Poisoning The Press
Page 48
“A newspaper industry”: Ellsberg, 398–99.
“energized”: Kutler, Wars, 111.
Just hours after losing the Pentagon Papers case, the President summoned FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to the Oval Office and instructed him to gather ammunition to prosecute “some of the other people around” Ellsberg. “Well,” Hoover replied, “that skunk [Jack Anderson] was at the Post and had copies made” of the classified documents. Hoover added that the publisher of The Washington Post, fifty-four-year-old Katharine Graham, had “aged terribly” and looked “about 85 years old.” “She’s a terrible old bag,” Nixon replied. Hoover agreed: “She’s an old bitch in my opinion.” WHT #6-84 (July 1, 1971).
“Those sons of bitches” (emphasis in original): Kutler, Abuse, 8.
“Kill him” to “That’s the way it’s done” (emphasis in original): Kutler, Abuse, 9, 10; “our man”: Wells, 465.
bisexual drug-user: Michael Young, “The Devil and Daniel Ellsberg,” Reason (June 2002), and Hersh, Price, 384–85; “Henry had a problem”: Haldeman and DiMona, 110; “Every one”: Kutler, Abuse, 35; “my Jew boy”: R. Dallek, 93; “the Jew”: Rosen, Strong Man, 161; ”Jews are born spies”: WHT #537-004 (July 5, 1971); “disloyalty”: Prados and Porter, 103.
Nixon told aides that “most Jews are disloyal . . . you can’t trust the bastards” and that “there’s this strange malignancy that seems to creep among them . . . radicalism.” As a result, the President believed, Daniel Ellsberg presented “a marvelous opportunity” for his old House Un-American Activities Committee to win public acclaim: “Going after all these Jews [is] what’s going to charge up an audience. Jesus Christ, they’ll be hanging from the rafters.” Emphasis in original. Sources for the above: “most Jews”: WHT #536-016 (July 3, 1971); “strange malignancy”: WHT #537-004 (July 5, 1971); “marvelous opportunity”: Kutler, Abuse, 20.
“paranoiac”: Kutler, Wars, 78; “not going after”: Kutler, Abuse, 15; “If we can’t”: Kutler, Wars, 78; red-faced desk-pounding: Aitken, Colson, 154; “I don’t give a damn”: Kutler, Wars, 108.
“horrible things” to “tiger”: Kutler, Abuse, 15, 8, 14, 13; “beauty of this”: www.whitehousetapes.net/transcript/nixon/you-need-team; Liddy and Hunt: Wells, 8, 16, 474, and Szulc, 134–35.
8: THE ANDERSON PAPERS
two million: Christopher Hitchens, “The Case Against Henry Kissinger,” Harper’s (March 2001), 59; “nuclear showdown,” “brought the United States”: JA and Clifford, 205, 208.
“Kill three million”: Ben Kiernan, “Cost of a Genocide Ignored,” The Australian (Dec. 5, 2007), 5; a hundred thousand: memo, Harold H. Saunders to Henry Kissinger, “Lunch Ambassador Jha” (May 18, 1971), NSA; ten million: Hitchens, op. cit., 59.
“old witch”: R. Dallek, 340; that “that bitch, that whore”: Reeves, 391.
“we don’t really have any choice”: Hersh, Price, 457.
U.S.-supplied tanks and aircraft: Van Hollen, 342.
“absolute neutrality”: Carroll Kilpatarick, “Nixon Vows ‘Absolute Neutrality,’ ” WP (Dec. 7, 1971), A12.
ban: Van Hollen, 344; “I like the idea”: telecon, Nixon/Kissinger (Dec. 4, 1971), NSA; officials warned: Capt. H. N. Kay, Pentagon minutes (Dec. 6, 1971), 6, JAP; “directive”: memo, Al Haig to Henry Kissinger (Jan. 19, 1972), NSA; “We are standing alone”: telecon, Bhutto/Kissinger (Dec. 11, 1971), NSA.
“no longer abide”: JA and Gibson, 179; “nuclear powder keg”: JA and Clifford, 211.
