Poisoning The Press

by Mark Feldstein

  “wielded an economic ax”: JA, “Anti-Poverty Czar Embellishes Office,” WP (Sept. 22, 1969), B13; “head of the poverty program”: Dowling, 101.

  Cheney said that Anderson refused to run a retraction but Anderson claimed Rumsfeld asked him not to as a “favor,” to avoid giving the story additional publicity. “Merry-Go-Round” corrections were notoriously rare and grudging, often deliberately rehashing the worst facts about a target to discourage others from making similar requests. “The only thing worse than a Jack Anderson story,” a spokesman for a federal agency laughed, “is a Jack Anderson correction.” John Carmody, “Jack Anderson: His Code of Ethics,” WP (April 3, 1972), B1; Susan Sheehan, “The Case of the O.E.O. Office,” NYT Magazine (Aug. 13, 1972), 80; Byrne intv.

  “You call up”: Hendrick Hertzberg, “Getting the Goods,” The New Yorker (Jan. 22, 1972), 23; “in best sense,” “fear kept them honest”: Whitten intv.; “like he was the Pope”: Smolonsky intv.

  “cannot win”: Ambrose, Triumph, 500; “Alabama Project”: Carter, Politics of Rage, 400.

  “$400,000”: Carter, Politics of Rage, 388–99, 392.

  “kickbacks,” “misused”: JA, MGR (Nov. 26, 1968), JAP; “weasel-like”: Carter, Politics of Rage, 404; “bundle of cancelled checks”: JA manuscript, “Wallace I,” 9, JAP; “We will be happy”: JA, MGR (Nov. 29, 1968), JAP.

  “I laid before” to “these matters”: JA manuscript, “Wallace I,” 15–16, JAP.

  “squatters’ rights,” “go higher”: JA manuscript, “Wallace I,” 16–17; “After months,” “but will do”: JA manuscript, “Wallace II,” 13, 14, JAP.

  felony: IRS impeachment hearings, 35.

  “You went,” “brass monkey”: JA manuscript, “Wallace II,” 10, JAP.

  “I remembered”: Nixon, RN, 676.

  Chotiner role in tax audits, Wallace: Adam Clymer and Thomas Pepper, “IRS Chief Quit over Tampering,” Baltimore Sun (June 13, 1974), 1, and Eileen Shanahan, “Nixon Asked Data on Wallace Tax,” NYT (July 17, 1974), 17.

  “scoundrel,” “request of the President”: Mollenhoff, 109–10.

  “spread out on a table”: JA and Gibson, 177; “directed me” to “movements”: JA manuscript, “Wallace II,” 15, JAP.

  SWARM to “attendant,” campaign kickbacks: JA, MGR (April 13, 1970), JAP.

  “trying to convict,” “politics of the dirtiest sort”: “Wallace Brother Assails Newsman,” NYT (April 16, 1970), 25; “peck of trouble,” “good news”: Carter, Politics of Rage, 405; “edge of political extinction”: JA manuscript, “Wallace II,” 19, JAP.

  UNLESS WHITES VOTE: JA manuscript, “Wallace II,” 20, JAP.

  “niggers beat us”: Carter, Politics, 394.

  “screaming”: memo, untitled (ND), 9, “Misuse of IRS,” Box 24, WSPF; “clearly the source”: IRS impeachment hearings, 41; “furious and noisy” to “Number One suspect”: Mollenhoff, 114–15.

  Haldeman and Ehrlichman, “cautioning not to leak”: memo, Henry L. Hecht, “Interview of K. Martin Worthy” (Oct. 17, 1973), 3, Box 24, WSPF.

  “constituted a criminal act”: IRS impeachment hearings, 35–42.

  “We owe” to “cause him”: JA, MGR (April 26, 1971), JAP.

  grand jury probe, quid pro quo, “explicit agreement”: Carter, Politics of Rage, 408–14; “pyromaniac”: Carter, Wallace, 423.

