Seymour Hersh: Scoop Artist

446 Pages·2013·2.56 MB·English

by  Robert Miraldi

SEYMOUR HERSH
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Seymour Hersh
Scoop Artist
Robert Miraldi
POTOMAC BOOKS
An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press
© 2013 by Robert Miraldi
All rights reserved. Potomac
Books is an imprint of the
University of Nebraska Press.
Manufactured in the United
States of America
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miraldi, Robert.
Seymour Hersh: scoop artist /
Robert Miraldi.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical
references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61234-475-1 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Hersh, Seymour M. 2. Journalists—
United States—Biography. 3. United
States—Politics and government—
1945–1989. 4. United States—Politics and
government—1989– 5. United States—
Foreign relations—1945–1989. 6. United
States—Foreign relations—1989– I. Title.
PN4874.H473M57 2013
070.92—dc23 [B] 2013023619
Set in Lyon by Laura Wellington.
Designed by Nathan Putens.
To Mary Beth Pfeiffer, who understands
investigative reporting — and me.
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Prologue: Chasing Sy Hersh xi
Acknowledgments xvii
1. The Story No One Wanted 1
2. The Scoop Heard ’Round the World 14
3. Hersh Becomes a Target 28
4. “Front Page” Lessons in Chicago 45
5. Selling, Publishing, Failing 55
6. From the “Front Page” to the Pentagon 61
7. At War with the Pentagon 67
8. Fighting His Editors 76
9. Finding America’s Hidden Arsenal 88
10. Speaking for Gene McCarthy 98
11. Stunning Triumph over Germs 116
12. Scoop Artist Meets the Viet Cong 125
13. TheTimes Calls 132
14. Digging into Watergate 144
15. Cambodia, Bombs, and Impeachment 157
16. Hunting the Coup Plotters 169
17. Skeletons Tumble from the CIA Closet 185
18. The Submarine Caper 197
19. Going after “The Godfather” 211
20. The Big Apple Turns Sour 224
21. Scoop Artist versus Dr. Kissinger 234
22. The Summer’s Literary Furor 247
23. Who Shot Down the Korean Airliner? 258
24. Reporting the Worst-Kept Secret in the World 271
25. Sex, Lies, and Fraud 284
26. Going after Sy Hersh 298
27. TheNew Yorker Years 306
28. An Alternative View of the Mideast 317
29. Back on Top 328
Epilogue: A Muckraker’s Unfinished Business 339
Selected Works of Seymour Hersh 345
Seymour Hersh Timeline 351
Notes 353
Index 403
Illustrations
Following page 156
1. Seymour Hersh, 1954 yearbook photo
2. Bodies piled in a ditch in the village of My Lai
3. Lt. William Calley Jr. leaves his trial
4. Hersh holds up a newspaper with one of his stories about My Lai
5. Hersh with Eugene McCarthy, 1967
6. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
7. Hersh with his family, 1975
8. Hersh portrait by Vanity Fair photographer Jonathan Becker, 1997
9. Roman Genn caricature of Hersh, 2004
10. Hersh speaking on foreign policy at the
University of North Carolina, 2011
11. Yoko Ono gives Hersh the LennonOno Peace Prize, 2004
12. Hersh on the book-signing circuit to
promote Chain of Command, 2004
13. Hersh in his tiny two-room office in Washington DC