by James Scott
“Short of a major invasion”: Reaction to Various US Courses of Action, May 23, 1967, www.cia.gov.
The first president: Bruce E. Altschuler, LBJ and the Polls (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1990), pp. xi–xiii.
Over the past year: George H. Gallup, ed., The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1935–1971, vol. 3, 1959–71 (New York: Random House, 1972), pp. 1992, 2062.
Beyond popularity: Ibid., p. 2058.
Polls taken: Ibid., pp. 2049, 2055, 2067.
The Georgia-born Rusk: Joseph A. Fry, Debating Vietnam: Fulbright, Stennis, and Their Senate Hearings (Lanthan, Md.: Rowman & Little-field, 2006), p. 62; Homer Bigart, “War Foes Clash with Police Here as Rusk Speaks,” New York Times, Nov. 15, 1967, p. 1.
During an April speech: Thomas W. Zeiler, Dean Rusk: Defending the American Mission Abroad (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 2000), pp. 162–63; Richard Rusk e-mails to author, Jan. 10, 2008, and Jan. 15, 2008.
“aspirin, scotch”: Dean Rusk as told to Richard Rusk, As I Saw It, edited by Daniel S. Papp (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1990), pp. 417–18; Richard Rusk e-mail to author, Oct. 9, 2008.
Twice activists: McNamara, In Retrospect, p. 297.
Once at Harvard: Ibid., pp. 254–56.
“murderer”: Ibid., p. 258.
“You have blood”: Ibid., pp. 258, 260.
Even the president: David Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1972), p. 640.
The war’s fallout: Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970), pp. 362, 347.
“The only difference”: Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest, p. 640.
“Now is indeed”: Johnson, A White House Diary, p. 469.
The Liberty reached: U.S.S. Liberty Deck Log, June 1, 1967, Box 529, RG 24, Logs of U.S. Naval Ships and Stations, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Md.; William McGonagle testimony, Liberty court of inquiry; Dave Lucas’s journal.
Commander McGonagle had hoped: USS LIBERTY msg. 241732Z, May 1967, Liberty Incident Message File, NHC.
“I can just see”: Dave Lucas letter to Paula Lucas, June 2, 1967.
The celebrity psychic: Eric Pace, “Jeane Dixon, 79, Astrologer Claiming Psychic Power, Dies,” New York Times, Jan. 27, 1997, p. B11; Jeane Dixon letter to Jim Ennes, Jr., Oct. 30, 1974.
“Everybody is speculating”: John Scott letter to parents, May 31, 1967.
Marine Staff Sergeant Bryce Lockwood: Bryce Lockwood interviews with author, April 4, 2007, and Sept. 7, 2008; Dave Lewis interview with author, April 10, 2007; Dave Lewis e-mails to author, Sept. 9, 2008; Robert L. Wilson oral history interview with Robert D. Farley, Henry F. Schorreck, and Henry Millington, May 6, 1980, www.nsa.gov; Birchard Fossett oral history interview with Robert D. Farley, May 15, 1980, www.nsa.gov; Birchard Fossett interview with author, Feb. 19, 2008.
McGonagle’s new orders: JCS msg. 011545Z, June 1967, Report of the JCS Fact Finding Team, USS Liberty Incident, June 8, 1967. The Navy often uses nautical miles, which are slightly longer than regular miles. For the purposes of this book, I have listed everything simply as miles. The differences are negligible and have no bearing on the outcome of events.
McGonagle ordered: Dave Lucas letter to Paula Lucas, June 2, 1967.
The Liberty overtook: USS LIBERTY msg. 022108Z, June 1967, Liberty court of inquiry.
“Shep was like”: Dave Lucas letter to Paula Lucas, June 2, 1967.
President Johnson crawled: Lyndon Johnson Daily Diary, June 4, 1967, Box 11, The President’s Daily Diary, LBJL.
