The Attack on the Liberty

by James Scott

  “probably the best Defense Secretary ever”: “Stormy Days for the Navy,” Time, Nov. 15, 1963, p. 37.

  “I have more influence”: Herbert E. Hetu oral history interview with Paul Stillwell, June 5, 1996, U.S. Naval Institute.

  “Was there any”: David L. McDonald’s Comments/Recommended Changes on Liberty Press Release, June 22, 1967, Box 112, Liberty Press Releases, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.

  “I think that much”: Ibid.

  “Unfortunately, although Mr. Fryklund”: Mayo A. Hadden, Jr., memo to Jerome H. King, Jr., June 22, 1967, ibid.

  “suggested deletions”: Horacio Rivero, Jr.,’s Recommended Changes on Liberty Release, ibid.

  “I see no reason”: David L. McDonald’s Comments/Recommended Changes on Liberty Press Release—1300, June 23 version, ibid.

  “We have no business”: Isaac C. Kidd, Jr., memo to David L. McDonald, June 21, 1967, Box 111, Liberty Briefing Book, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.

  “I still do not agree”: David L. McDonald’s Comments/Recommended Changes on Liberty Press Release—1300, June 23 version, Box 112, Liberty Press Releases, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.

  “It certainly was not”: Jerome King, Jr., interview with author, Feb. 6, 2008.

  “One of their big”: Orr Kelly, “Report on Israel Ship Attack a Touchy Task for Pentagon,” Evening Star, June 25, 1967, p. A4.

  “You had fine comments”: Jerome H. King, Jr., memo to David L. McDonald, June 26, 1967, Box 112, Liberty Press Releases, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.

  Major news outlets: Neil Sheehan, “Order Didn’t Get to U.S.S. Liberty,” New York Times, June 29, 1967, p. 1; Fred Farrar, “Delay in Navy Message Bared in Israeli Attack on U.S. Ship,” Chicago Tribune, June 29, 1967, p. 1; “Liberty Move Order Delayed,” Dallas Morning News, June 29, 1967, p. 1.

  “ironic twist”: George C. Wilson, “The Liberty Got Order Too Late,” Washington Post, June 29, 1967, p. 1.

  In follow-up articles: “Firing Accident Thought Cause of 1 Raid on Ship,” Virginian-Pilot, June 30, 1967, p. 1; Charles W. Corddry, “Ghost Gun Bared in Liberty Probe,” Baltimore Sun, June 30, 1967, p. A1; “U.S. Ship Fired on Israelis Before PT Boats Attacked,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 30, 1967, p. 4.

  “had ample opportunity”: “Israelis Dispute Finding That Liberty Flew Flag,” Evening Star, June 29, 1967, p. 1.

  “insufficient information”: Fred Farrar, “Delay in Navy Message Bared,” p. 1.

  “far fetched”: Dave Lucas letter to Paula Lucas, July 6, 1967.

  The Washington Daily News: “The USS Liberty Report,” editorial, Washington Daily News, June 30, 1967, p. 30.

  “not good enough”: “Not Good Enough,” editorial, Washington Post, June 30, 1967, p. A22.

  “fragmentary answers”: “Inquest for Liberty,” Time, July 7, 1967, p. 15.

  “more fog”: “Missed Signals Again,” editorial, Chicago Tribune, June 30, 1967, p. 14.

  “affront”: “Pentagon Cover-Up,” editorial, Evening Star, June 30, 1967, p. A14.

  “One thing at least”: “U.S.S. Liberty,” editorial, National Review, June 27, 1967, p. 673.

  “The apologists”: “Observations,” editorial, National Observer, July 3, 1967, p. 10.

  “Did the attackers”: “Pentagon Cover-Up,” Evening Star, p. A14.

  “The prompt transmittal”: “Not Good Enough,” Washington Post, p. A22.

  “shades of Pearl Harbor”: “Missed Signals Again,” Chicago Tribune, p. 14.

  “keep digging”: James J. Kilpatrick, “Heroism Aboard the USS Liberty,” Hartford Courant, Aug. 1, 1967, p. 16.