  “back in the early mists” to “exposure”: JA manuscript, “Tailfins,” 8, and “Wallace II,” 9, JAP.

  “plaintive,” “What arrangement?” “olive branch”: JA and Gibson, 177; “Jeez”: JA manuscript, “Tailfins,” 8, JAP; “use[d] our column,” “pressure on him” to “eliminate”: JA, MGR (June 26, 1974, and June 28, 1973), JAP.

  “unspoken hope” to “inform the public”: JA manuscript, “Tailfins,” 8, and “Wallace II,” 9, JAP.

  6: REVENGE

  “Truth”: Maltese, 27; dozens if not hundreds: Ambrose, Triumph, 250; the word enemy: Safire, 343, 121–22.

  news summaries, “Nixon spent”: Ambrose, Triumph, 370, 251.

  “program Ziegler” (emphasis in original), “line-of-the-day”: Maltese, 24, 94.

  “attack group”: Maltese, 94; “small and unelected elite,” “The day when the network”: Porter, 47, 50; “flicks the scab”: Spear, 39; FCC challenge: Porter, 53–54.

  “good politics,” “just can’t stand”: Aitken, Colson, 143, 140; “anti-Nixon”: “CBS, ABC Claim Coercion”: WP (April 30, 1974), A12; “bring you to your knees”: Spear, 150.

  felony legislation: Spear, 161; antitrust charges, “Almost every president”: Porter, 154–59, 3.

  homosexuals: memo, J. Edgar Hoover to Clyde Tolson (Nov. 25, 1970), Rowland Evans FBIFOIA; “urgent” and “out to get us”: Ambrose, Triumph, 251; “nut cutters” and “brutal”: R. Dallek, 381; “vicious” and “sons of bitches”: Kutler, Abuse, 135; “screw our political enemies”: Kutler, Wars, 104; Anderson first: JA and Gibson, 216.

  In particular, Nixon told aides that The Washington Post should be given “damnable, damnable, problems” getting its broadcast licenses renewed: “There ain’t going to be no forgetting and there’ll be goddamn little forgiving.” Nixon also ordered the White House chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, to “go after” Post publisher Katharine Graham and vowed to “screw” the newspaper by targeting its real estate holdings and inciting shareholders against the company: “They don’t realize how rough I can play. But when I start, I will kill them. There’s no question about it.” “Damnable”: Porter, 169; “no forgetting” to “kill”: Kutler, Abuse, 174, 177, 173.

  illegal wiretaps: Ambrose, Triumph, 273.

  burglaries: Jackson, Rather intvs.

  “his ascension”: Halberstam, 606.

  cultivate the columnist: Gold intv.; “the words”: Victor Gold, “Last of the Muckrakers,” Washingtonian (Oct. 1997), 37; “let me know” to “transgressions”: Dowling, 95.

  “fag” to “drugs being used”: Hume, 49–54.

  “deeply troubled” to “beauty parlor”: JA, MGR (Sept. 8, 1970), JAP; “double entendre”: JA and Gibson, 181.

  “implications”: “Son of Agnew Says He Has Left Wife,” NYT (Sept. 6, 1970), 26; spiked, “surprised and disappointed”: Hume, 58–59; “no idea”: Howard Kurtz, “Moving to the Right,” WP (April 19, 2006), C1; “I jumped”: JA and Gibson, 180; “went after the kid”: Brit Hume, “Now It Can Be Told,” More (April 1975), 12.

  Tragically, Hume’s own son later committed suicide amid reports that he was about to be “outted” by the media for allegedly having a homosexual affair with a married congressman. Like Hume’s story suggesting that Randy Agnew was gay, rumors of Sandy Hume’s homosexuality were never proved. But in 1998, the allegation produced a media feeding frenzy. The twenty-eight-year-old journalist put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. “The proximate cause,” said his grieving father, was Sandy’s arrest on drunk driving charges the night before: “He was manifestly depressed about it” and “believed, for reasons that are not entirely clear, [that it] was going to be ruinous.” Scarborough, 133–34; David Fiderer, “When Joe Scarborough Dragged Dick Armey Out of a Closet of Shame,” Huffington Post (Aug. 11, 2009); Howard Kurtz, “Moving to the Right,” WP (April 19, 2006), C1ff.

