25, 1970

Published reports have described Operation Phoenix as a code name for a secret C .LA. 'operation that led to the alleged massacre March 16, 1968. ..

http://www.google.com/search?q=evans+j+parker+phoenix+assassinate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=1vU&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3A10%2F14%2F1970%2Ccd_max%3A10%2F15%2F1970&tbm=nws&source=hp&q=asassinate+parker+%22Operation+Phoenix%2C%22+&psj=1&oq=asassinate+parker+%22Operation+Phoenix%2C%22+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=0l0l10l90l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=e64197a292d99008&biw=840&bih=417

SONMY JUDGE BARS CIA SUBPOENAS; Sergeant's Lawyer Rebuffed...

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- New York Times - Oct 14, 1970

... .the C.LA in charge of Operation Phoenix. Mr. Parker, he said, Was the anan who "signed documents certain blacklists" of Vietnamese to be assassinated.

http://www.google.com/search?q=evans+j+parker+phoenix+assassinate&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=dqU&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbs=ar:1&tbm=nws&source=hp&q=evans+j+parker+phoenix+&psj=1&oq=evans+j+parker+phoenix+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=32542l32542l0l34245l1l1l0l0l0l0l252l252l2-1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=e64197a292d99008&biw=840&bih=417

MYLAI TRIAL IS OFF FOR AT LEAST DAY; Defense Is Granted...

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- New York Times - Oct 22, 1970

... the director of the C.LA., and Evans J. Parker, a C.LA. official whom he described as being connect ed with Operation Phoenix. The military judge, Col. ...

http://www.google.com/search?q=hersh+cover+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Seymour+M.+Hersh+phoenix+blacklists&psj=1&oq=Seymour+M.+Hersh+phoenix+blacklists&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=38004l106305l0l107490l20l20l0l19l19l0l247l247l2-1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

Cover-up: the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4

books.google.comSeymour M. Hersh - 1972 - 305 pages - Snippet view

One of the CIA agent's first steps was to begin rounding up the residents of Quang Ngai City whose names were on the Phoenix blacklists. As Ramsdell explained it in the interview, the citizens were actually undercover members of the ...

The Phoenix program

books.google.comDouglas Valentine - 1990 - 479 pages - Snippet view

In Cover-up, Seymour Hersh tells how in February 1968 Ramsdell began "rounding up residents of Quang Ngai City whose names appeared on Phoenix blacklists."5 Explained Ramsdell: "After Tet we knew who many of these people were,

http://www.google.com/search?q=hersh+cover+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9D+by+the+Phoenix+Special+Police.%E2%80%9D+&psj=1&oq=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9D+by+the+Phoenix+Special+Police.%E2%80%9D+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=189932l189932l1l191686l1l1l0l1l1l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

Cover-up: the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4

books.google.comSeymour M. Hersh - 1972 - 305 pages - Snippet view

... and "eliminated," that is, put to death, by the Phoenix Special Police. It was a remarkably quick response from a CIA operative who had only arrived in Quang Ngai after the Tet offensive had begun. ...

The Phoenix program

books.google.comDouglas Valentine - 1990 - 479 pages - Snippet view

In Cover-up, Seymour Hersh tells how in February 1968 Ramsdell began "rounding up residents of Quang Ngai City whose names appeared ... 6 The people who were "wiped out," Hersh explains, were "put to death by the Phoenix Special Police. ...

http://www.google.com/search?q=hersh+cover+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9CShortly+after+the+My+Lai+4+operation%2C+the+number+of+VCI+on+the+Phoenix+blacklist+was+sharply+reduced.%E2%80%9D&psj=1&oq=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9CShortly+after+the+My+Lai+4+operation%2C+the+number+of+VCI+on+the+Phoenix+blacklist+was+sharply+reduced.%E2%80%9D&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=113528l113528l2l115060l1l1l0l1l1l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

Cover-up: the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4

books.google.comSeymour M. Hersh - 1972 - 305 pages - Snippet view

Shortly after the My Lai 4 operation, the number of VCI on the Phoenix blacklists was sharply reduced. Ramsdell eventually received praise from his superiors for the large numbers of VCI he eliminated. In his progress report for March, ...

http://www.google.com/search?q=hersh+cover+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9Cthe+link+between+Ramsdell+and+the+poor+intelligence+for+the+16+March+operation+was+never+explored+by+the+Peers+Panel.%E2%80%9D+&psj=1&oq=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9Cthe+link+between+Ramsdell+and+the+poor+intelligence+for+the+16+March+operation+was+never+explored+by+the+Peers+Panel.%E2%80%9D+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=231304l231304l12l232780l1l1l0l1l1l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

Cover-up: the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4

books.google.comSeymour M. Hersh - 1972 - 305 pages - Snippet view

"They considered the source of the intelligence impeccable," Hall said. The link between Ramsdell and the poor intelligence for the March 16 operation was never explored by the Peers Panel. For one thing, none of the high-ranking .

http://www.google.com/search?q=hersh+cover+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Seymour+M.+Hersh+barker+kill+sympathizers&psj=1&oq=Seymour+M.+Hersh+barker+kill+sympathizers&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=9384l10513l11l11636l4l4l0l4l4l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

Cover-up: the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4

books.google.comSeymour M. Hersh - 1972 - 305 pages - Snippet view

This area has long been an enemy stronghold and Task Force Barker had met heavy enemy opposition in this area on 12 and 23 February 1968. All persons living in this area are considered to be VC or VC sympathizers by the district chief. ...