  “have become wary”: “The U.S.S. Liberty,” editorial, Baltimore Sun, July 3, 1967, p. A8.

  “Still unknown”: “Attack on USS Liberty,” editorial, Edwardsville Intelligencer, July 7, 1967, p. 10.

  CHAPTER 17

  I have mixed emotions: Dave Lucas letter to Paula Lucas, June 22, 1967.

  Hosmer had enlisted: “Craig Hosmer Dies; Ex-House Member,” New York Times, Oct. 14, 1982, p. D23; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005), pp. 1279–80.

  “I do not believe”: Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 1st sess., June 29, 1967, p. 17893.

  Like his colleague: Thomas G. Abernethy letter to Jim Ennes, Jr., Jan. 26, 1980, Box 159, Thomas G. Abernethy Collection, J. D. Williams Library, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.

  “This useless”: Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 1st sess., June 29, 1967, pp. 17894–95.

  More than sixty: Mayo A. Hadden, Jr., memo to Charles F. Baird, July 20, 1967, Box 112, Liberty Press Releases, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.

  “The attack on the Liberty”: Dixon Donnelley memo to Dean Rusk, June 23, 1967, Box 17, RG 59, Office of the Executive Secretariat, Middle East Crisis Files, 1967, NARA.

  Diplomats at the Israeli embassy: Dan Patir telegram 369 to the Foreign Ministry, June 23, 1967, 4079/HZ-26, ISA.

  “This announcement”: Ibid.

  “Our main goal”: Avraham Harman telegram 155 to the Foreign Ministry, June 28, 1967, ibid.

  “Do you”: Yitzhak Rabin telegram 158 to Avraham Harman, June 29, 1967, ibid.

  News reports: “Israelis Dispute Finding That Liberty Flew Flag,” Evening Star, June 29, 1967, p. 1; “Israel Says It Tried in Vain to Identify the Liberty,” Washington Post, June 30, 1967, p. A17; “Israelis Say Signal by Liberty Caused Mistake in Identity,” New York Times, June 30, 1967, p. 2.

  “Nothing intelligible”: Jerome H. King, Jr., Memorandum for the Record, July 6, 1967, Box 111, Liberty Briefing Book, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.

  “I am convinced”: NAVCOMMUNIT NAPLES msg. 061222Z, July 1967, ibid.

  “About 2,000 yards”: Micha Limor, “Israeli Navy Man Describes Attack on the Liberty,” New York Times, July 7, 1967, p. 3. In an interview in Israel with this author on Oct. 14, 2007, Micha Limor defended his account of the attack. He said no one ordered him to write the article, but that he volunteered. He said the story was reviewed by Israeli censors prior to publication.

  “wild imagination”: Dave Lucas letter to Paula Lucas, July 6, 1967.

  The Pentagon ended: CINCUSNAVEUR msg. 301401Z, June 1967, Liberty Incident Message File, NHC.

  “Interviews and statements”: Liberty Plan of the Day, July 22, 1967; Liberty Plan of the Day, June 30, 1967.

  Maltese workers flooded: Liberty Plan of the Day, July 14, 1967; Dave Lucas’s journal.

  “After getting to Norfolk”: Dave Lucas letter to parents, July 5, 1967.

  After a month: Dave Lucas letters to Paula Lucas, July 13–14, 1967; Dave Lucas’s journal.

  “Everybody on board”: John Scott letter to parents, July 14, 1967.

  “USS Liberty has become”: Liberty Plan of the Day, July 14, 1967.

  An early morning fire: Dave Lucas letter to Paula Lucas, July 9, 1967.

  “The new XO”: Dave Lucas letter to Paula Lucas, July 5, 1967.

  The task of sorting: Dave Lucas’s journal; John Scott interview with author, June 10, 2008.

  “Suggest that failure”: CINCUSNAVEUR msg. 141737Z, June 1967, Liberty Incident Message File, NHC.

  “A favorable determination”: CINCUSNAVEUR msg. 191610Z, June 1967, Box 113, Personal Actions, Casualties, Awards, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.

  the Pentagon compromised: CNO msg. 211634Z, July 1967, Liberty Incident Message File, NHC.