America had set: Buckley, “Casualties of U.S. Rise In Vietnam,” p. 1.
more than 1,400: Richard Witkin, “Johnson, in City, Vows to Maintain Peace in Mideast,” New York Times, June 4, 1967, p. 1; Richard Witkin, “Protests to Greet Visit of President,” New York Times, June 3, 1967, p. 12.
“part Jewish”: Harry McPherson, Jr., oral history interview with T. H. Baker, Jan. 16, 1969, LBJL.
Israel enjoyed: Glenn Frankel, “A Beautiful Friendship?” Washington Post Magazine, July 16, 2006, p. W13; Warren Bass, Support Any Friend: Kennedy’s Middle East and the Making of the U.S.-Israeli Alliance (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 4, 30–33, 44–45; Stephen E. Ambrose, Eisenhower: The President, vol. 2. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), pp. 385–87;
“You have lost”: Merle Miller, Lyndon: An Oral Biography (New York: Putnam’s, 1980), p. 477.
“Take care of the Jews”: Michael Karpin, The Bomb in the Basement: How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means for the World (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), p. 243.
“Most, if not”: Remarks of the President to the 125th Anniversary Meeting of B’nai B’rith, Sept. 10, 1968, Box 37, Office Files of White House Aides, Office Files of Harry McPherson, Jr., LBJL.
The nation’s six million: Alan L. Otten, “Politics and People: The Jewish Vote,” Wall Street Journal, June 7, 1967, p. 16; David S. Broder, “Pressure Mounts for U.S. to Assert Pro-Israel Stand,” Washington Post, June 7, 1967, p. A10; William V. Shannon, “U.S. Politics and the Middle East Crisis,” New York Times, June 12, 1967, p. 44.
Johnson surrounded: Douglas Little, “The Making of a Special Relationship: The United States and Israel, 1957–68,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 25, no. 4 (Nov. 1993), p. 573; Steven L. Spiegel, The Other Arab-Israeli Conflict: Making America’s Middle East Policy, from Truman to Reagan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), pp. 128–29; Michael B. Oren, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 111–12.
“it might mean”: McGeorge Bundy oral history interview with Paige E. Mulhollan, Jan. 30, 1969, LBJL.
United Artists: Tom Segev, 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year That Transformed the Middle East, trans. Jessica Cohen (New York: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt, 2007), pp. 116–18.
“No one who has”: Peter L. Hahn, “An Ominous Moment: Lyndon Johnson and the Six Day War,” in Looking Back at LBJ: White House Politics in a New Light, ed. Mitchell B. Lerner (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005), p. 80.
“Perhaps the best”: “US Help for Israel, 1964–1966,” Nov. 2, 1966, Box 140, National Security File, Country File, Israel, LBJL.
“You don’t have”: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, “Intergroup Relations and Tensions in the United States,” The American Jewish Yearbook 1967, vol. 68, ed. Morris Fine and Milton Himmelfarb (New York and Philadelphia: American Jewish Committee and Jewish Publication Society of America, 1967), p. 80.
viewed Vietnam and Israel: “Jewish War Plea Vexes President,” New York Times, Sept. 11, 1966, p. 4.
“Viet Nam is a serious”: “1968—American Jewry and Israel,” undated, Box 141, National Security File, Country File, Israel, LBJL.
The State Department processed: Dixon Donnelley memo to Dean Rusk, June 2, 1967, Box 193, White House Central Files, National Security–Defense, LBJL.
An estimated 125,000: Maurice Carroll, “Supporters of Israel March Here as the Police Turn Away Arab Group,” New York Times, May 29, 1967, p. 1.
The president had: Lyndon Baines Johnson, The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963–1969 (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1971), pp. 293–97.
Its military: Terence Smith, “Reserve Call-Up Costly to Israel,” New York Times, May 29, 1967, p. 4; Terence Smith, “Israelis in Jerusalem, Often Divided, Unite Calmly to Prepare to Defend City,” New York Times, June 5, 1967, p. 3; “Trenches Cross City Squares,” New York Times, June 3, 1967, p. 9; Michael Bar-Zohar, Embassies in Crisis: Diplomats and Demagogues Behind the Six-Day War, trans. Monroe Stearns (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970), pp. 147–48.