  “difficult to define”: JA, MGR (Oct. 4, 1973), JAP.

  Federal prosecutors uncovered Vice President Agnew’s marital infidelity while investigating his financial corruption; his abrupt decision to resign from office as part of a plea bargain was triggered in part by his desire to avoid public disclosure of his adultery, which otherwise would have become public at his trial. According to one account, “Agnew would not stay in hotels overnight unless the Secret Service arranged for [his favorite mistress] to be given an adjoining room.” One federal agent later complained: “We were facilitating his adultery. We felt like pimps.” Witcover, Bedfellows, 351; Witcover intv; Kessler, 36.

  “freebies”: Richard M. Cohen, “Chain Sent Free Food to VIPs,” WP (Sept. 15, 1973), A4; “media ha
d a field day” to “sanctimony”: Agnew, 138.

  “private memos” to “fired tomorrow”: memo, John R. Brown III to H. R. Haldeman, “Re: Jack Anderson Comments” (Feb. 2, 1971), Haldeman #297, NARA; “I believe”: WH news digest (Jan. 29, 1971), 10, NARA.

  “Anderson does”: memo, Jack Caulfield to H. R. Haldeman, “Subject: Anderson Leaks” (Feb. 11, 1971), Haldeman #297, NARA.

  “intimidate our sources”: JA, “News Leaks,” WP (Feb. 13, 1971), D21.

  “confidential comments” to “more meetings”: JA, “Sshh! It’s Secret,” WP (March 2, 1971), B11; “the latest” to “bugged???”: memo, William E. Timmons to H. R. Haldeman, “Leadership Leaks” (March 2, 1971), Haldeman #297, NARA.

  stream of directives: Pentagon NISIs (April 3, April 22, Dec. 10, and Dec. 18, 1970; Feb. 8 and Feb. 17, 1971; May 15, 1972), DVAP, memos, Gordon Strachan to Fred Malek and John Dean (July 1, July 13, July 15, Sept. 27, and Sept. 28, 1971), Haldeman #297, NARA; “Anyone who was caught”: JA and Gibson, 178.

  “most chauffeured” to “big cheese himself”: JA, “AF Staff Car Used for Columnist,” WP (April 18, 1972), B15; “big boobs”: Van Atta intv. Jack Mills, DVAP; “Dear Jack”: Van Atta, 319; “rarely wrote”: Eagleburger intv. Van Atta, DVAP.

  “I have done” to “Get High on Life”: Krogh, 12, 11, 60, 22.

  “tight-fitting velvet pants” to “brittle from hair spray”: Krogh, 18, 19.

  “good to meet you” to “tie clasps”: Krogh, 33, 35, 34, 39; “deliciously bizarre”: Greenberg, 339.

  Elvis badge: Krogh, 45.

  “given the nature” and “Top Secret”: Krogh, 49, 48; “presidential dictum”: JA, “Presley Gets Narcotics Bureau Badge,” WP (Jan. 27, 1972), D23.

  “mincing”: Gentry, 159; “spousal”: R. Powers, 171–73.

  “holding hands”: transcript, Bill Kurtis documentary, “Jack Anderson: The Fall of J. Edgar Hoover” (June 20, 1995), 17, JAP.

  “dog” to “nice looking fellow”: J. Edgar Hoover, FBI memos (Jan. 8, 1957; April 30, 1951; Jan. 30, 1970), JA FBIFOIA, and (July 1, 1969), JAP.

  “So different”: JA and Gibson, 168.

  “time someone pried”: JA intv. Gibson.