Seventh Fleet: Zumwalt, 367; “possible rescue”: Craig R. Whitney, “Carrier Leaves Vietnam, May Sail to Dacca Area,” NYT (Dec. 13, 1971), 1, 16; “transparently false”: Van Hollen, 356; “pure power play”: telecon, Nixon/Kissinger (Dec. 11, 1971), NSA; “put a little pressure”: WHT #308-13 (Dec. 22, 1971); “brazen,” “bluff”: telecon, Laird/Kissinger (Dec. 11, 1971), NSA; “coming off like men,” “tough”: R. Dallek, 346.
“as much . . . in daylight”: Zumwalt, 367; prominent coverage: Pentagon news summary (Dec. 15, 1971), DVAP; “Pentagon sources”: Szulc, 443.
“needled,” “soul searching,” “reluctantly”: JA and Gibson, 182; “can’t even run”: JA intv.; cited in Ellsberg intv. Amy Goodman (April 26, 2006), DemocracyNow.org; “got to decide”: Robert Sherrill, “Leaks Follow the Course of Greatest Impact,” NYT (Jan. 9, 1972), D1.
first in a series: JA, “Pearson Foresaw U.N. Failures,” WP (Dec. 13, 1971), C23; “cautious, timid”: Jack Rosenthal, “Anderson Ready for Battle with Government,” NYT (Jan. 6, 1972), 17; “held so closely” to “horoscope”: JA and Gibson, 182, 183.
“It’s very important”: WHT #308-13 (Dec. 22, 1971).
“I never saw”: Whitten intv.; Ziegler deal: Robert Walters, “Anderson Makes It to the Top,” WS (Jan. 6, 1972), A8.
“more sensational”: JA intv. Gibson; “bore the Kansas city milkman,” “baptism by fire”: Hume, 95, 92; “censorship curtain” to “tilt” (emphasis added): JA, “U.S., Soviet Vessels in Bay of Bengal,” WP (Dec. 14, 1971), B15; JA, “U.S. Moves Give Soviets Hold on India,” WP (Dec. 16, 1971), G15. Privately, Kissinger made other injudicious remarks. He characterized Pakistanis as “sometimes extremely stupid” although “straightforward,” unlike Indians, who “are more devious.” And he encouraged President Nixon to treat Pakistan’s genocidal dictator “with love rather than brutality.” Behind his back, Kissinger also complained that U.N. ambassador George H. W. Bush was “an idiot” and berated him to his face for not being more critical of India: “Don’t screw it up the way you usually do.” The future president replied: “I want a transfer when this is over” to “a nice quiet place like Rwanda.” Memos, Harold H. Saunders (Aug. 11 and July 31, 1971), NSA; R. Dallek, 350; telecon, Bush/Kissinger (Dec. 16, 1971), NSA.
“secret diplomatic dispatches” to “diversionary action”: JA, “U.S. Task Force Didn’t Frighten India,” WP (Dec. 21, 1971), E15; “world stood on the edge”: JA, “Why I Blew the Whistle,” Parade (Feb. 13, 1972), 8.
“What do we do”: R. Dallek, 347.
“The papers”: JA, MGR (Dec. 30, 1971), JAP.
“that I couldn’t possibly”: JA and Gibson, 183.
“Officials conceded”: Benjamin Welles, “U.S. Effort to Aid Pakistan Is Cited,” NYT (Dec. 31, 1971), A1, 7; ANDERSON STRIKES: “New White House Leaks,” WS (Jan. 1, 1972), A5.
prominent front-page coverage: Sanford J. Ungar, “Secret U.S. Papers Bared,” WP (Jan. 5, 1972), 1, 8; White House news summary (Jan. 5, 1972), NARA; Hume, 101.
“take either my word”: AP, “Leak Investigation,” Young #19, NARA; “held up several of the documents,” “stay on the attack”: Hume, 101, 100.
news outlets around the world: “White House Papers on Page 1 in London,” WP (Jan. 6, 1972); Pentagon news summary (Jan. 5–6, 1972), DVAP.