More editions

Masterplots annual: Volume 18

books.google.comFrank Northen Magill - 1971 - Snippet view

MY LAI 4 A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath Author: Seymour M. Hersh Publisher: Random House (New York). ... which meant that the Vietnamese inhabitants were automatically suspected of being Viet Cong or Viet Cong sympathizers. ...

The following is attributed to Douglas Valentine, but I cannot find a reliable source I can link to:

...The My Lai massacre was first reported in March 1969, one full year after the event. In April 1969, because of congressional queries, the case was given to the Army inspector general, and in August Army Chief of Staff William Westmoreland turned the case over to the Army's Criminal Investigation Division (CID). In November 1969 Seymour Hersh broke the story, telling how 504 Vietnamese civilians were massacred by members of a U.S. infantry company attached to a special battalion called Task Force Barker.

Ten days after Hersh broke the story, Westmoreland ordered General William Peers to conduct an official inquiry. Evan Parker contended to me that Peers got the job because he was not a West Point graduate. [2] However, Peers's close ties to the CIA may also have been a factor. In World War II, Peers had commanded OSS Detachment 101, in which capacity he had been Evan Parker's boss. In the early 1950's he had been the CIA's chief of training and its station chief in Taiwan, and as SACSA in 1966 Peers had worked with the CIA in formulating pacification policy. Having had several commands in Vietnam, he was well aware of how the war was being conducted. But the most conclusive evidence linking Peers to the CIA is the report he submitted in March 1970, which was not made available to the public until 1974 and which carefully avoided implicating the CIA.

The perfunctory trials that followed the Peers inquiry amounted to slaps on the wrist for the defendants and fueled rumors of a cover-up. Of the thirty people named in the report, charges were brought against sixteen, four were tried, and one was convicted. William Calley's sentence was quickly reduced, and in conservative quarters he was venerated as a hero and scapegoat. Likewise, the men in Calley's platoon were excused as victims of VC terror and good soldiers acting under orders. Of nearly two thousand Americans surveyed by Time magazine, 65 percent denied being upset.

Yet, if most Americans were willing to accept the massacre as necessary to ensure their security , why the cover-up? Why was the massacre portrayed as an isolated incident? ....

[John Dolva]

Jim, could one, not forgetting Ridenhour kicking the whole thing off, see Hersh as breaking it nationally and in so doing have helped to bring out the story to where it is today? I read a tale about him re-visiting My Lai and finding a memorial that shook him the most as the images were mostly high quality color and B/W primts of photos taken by him Of course the Vietnamese knew in detail what happened from day one and it was just one of many cleansing exercises.. I think Op Phoenix as a whole was one of the most sordid operations in modern warfare, but one must never forget that it had a much earlier genesis including that in operation In Vietnam during Kennedy's presidency. So, was Hersh as guilty as the many who could have reported but didn't, for whatever reason, over the many preceding years

[Dean Hagerman]

Instead of going into your very long quotes from every source under the sun and expecting people to read them

Thank you Jim!

I want to throw up everytime Tom makes a post because his 1,546 page book that he wrote under his "Intrests" makes me have to scroll down for hour and a half just to get to the next post

[Guest Tom Scully]

Tom:

Instead of going into your very long quotes from every source under the sun and expecting people to read them, why don't you pick up my book and turn to page 367.

There, you will see this specific point brought up about the Peers commission and Hersh. ANd you will see a long quote I used out of Hersh's second book which clearly points out that he was still covering up the nature of My Lai.

THe real circumstances of My Lai did not begin to be revealed until Calley's lawyers threatened to request documents from the government about Phoenix. Nixon then stepped in to give him house arrest instead of a prison term.

Jim,

I showed in my last post that "the real circumstances of My Lai" began to be revealed in summer of 1970, and Hersh's second book was published in 1972. Is your assessment of what is in Hersh's second book and what his intent was, and of what Douglas Valentine communicated in his book, taken out of context? In other words, did Valentine contradict Hersh to the extent you claimed in your book? I see the situation as less clear cut than you do. I this. nk there is at least a possibility Hersh's motives were no more sinister than trying not to alienate his "anonymous" sources at the time, and with an eye to the future. You claim a two book white wash, I suspect dilution and some deflection in exchange for cooperation. It seems more about what Hersh emphasized, versus what Valentine emphasized, 18 years later. Who do you suppose had his hands less tied by CIA, Hersh or Valentine?