The president diverted: Witkin, “Johnson, in City, Vows to Maintain Peace in Mideast,” p. 1.
Abe Feinberg whispered: Miller, Lyndon, p. 480.
He tried to relax: Lyndon Johnson Daily Diary, June 4, 1967.
The call came at 4:
30 A.M.: Johnson, A White House Diary, p. 520; Hugh Sidey, “The Presidency: Over the Hot Line—the Middle East,” Life, June 16, 1967, p. 24.
At the National Security Agency’s: David Kahn, The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing (New York: Macmillan, 1967), pp. 672–88.
The spy ship: Liberty Deck Log, June 5, 1967.
America had faced: Michael Dobbs, One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War (New York: Knopf, 2008), pp. 184–87.
Richard Harvey and Eugene Scheck: Richard Harvey oral history interview with W. M. Gerhard, H. Millington, and R. D. Farley, July 16, 1980, www.nsa.gov; Eugene Scheck oral history interview with Robert D. Farley and Henry Millington, Aug. 11, 1980, www.nsa.gov; John A. Connell oral history interview with Henry Millington and Bob Farley, Sept. 15, 1980, www.nsa.gov; USS Liberty Chronology of Events, June 8, 1967, www.nsa.gov; Merriwell Vineyard interview with author, Nov. 26, 2007.
Before the Liberty: CINCUSNAVEUR msg. 271052Z, May 1967, Report of the JCS Fact Finding Team, USS Liberty Incident, June 8, 1967.
Concerns increased: CINCUSNAVEUR msg. 051352Z, June 1967, Report of the JCS Fact Finding Team, USS Liberty Incident, June 8, 1967.
“unpredictability”: COMSIXTHFLT msg. 062349Z, June 1967, Report of the JCS Fact Finding Team, USS Liberty Incident, June 8, 1967. Military and government telegrams often were written in all caps and lacked proper punctuation. For the readers ease, I have converted such communications into regular sentence use and added some punctuation.
“I don’t know why”: J. H. King, Jr., Memorandum for the Record, June 9, 1967, Box 111, Liberty Briefing Book, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.
“I wouldn’t even let”: Ibid.
“several hundred miles”: William D. Gerhard and Henry W. Millington, Attack on a Sigint Collector, the U.S.S. Liberty, National Security Agency/Central Security Service, 1981, p. 21.
A senior officer: CINCUSNAVEUR msg. 081903Z, June 1967, Box 111, Liberty Briefing Book, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.
“Time is getting”: Report of the JCS Fact Finding Team, USS Liberty Incident, June 8, 1967. For additional information, see House Committee on Armed Services, Review of Department of Defense Worldwide Communications Phase I: Report of the Armed Services Investigating Subcommittee, 92nd Cong., 1st sess., May 10, 1971 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971).
“Looks to me”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 3
While we are not: Walter G. Deeley memo to Louis Tordella, June 14, 1967, www.nsa.gov.
Ensign John Scott assumed: John Scott interviews with author, March 31, 2007, April 1, 2007, and July 29, 2008.
“All this the armed forces”: “Aqaba Gulf Open,” New York Times, June 8, 1967, p. 1.
The night before: James G. O’Connor oral history interview with Bill Gerhard, Henry Millington, Hank Schorreck, and Bob Farley, May 22, 1980, www.nsa.gov.
High above the Liberty: Israel Defense Forces History Department, “The Attack on the ‘Liberty’ Incident, 8 June, 1967,” June 1982. pp. 6–8, IDF Archives; Attack on the Liberty, directed by Rex Bloomstein, Thames Television, 1987.
“It was a gray color”: Attack on the Liberty.
“It made 3 runs”: Dale Larkins’s journal.
“You’re clairvoyant”: John Scott interview with author, March 31, 2007; Scott also described his observations in his testimony before the court of inquiry.
“Maximum effort must”: William McGonagle memo to all OOD/ JOOD/CIC Personnel, June 5, 1967, Liberty court of inquiry.