  Whitten tailing Hoover: JA and Gibson, 168–69; “couldn’t get any evidence”: JA intv. Gibson; “Edgar and Clyde”: JA, MGR (Jan. 1, 1971), JAP.

  “Chuck was relentless”: JA and Gibson, 169; “You can get arrested”: Dowling, 95.

  Hoover menu: Gentry, 669; “Gelusil”: Dowling, 95.

  “It’s unsettling”: JA, “Hoover’s Trash Shows He’s Human,” WP (March 27, 1971), C11.

  “tireless guardian”: JA, “Hoover Books Ghostwritten at FBI,” WP (May 11, 1971), B15; “venomous” to “carrion”: memos, J. Edgar Hoover (Jan. 11, 1971; Sept. 28, 1971; Sept. 2, 1971), JA FBIFOIA.

  “faithful companion” to “picked up”: JA, “$100-a-Day Suites Free to Hoover,” WP (May 12, 1971), B21; “startling evidence” to “high and mighty”: JA, “Hoover Neither Hero nor Ogre,” WP (Feb. 4, 1971), E23; “very paranoid”: Summers, Official, 391, 95.

  “explode”: Roy Cohn, “Could He Walk on Water?” Esquire (Nov. 1972), 117, 251; “not a reporter”: Christopher Lydon, “Hoover Praises Mrs. Mitchell and Comments on Critics,” NYT (May 25, 1971), 19; “virulent critics” to “trash he writes”: JA, “FBI’s Bulldog Bites Critic Again,” WP (Nov. 24, 1971), B11.

  “straight face”: DeLoach, 103.

  “The tougher the attacks”: Ambrose, Triumph, 473; Hoover cautious: Kutler, Wars, 99, 120.

  7: VIETNAM

  Vietnam War background: Ambrose, Triumph, 223; R. Dallek, 134, 619–20; Ellsberg, 354–55.

  Vietnamization: Ambrose, Triumph: 309, 319, 349, 387, 407, 419, and Hersh, Price, 119, 121; Korean War: Ambrose, Triumph, 224, and Hersh, Price, 51; “two-faced”: Zumwalt, 413.

  Cambodia bombing: Hersh, Price, 193.

  “cock-sucking story,” “fire him”: Isaacson, 217; wiretaps: Hersh, Price, chp. 7.

  Cambodia invasion, Nixon’s war, student strikes: R. Dallek, 191, 619, 202; “peace with power”: Wills, 183.

  “bums”: Ambrose, Triumph, 348; “revolutionary terrorism”: R. Dallek, 208; Lincoln Memorial: Ambrose, Triumph, 355–57; Hutschnecker: Adam Clymer, “Most Presidents Had a Counselor,” NYT (Sept. 3, 2000), WK3; Patton, “level that goddamn country”: R. Dallek, 202, 308.

  “bedeviling”: Laird intv. Van Atta, DVAP; confided in his diary: Curtis Tarr journal, DVAP; Jack Anderson dartboard: J. Trento, 19.

  Linger: Hersh, Price, 182–83; “stunned”: letter, Stephen Linger to Fred Linger, “Personal & Confidential,” 6–7, JAP; “only guy”: Linger intv.; “spilled my guts”: Hersh intv.

  “top secret,” “until now”: JA, “Air Force Turns Rainmaker in Laos,” WP (March 18, 1971), F7; first known: John Noble Wilford, “Scientists Are Critical of Rainmaking in War,” NYT (July 3, 1972), 2; “very sensitive”: report, “Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Defense Information” (April 13, 1971), 1–2, 4, Young #19, NARA.

  peace talks: JA, “Scant Data Cramps Paris Negotiators,” WP (March 22, 1971), D11.

  “most explosive story”: Hersh, Price, 182; Hanoi/Haiphong: JA, “Plan to Bomb Haiphong Kept Ready,” WP (March 24, 1971), E11.

  Laos/Cambodia/code names: JA, “Pentagon’s Messages Beg Denial,” WP (March 30, 1971), B13.