(quote)http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=%22hersh+then+wrote+two+books+on+this+atrocity%3A+my+lai+4*%22&btnG=#ds=bo&pq=%22hersh+then+wrote+two+books+on+this+atrocity%3A+my+lai+4*%22&hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=54&gs_id=3f&xhr=t&q=%22the+aftermath+of+the+exposure+of+the+Phoenix+Program%2C*%22&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&tbo=1&tbm=bks&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=%22the+aftermath+of+the+exposure+of+the+Phoenix+Program,*%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=be678e8fe4a8834e&biw=840&bih=433

The assassinations: Probe magazine on JFK, MLK, RFK and Malcolm X - Page 367

books.google.comJames DiEugenio, Lisa Pease - 2003 - 677 pages - Preview

....Hersh then wrote two books on this atrocity: My Lai 4 and Cover Up. There have always been questions about both the orders given on that mission and the unsatisfactory investigation after the fact. These questions began to boil in the aftermath of the exposure of the Phoenix Program, a CIA program of assassination of Vietnamese suspected of being Viet Cong, run by Bill Colby and Ted Shackley.....

....I won't go into all the things that must be true for Hersh to be correct. I will add that in the definitive book of the subject, Doug Valentine's The Phoenix Program, My Lai is described as part of the Colby/Shackley operation..... (/quote)

In my article, "The Posthumous Assassination of John F. Kennedy" in The Assassinations I discuss at length the career of that CIA lackey Sy Hersh.

Part of his prolific work for them was his role in concealing the true circumstances and nature of My Lai.

As later revealed by DOug Valentine, it was not an individual atrocity chalked up to mistakes and emotional outbreak. It was part of Operation Phoenix.

Hersh tried to conceal that in both his books on the subject.

What, of any importance, could and did Hersh conceal after 22 October, 1970? Westmoreland and Peers seem much more culpable than Hersh, at least that is what the record indicates, and I don't see Douglas Valentine accusing Hersh of concealing Phoenix in Hersh's second book, quite the contrary.

http://www.google.com/search?q=parkerr+peers+west+point&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=mpn&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=%22douglas+valentine%22+Parker%27s+persona++++&psj=1&oq=%22douglas+valentine%22+Parker%27s+persona++++&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=14715l14715l11l16296l1l1l0l0l0l0l330l330l3-1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

and http://www.american-buddha.com/phoenixprog9.htm

Douglas Valentine - 1990 - 479 pages - Page 133

...on the POIC for access to information on, and reaction forces for use against, the VCI. In addition, the committee structure allowed the CIA to deny plausibly that it had anyone operating in the DIOCCs. "I was opposed to the DIOCCs at the beginning," Brickham admitted, "but after I visited three places up north and wrote

the early June paper, I had converted into believing in them as important And then Komer said we could have as many men as we asked for, and at that point we tried to get district officers." In any event, according to Brickham, "ICEX institutionalizes the thing." "Okay," said Brickham. "Komer approved this, and we sent a cable to Washington headquarters outlining the situation and requesting approval. And we got a cable back from Colby which basically said, 'Well, we don't know what you're going

to do.' And as I recall, they suggested that we sort of pull in our horns." "Well, we said, 'This is the only way to do it, so we'll just go ahead and do it.' We came up with the ambassador's approval out there in the field, so back in Washington they were left with a fait accompli. And the irony is, Colby had nothing to do with ICEX or Phoenix. He had to go along with it. It was approved by Komer and the ambassador and the White House, so we implemented it." At that point Nelson Brickham returned to Washington for a job on the Vietnamese desk, and a new personality appeared on the scene, willing and ready to pick up where Brickham had left off. ....

http://www.google.com/search?q=hersh+cover+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Seymour+M.+Hersh+phoenix+blacklists&psj=1&oq=Seymour+M.+Hersh+phoenix+blacklists&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=38004l106305l0l107490l20l20l0l19l19l0l247l247l2-1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

Cover-up: the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4

books.google.comSeymour M. Hersh - 1972 - 305 pages - Snippet view

One of the CIA agent's first steps was to begin rounding up the residents of Quang Ngai City whose names were on the Phoenix blacklists. As Ramsdell explained it in the interview, the citizens were actually undercover members of the ...