“Mocking headlines”: Isaacson, 379; “turned Washington,” “shock waves”: Mark R. Arnold, “Anderson Jars ‘Striped-Pants Set,’ ” National Observer (Jan. 15, 1972); ADVISERS LIED, “starker headlines”: Charlotte Observer (Jan. 7, 1972), cited in Young #18, NARA; “major challenge”: Sanford J. Ungar, “Secret U.S. Papers Bared,” WP (Jan. 5, 1972), 1; “unguided journalistic missile”: White, 283; tied up phone lines, “again completely accurate”: Young Report, 70, 62; “jolted”: Richard Helms, “State of the Agency Address” (June 30, 1972), 7, NSA.
“If the Administration”: Hume, 92, 99.
“very serious-leaks”: Stennis hearings (Feb. 6, 1974), 48; “one of the most”: Nixon, RN, 531.
“fun” to “failures”: Zumwalt, 366, 365; “even more vivid”: Max Frankel, “Officialdom in Action,” NYT (Jan. 6, 1972), 18; “officials concede”: William McGaffin, “U.S. Court Attack on Writer Doubted,” Chicago Daily News (Jan. 6, 1972), 1.
“no security”: Orr Kelly and Jeremiah O’Leary, “Anderson Releases Papers,” WS (Jan. 5, 1972), 1ff.
opened up his briefcase, “just in case”: Sanford J. Ungar, “Secret U.S. Papers Bared,” WP (Jan. 5, 1972), A8.
“sile
nce the press”: JA, Parade manuscript draft (ND), 6–7, JAP.
“If we had”: Mark R. Arnold, “Anderson Jars ‘Striped-Pants Set,’ ” National Observer (Jan. 15, 1972).
“damaging decisions”: James Reston, “The Anderson Papers,” NYT (Jan. 9, 1972), D1; “San Andreas fault”: White House news summary (Jan. 6, 1972), 5, NARA; “remarkable series”: Tom Wicker, “Laudable Job by Jack Anderson,” NYT (Jan. 4, 1972), 3; “striking revelations”: “South Asian Irony,” NYT (Jan. 12, 1972), 42; “cynicism”: “Tilt,” WP (Jan. 6, 1972), A16.
“stolen our dollars”: WH news summary (Jan. 24, 1972), 8, NARA; “Secrecy”: cartoon, Pat Oliphant, Los Angeles Times Syndicate (Jan. 19, 1972).
“move is part”: Paul Scott, “Fulbright May Foster ‘Credibility’ Challenge,” San Diego Union (Jan. 14, 1972), B11; “major charge”: Haldeman, CD Diaries (Jan. 13, 1972); “really kill”: WHT #647-9 (Jan. 13, 1972); “my good friend Joe McCarthy”: WHT #314-1 (Jan. 13, 1972).
“reliable sources”: Robert M. Smith, “White House Took Steps to Stop Leaks Months Before Anderson Disclosures,” NYT (Jan. 9, 1972), 18; “sources close”: Sydney H. Schanberg, “Keating Held Not Unhappy over Pakistan Cable ‘Leak,’ ”: NYT (Jan. 7, 1972), A3.
blame game: Kenneth J. Freed, “Leak Investigation,” AP (Jan. 5, 1972); in Young #18, NARA; and Sanford J. Ungar, “House Committee Will Probe Classification of Documents,” WP (Jan. 6, 1972), A1ff. At the Justice Department, Assistant Attorney General Robert Mardian complained that he “was being beaten over the head for comments on the Anderson leaks” and issued a statement declaring that prosecutors would have “no comment on matters under investigation.” “Bob,” White House aide David Young pointed out, “that’s obviously implying that you are investigating it and we have tried to low-key it and avoid saying that. In fact we have had a very straight line all around that we do not comment on Anderson articles . . . We don’t want Anderson to get the advantage of saying ‘somebody’s investigating me.’ ” Young then informed the President that Mardian had “blown it” by confirming “in a backhanded way” that “Jack Anderson was under investigation by the Justice Department,” which was “exactly what we didn’t want to happen.” Young Report, 67–69, NARA.