“primary function”: Liberty Gunnery Doctrine, Liberty court of inquiry.
“Self defense capability”: USS LIBERTY msg. 062036Z, June 1967, Report of the JCS Fact Finding Team, USS Liberty Incident, June 8, 1967.
“With all the excitement”: Dave Lucas letter to Paula Lucas, June 6, 1967.
The corpsmen began sick call: Richard Kiepfer interview with author, Jan. 11, 2007.
Crews prepared: Dave Lucas’s journal.
Down in the engine room: Liberty Engineering Log, June 8, 1967, Liberty court of inquiry.
A faulty steam-line gasket: William McGonagle and George Golden testimony, Liberty court of inquiry.
Research operators: Robert L. Wilson oral history interview with Robert D. Farley, Henry F. Schorreck, and Henry Millington, May 6, 1980, www.nsa.gov.
A single jet: Carl F. Salans, “Report of Attack on U.S.S. Liberty,” July 28, 1967, Box 1798, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 ARAB-ISR, NARA; Liberty court of inquiry.
“Where’s our buddy?”: Charles Cocnavitch interview with author, Dec. 10, 2007.
“Would it affect”: Dave Lewis interview with author, April 10, 2007; Dave Lewis e-mails to author, July 31, 2008, and Aug. 1, 2008.
The naval observer: Israel Defense Forces History Department, “The Attack on the ‘Liberty’ Incident,” pp. 7–8.
The forty-one-year-old skipper: William McGonagle interview with Tim Frank, Sept. 27, 1997.
The Liberty had changed: Liberty Deck Log, June 8, 1967.
“current situation”: USS LIBERTY msg. 080856Z, June 1967, Report of the JCS Fact Finding Team, USS Liberty Incident, June 8, 1967; Dave Lewis e-mail to author, Aug. 5, 2008.
At the start of the drill: William McGonagle testimony, Liberty court of inquiry; Liberty Deck Log, June 8, 1967.
Dale Larkins: Dale Larkins interview with author, Sept. 10, 2007.
Bryce Lockwood: Bryce Lockwood interview with author, April 4, 2007; Bryce Lockwood e-mail to author, Aug. 5, 2008.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Dennis Eikleberry: Dennis Eikleberry interview with author, March 22, 2007.
Ensign Scott: John Scott interview with author, March 31, 2007.
Ensign Dave Lucas: Dave Lucas interview with author, April 25, 2007.
Dr. Richard Kiepfer: Richard Kiepfer interview with author, Jan. 11, 2007.
McGonagle remained: William McGonagle and Lloyd Painter testimonies, Liberty court of inquiry.
Ensign Patrick O’Malley: Patrick O’Malley interview with author, Nov. 26, 2007.
“We’ve got three”: Lloyd Painter interview with author, March 1, 2007.
“You’d better call”: Lloyd Painter testimony, Liberty court of inquiry.
Painter watched: Ibid.; Lloyd Painter interview with author, March 1, 2007; Lloyd Painter e-mails to author, Aug. 5, 2008; Rick Aimetti interview with author, Dec. 20, 2007.
The fighters zeroed: Lloyd Painter and Patrick O’Malley testimony, Liberty court of inquiry; Patrick O’Malley interview with author, Nov. 26, 2007. Some Israeli sources have disputed the use of rockets during the air attack, stating that the shell holes resulted from 30-mm cannons. Numerous Liberty survivors, including William McGonagle, testified before the court of inquiry and in subsequent interviews of Israel’s use of rockets. The finding’s of the Navy’s court of inquiry also described rocket attacks, including the following statement: “Two or more jet aircraft at a time conducted strafing, rocket and incendiary attacks.”
Ennes, who had climbed: Jim Ennes, Jr., e-mails to author, Aug. 22–23, 2008; James M. Ennes, Jr., Assault on the Liberty: The True Story of the Israeli Attack on an American Intelligence Ship (New York: Random House, 1979), pp. 61–62.