The Phoenix program

books.google.comDouglas Valentine - 1990 - 479 pages - Snippet view

In Cover-up, Seymour Hersh tells how in February 1968 Ramsdell began "rounding up residents of Quang Ngai City whose names appeared on Phoenix blacklists."5 Explained Ramsdell: "After Tet we knew who many of these people were,

http://www.google.com/search?q=hersh+cover+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9D+by+the+Phoenix+Special+Police.%E2%80%9D+&psj=1&oq=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9D+by+the+Phoenix+Special+Police.%E2%80%9D+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=189932l189932l1l191686l1l1l0l1l1l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

Cover-up: the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4

books.google.comSeymour M. Hersh - 1972 - 305 pages - Snippet view

... and "eliminated," that is, put to death, by the Phoenix Special Police. It was a remarkably quick response from a CIA operative who had only arrived in Quang Ngai after the Tet offensive had begun. ...

The Phoenix program

books.google.comDouglas Valentine - 1990 - 479 pages - Snippet view

In Cover-up, Seymour Hersh tells how in February 1968 Ramsdell began "rounding up residents of Quang Ngai City whose names appeared ... 6 The people who were "wiped out," Hersh explains, were "put to death by the Phoenix Special Police. ...

http://www.google.com/search?q=hersh+cover+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9CShortly+after+the+My+Lai+4+operation%2C+the+number+of+VCI+on+the+Phoenix+blacklist+was+sharply+reduced.%E2%80%9D&psj=1&oq=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9CShortly+after+the+My+Lai+4+operation%2C+the+number+of+VCI+on+the+Phoenix+blacklist+was+sharply+reduced.%E2%80%9D&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=113528l113528l2l115060l1l1l0l1l1l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

Cover-up: the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4

books.google.comSeymour M. Hersh - 1972 - 305 pages - Snippet view

Shortly after the My Lai 4 operation, the number of VCI on the Phoenix blacklists was sharply reduced. Ramsdell eventually received praise from his superiors for the large numbers of VCI he eliminated. In his progress report for March, ...

http://www.google.com/search?q=hersh+cover+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9Cthe+link+between+Ramsdell+and+the+poor+intelligence+for+the+16+March+operation+was+never+explored+by+the+Peers+Panel.%E2%80%9D+&psj=1&oq=Seymour+M.+Hersh+%E2%80%9Cthe+link+between+Ramsdell+and+the+poor+intelligence+for+the+16+March+operation+was+never+explored+by+the+Peers+Panel.%E2%80%9D+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=231304l231304l12l232780l1l1l0l1l1l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

Cover-up: the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4

books.google.comSeymour M. Hersh - 1972 - 305 pages - Snippet view

"They considered the source of the intelligence impeccable," Hall said. The link between Ramsdell and the poor intelligence for the March 16 operation was never explored by the Peers Panel. For one thing, none of the high-ranking .

http://www.google.com/search?q=hersh+cover+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=Seymour+M.+Hersh+barker+kill+sympathizers&psj=1&oq=Seymour+M.+Hersh+barker+kill+sympathizers&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=9384l10513l11l11636l4l4l0l4l4l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7bf0e96df4811e17&biw=840&bih=417

Cover-up: the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4

books.google.comSeymour M. Hersh - 1972 - 305 pages - Snippet view

This area has long been an enemy stronghold and Task Force Barker had met heavy enemy opposition in this area on 12 and 23 February 1968. All persons living in this area are considered to be VC or VC sympathizers by the district chief. ...

More editions

Masterplots annual: Volume 18

......

[Guest Tom Scully]

He's around...

..............

Hersh attacked last January for daring to speak on related matters.:

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/28/seymour_hersh_whowhatwhy

Monday, Feb 28, 2011 07:01 ET

Seymour Hersh and the men who want him committed

A venerable publication launches a ridicule campaign against one of America's top investigative journalists ...

.............

...and I've read recently that he is still working on the Cheney book project.

Compared to Jim Di, I may give the impression of being a Hersh apologist. Jim see no redeeming qualities or Hersh positive contributions in the way he has exposed and described events in history, but if Jim's take on Hersh is the reliable revision, why did Douglas Valentine quote Hersh's references to Phoenix so often in his book?

Hersh is awkward and flawed, but not to the extent, I think, that Jim maintains.

I've never seen such a weird review of a book, but I think it supports my appraisal of Hersh, you have to take the good with the bad. There is some good that I don't think Jim is accounting for.

JFK TKO - Slate Magazine http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/strange_bedfellow/1997/11/jfk_tko.html

Nov 14, 1997 – Seymour Hersh's book is better than the critics say it is. ...

...It comes as something of a surprise, then, to read The Dark Side of Camelot and find that it is not a trashy conspiracy screed at all. Investigative reporters are often difficult people, and Hersh, who is one of the best, sounds less pleasant than most. His book, however, is not merely a great read. Much of what's in it is also 1) new; 2) shocking; 3) well supported; and 4) worth knowing....

.... they determined that the burglars were the two sons of I.B. Hale, a former FBI special ...