Bush: White House news summary (Jan. 31, 1972), NARA; “vandals”: “Ashbrook Asks Probe of Leak of ‘State Secrets,’ ” WS (Jan. 9, 1972), A32; “matter of great concern”: “Nixon Acts to End Security Leaks,” NYT (Jan. 18, 1972), 12; “don’t want to heighten”: WHT #648-4 (Jan. 17, 1972); “story is not dying”: White House news summary (Jan. 19, 1972), NARA.
“personal standing”: Hersh, Price, 465; “devastated”: Ehrlichman, 307, 302; “stop the meetings”: memo, Stennis hearings (March 7, 1974 ), 41; “minutes . . . in German”: memo, Jeanne W. Davis to Henry Kissinger, “Minutes of the SRG Meeting” (Jan. 17, 1972), NSA; “it is best”: memo, Harold H. Saunders to Henry Kissinger, “Material for Dealing with Jack Anderson” (Jan. 5, 1972), NSC, NARA.
“credibility as a briefer is destroyed”: WHT #314-1 (Jan. 13, 1972); “moral integrity”: telecon, Bill Safire/Kissinger (Jan. 12, 1972), 4, NSA; “staff got him all cranked up”: Haldeman, CD Diaries (Dec. 22, 1971).
“Nixon palace guard”: Kalb and Kalb, 263; “Presidential connivance”: telecon, Ehrlichman/Kissinger (Jan. 6, 1972), NSA; “lion-tamer”: telecon, Bill Safire/Kissinger (Jan. 12, 1972), 4, NSA; “cut off [the] head”: telecon, McNamara/Kissinger (Jan. 4, 1972), NSA; “hang them by their thumbs”: telecon, John Roche/Kissinger (Jan. 10, 1972), NSA.
“deceitful”: Reeves, 98; “out of favor”: R. Dallek, 351.
“tri-weekly”: WHT #643-13 (Jan. 3, 1972).
“mood swings,” “very insecure”: Ehrlichman, 307–08; “obsequious excess” to “drunken friend”: R. Dallek, 432, 47, 318, 92–93; “maniac”: Kalb intv.
“ranted,” “suicidal,” Hutschnecker: R. Dallek, 350, 443–44; “I could think”: Ehrlichman, 308.
“He’s personalizing”: WHT #17-28 (Dec. 24, 1971); “warped” to “bullshit”: WHT #310-30 (Dec. 26, 1971).
“childish tantrums”: R. Dallek, 351; “full of the usual charges”: Haldeman, Diaries, 393; “overreacting”: notes, H. R. Haldeman (Jan. 5 and 10, 1972), Haldeman #45, NARA; “take the press on”: Young Report, 75.
“Henry started calling”: Hersh, Price, 475; “Henry massaged”: Ehrlichman, 310.
Annenberg’s exchange: telecon, Annenberg/Kissinger (Jan. 8, 1972), NSA.
“horrible beating”: WHT #660-8 (Jan. 29, 1972); “put Henry”: WHT #640-3 (Dec. 22, 1971).
To bolster his position in the White House, Kissinger lobbied his former boss, New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, who remained a potent force in Republican politics. In a series of “traumatic” phone calls, Kissinger threatened to resign and complained that the President was not coming to his defense after Anderson’s attacks. Rockefeller tried to buck up his protégé: “Henry, you are fabulous. I have been praying night and day that steps are taken to keep your” position in the White House. Rockefeller offered to issue “a strong statement” in support of Kissinger, or to call Nixon directly, but Kissinger vetoed the idea: “If you talk to him, he will think I put you up to it.” Instead, Rockefeller contacted Attorney General John Mitchell to suggest that the President “find some excuse to call” Kissinger and reassure him, which Mitchell realized was just a scheme “to use him for leverage.” Consumed by self-pity, Kissinger told Rockefeller that “it is a disgrace” that such maneuvers were necessary but allowed, “If I should feel the national interest would be affected by my leaving, I might stay.”