The skipper: Patrick O’Malley interview with author, Nov. 26, 2007; Patrick O’Malley testimony, Liberty court of inquiry.
One sailor: Larry Weaver e-mails to author, Aug. 7, 2008.
McGonagle grabbed: William McGonagle testimony, Liberty court of inquiry.
Below the bridge: Ibid.; Patrick O’Malley interview with author, Nov. 26, 2007; William McGonagle letter to Weetie Armstrong, June 13, 1967, Box 3, William Loren McGonagle Papers, 1947–99, HIA.
O’Connor lay: James G. O’Connor oral history interview with Bill Gerhard, Henry Millington, Hank Schorreck, and Bob Farley, May 22, 1980, www.nsa.gov; Sandy O’Connor Jackson interview with author, Nov. 30, 2007; Sandy O�
��Connor Jackson e-mails to author, Aug. 11, 2008; Patrick O’Malley interview with author, Nov. 26, 2007.
Lieutenant Stephen Toth: Patrick O’Malley interview with author, Nov. 26, 2007; Josie Toth Linen interview with author, Aug. 6, 2008.
CHAPTER 4
Primary cause of death: Richard Kiepfer testimony, Liberty court of inquiry.
Ensign John Scott strode: John Scott interviews with author, March 31, 2007, April 1, 2007, and Aug. 7, 2008.
Down in the engine room: Richard Brooks interviews with author, Nov. 14, 2007, and Aug. 8, 2008; Gary Brummett interviews with author, June 26, 2007, and Aug. 11, 2008.
Petty Officer Eikleberry: Dennis Eikleberry interview with author, March 22, 2007.
Other instructors: Joe Lentini e-mail to author, Oct. 10, 2008.
Dave Lewis: Dave Lewis interview with author, April 10, 2007; Dave Lewis e-mails to author, Aug. 10–11, 2008.
Bryce Lockwood: Bryce Lockwood interview with author, April 4, 2007.
Petty Officer 1st Class Jeff Carpenter: Jeff Carpenter interview with author, Feb. 5, 2008; Jeff Carpenter e-mail to author, Aug. 28, 2008.
“No Arab”: Joe Lentini interview with author, April 6, 2007.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Terry McFarland: Terry L. McFarland oral history interview with William Gerhard, Henry Schorreck, and R. D. Farley, June 23, 1980, www.nsa.gov.
Petty Officer 1st Class Joe Lentini: Joe Lentini interview with author, April 6, 2007; Joe Lentini e-mail to author, Aug. 22, 2008.
Shrapnel had broken: Reginald Addington interview with author, Aug. 20, 2008.
“Somebody’s up there”: Ibid.; William D. Gerhard and Henry W. Millington, Attack on a Sigint Collector, the U.S.S. Liberty, National Security Agency/Central Security Service, 1981, p. 27.
Dave Lewis found: Dave Lewis interview with author, April 10, 2007.
Another young sailor: Bryce Lockwood interview with author, April 4, 2007; Bryce Lockwood e-mail to author, Aug. 17, 2008.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Ronnie Campbell: Bryce Lockwood interviews with author, April 4, 2007, and Aug. 28, 2008; Mike Allen e-mail to author, Aug. 28, 2008.
Dr. Richard Kiepfer arrived: Richard Kiepfer testimony, Liberty court of inquiry; Richard Kiepfer interviews with author, Jan. 11, 2007, Jan. 27, 2008, Aug. 13, 2008, and Aug. 16, 2008; Thomas Van Cleave interviews with author, May 18, 2007, and Aug. 29, 2008; Sam Schulman interviews with author, May 17, 2007, and Aug. 13, 2008; Frank Spicher interview with author, Jan. 27, 2008; Rick Aimetti interview with author, Dec. 20, 2007; George Wilson interview with author, Feb. 1, 2008; William McGonagle letter to Linda L. Spicher, June 18, 1967, Box 3, William Loren McGonagle Papers, 1947–99, HIA; Larry Weaver e-mail to author, Aug. 7, 2008.