  “intelligence,” “communiqués”: JA, “Victory Talk Smacks of a 1966 Rerun,” WP (March 6, 1971), D27.

  “attracted little attention,” “extensive investigation,” “interrogations”: Hersh, Price, 182; “bad leak”: minutes, Laird staff meeting (April 5, 1971), 12, DVAP; Kissinger staff: JA columns (March/April, 1971), NSC #807, NARA.

  “intercepted enemy messages”: JA, “Intelligence Ills Have Fatal Results,” WP (April 9, 1971), D15.

  “private messages” to “White House”: JA, “U.S. Is Forced to Spy on Saigon,” WP (April 30, 1971), D19; “distressing” to “tightly held”: memo, Dave McManis to Gen. Alexander Haig, “Subject: Jack Anderson” (May 4, 1971), NSC #807, NARA.

  “really hurt,” “enemies abroad”: memo, W. Donald Stewart to Martin Hoffman (Jan. 21, 1974), 2, HBP, and statement, W. Donald Stewart (March 17, 1974), 4, HBP; “intelligence goofs”: JA, “Intelligence Ills Have Fatal Results,” WP (April 9, 1971), D15.

  “cocksuckers” to “goddamn war”: R. Dallek, 261; “JACK ANDERSON is a perjurer”: CIA note (April 8, 1971), DDA doc. #74, CIAFOIA.

  “Although” to “source”: memo, Dave McManis to Gen. Alexander Haig, “Subject: Jack Anderson” (May 4, 1971), NSC #807, NARA.

  nearly two hundred, “no direct knowledge” to suspicious candidates: report, “Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Defense Information” (June 21, 1971), 2, 57–58, Young #19, NARA; “crazy” to “hysteria”: Sheila Hershow, “To Chase Leaks,” Federal Times (Oct. 25, 1976), 5.

  “Anderson’s information” to “terminated”: report, “Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Defense Information” (June 21, 1971), 1, 4–5, 108, Young #19, NARA.

  “bloodhounds”: JA, “Pentagon Is Hunting for Leaks Again,” WP (March 24, 1971), D17; “Keystone Kops”: Sheila Hershow, “To Chase Leaks,” Federal Times (Oct. 25, 1976), 5.

  “Anderson’s columns”: Hersh, Price, 182, 183.

  “ahead of everybody”: JA intv.; “In retrospect”: Hersh, Price, 183.

  Pentagon Papers: Rudenstine, passim.

  “made no effort”: Dale Van Atta, “The Column Jack Wrote,” Daily Universe (April 4, 1972), 5, emphasis in original; Ellsberg-Sheehan leak: Rudenstine, 46–47.

  four entire pages: Neil Sheehan, “Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces 3 Decades of Growing U.S. Involvement,” NYT (June 13, 1971), 1, 35–38; “doesn’t hurt,” “keep out” (emphasis in original): Rudenstine, 71; Haig, “unconscionable” to “this sort of thing”: Prados and Porter, 90, 97, 99, 98.

  page-one article: Neil Sheehan, “Vietnam Archive: A Consensus to Bomb Developed Before ’64 Election,
Study Says,” NYT (June 14, 1971), 1, 30; “bastards”: Prados and Porter, 101; “cocksucker,” “son of a bitch”: WHT #521-9 (June 15, 1971); microfilmed the classified documents: Wells, 398; “gets back” to “goddamn left-wingers”: Prados and Porter, 102, 103.

  “launch an attack”: Haldeman, Diaries, 365; “statute of limitations” to “our enemies”: Prados and Porter, 102, 106; “old man” to “in jail”: Dean, Rehnquist, 267.

  “immediate and irreparable,” “any trace”: Prados and Porter, 157, 147; “For the first time”: Rudenstine, 106.

  “indicate the importance”: Haldeman, Diaries, 366; “one of those fights” to “aid and comfort to the enemy” (emphasis in original): Prados and Porter, 112, 110; “destroy the Times”: Rudenstine, 121.