Evidently sharing Nixon’s belief that Kissinger needed psychological counseling, Rockefeller gingerly brought up the idea with his protégé: “Between you and me, there is a very eminent psychiatrist—a very able one and a friend.” But Kissinger ignored the remark and Rockefeller didn’t pursue it. (Nixon signaled his decision to forgive Kissinger by suggesting that as a reward for his hard work, the President’s bachelor friend Bebe Rebozo should “give Henry all of his phone numbers of girls that are not over thirty.”)
Sources for the above quotes: “traumatic”: notes, H. R. Haldeman (Jan. 10, 1972), Haldeman #45, NARA;“fabulous” to “eminent psychiatrist”: telecon, Rockefeller/Kissinger (Jan. 14, 1972), NSA; “numbers of girls”: Haldeman, CD Diaries (Feb. 28, 1972).
“it was a good time”: note, White House news summary (Jan. 12, 1972), NARA; Kissinger friend: Merry, 475; “positive authority”: Joseph Alsop, “U.S. Role in South Asia,” WP (Jan. 14, 1972), A23; “unchallengeable”: Joseph Alsop, “Indian Aims on Pakistan,” WP (Dec. 27, 1971), A17.
Desai: Hersh, Price, 450; Wicker, 666; Van Hollen, 346–47, 351; Huque, 189.
“one of the few”: T. Powers, 263; “these reports”: Kissinger, White House, 90.
“intelligence fitted”: Hersh, Price, 460; “no indication”: Benjamin Welles, “Anti-India Remark Is Laid to Kissinger,” NYT (Jan. 1, 1972), 2.
war’s aftermath: Blood, 336.
“decision to risk”: Hersh, Price, 462, 457.
“Through their misreading”: Kux, 307; “From any standpoint”: Bundy, 288–89, 291.
“Indians will”: telecon, Nixon/Kissinger (Jan. 11, 1972), 3, NSA; “American decision”: Dhar, 184; “Anderson Papers”: Kux, 306–07.
“function of a secrecy system”: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., “The Secrecy Dilemma,” NYT Magazine (Feb. 6, 1972), 38.
celebrity: Hume, 104; William M. Blair, “Man in the News: Modern Muckraker Jack Northman Anderson,” NYT (Jan. 6, 1972), A17; Parade (Feb. 13, 1972), cover; “Jack Anderson Starting in the Press Today,” Cleveland Press (Jan. 10, 1972), 1; “like the Pentagon”: Hendrik Hertzberg, “Getting the Goods,” The New Yorker (Jan. 22, 1972), 21–23; “skunk”: WHT #648-4 (Jan. 17, 1972); “varied network”: “A Peek Behind the Scenes,” Newsweek (Jan. 17, 1972), 14; “networks are vying”: Robert Walters, “Anderson Makes It to the Top,” WS (Jan. 6, 1972), A8.
“bre
ach of trust”: James J. Kilpatrick, “Leak of Papers to Anderson a Grave Breach,” WP (Jan. 13, 1972), A9; “not a journalist”: WHT #313-22 (Jan. 10, 1972); “persistent sensationalist”: “Anderson’s Brass Ring,” Time (Jan. 17, 1972), 34; “bombastic”: Phil Casey, “The Mormon Muckraker: Another Side,” WP (Jan. 16, 1972), G1ff.
Columnist James J. Kilpatrick was in no position to make moral judgments. A decade before attacking Anderson, the rabidly segregationist journalist criticized The New York Times for “Negrophilia” and wrote that “the Negro race, as a race, is in fact an inferior race.” But despite Kilpatrick’s unapologetic belief in white supremacy, he was considered a respectable conservative commentator and his syndicated column was published in The Washington Post and other newspapers across the country. Roberts and Klibanoff, 236, 350.
“surpassed detractors”: Mary McGrory, “The Scribes Turn on Anderson,” WS (Jan. 16, 1972), C1; “savoring what must be”: Mark R. Arnold, “Anderson Jars ‘Striped-Pants Set,’ ” National Observer (Jan. 15, 1972).