  “This was a dastardly deed”: William F. Allenbaugh letter to Lyndon Johnson, July 8, 1967, Box 1798, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 ARAB-ISR, NARA.

  “You lost your XO”: Liberty Plan of the Day, June 30, 1967.

  CHAPTER 18

  Almost as shocking: �
��Let’s Have All the Facts,” editorial, Shreveport Times. June 18, 1967, p. 2B.

  His support for Israel: Clifford, Counsel to the President, pp. 3–25; Douglas Frantz and David McKean, Friends in High Places: The Rise and Fall of Clark Clifford (Boston: Little, Brown, 1995), p. 16; Marilyn Berger, “Clark Clifford, a Major Adviser to Four Presidents, Is Dead at 91,” New York Times, Oct. 11, 1998, p. 1.

  “Because of this limitation”: Clifford, Counsel to the President, p. 446.

  Clifford submitted: Clark Clifford memo to Walt Rostow, July 18, 1967, Box 115, National Security File, Country File, Middle East, LBJL.

  “brief but definitive analysis”: Walt Rostow memo to Lyndon Johnson, July 18, 1967, ibid.

  first Washington attorney: Berger, “Clark Clifford, a Major Adviser to Four Presidents, Is Dead at 91,” p. 1.

  “an accident of this magnitude”: George Christian letter to Jim Ennes, Jr., Jan. 5, 1978.

  “heartbreaking episode”: Johnson, The Vantage Point, pp. 300–1, 304.

  “adequate restitution”: Clifford, Counsel to the President, p. 447.

  McNamara had flown: McNamara, In Retrospect, p. 283.

  “There is a limit”: Clifford, Counsel to the President, p. 447.

  Newsweek noted: “A Nation at Odds,” Newsweek, July 10, 1967, pp. 16–17.

  “one of the most stressful”: McNamara, In Retrospect, p. 284.

  “political disaster”: Ibid.

  “took place under”: Bourke Hickenlooper letter to Dean Rusk, June 16, 1967, Box 1799, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 ARAB-ISR, NARA.

  “We have never gotten”: Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Foreign Assistance Act of 1967: Hearings Before the Committee on Foreign Relations on S. 1872, 90th Cong., 1st sess., July 26, 1967 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967), pp 266–70. McNamara’s insistence before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the attack was an accident differed from comments made to this author on April 25, 2007. In that conversation, McNamara said he never understood why the Israelis attacked. “I was uncertain at the time what happened. I haven’t seen anything since that adds certainty,” he said. “My basic belief is nobody knows what in the hell happened or why.”

  “I found it hard”: Paul C. Warnke oral history interview with Dorothy Pierce, Jan. 17, 1969, LBJL.

  “genuine outrage”: Dean Rusk letter to Jim Ennes, Jr., Sept. 10, 1981.

  “Secretary’s comments to Brosio”: AMEMBASSY PARIS msg. 171602Z, June 1967, Box 1796, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 ARAB-ISR, NARA.

  He read the opening: Executive Sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Together with Joint Sessions with the Senate Armed Services Committee, vol. 19, 90th Cong., 1st sess., June 28, 1967 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2006), pp. 754–56.

  “I might just say”: Executive Sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Together with Joint Sessions with the Senate Armed Services Committee, vol. 19, 90th Cong., 1st sess., July 11, 1967 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2006), pp. 823–24.

  “We have now had”: Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Foreign Assistance Act of 1967: Hearings Before the Committee on Foreign Relations on S. 1872, 90th Cong., 1st sess., July 14, 1967 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967), pp. 233–34.

  Commander McGonagle: Details of the Liberty’s arrival are drawn from the following sources: Dave Lucas’s journal; “‘Liberty’ to Dock Saturday.” Virginian-Pilot, July 28, 1967, p. 29; Clifford Hubbard, “‘Liberty’ Brings in Memories,” Virginian-Pilot, July 30, 1967, p. 1.

  “A diverse background”: Unsigned memo, June 21, 1967, attached to William McGonagle’s April 25, 1966, Officer Biography Sheet, Box 111, Liberty Briefing Book, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.

  The only remnants: DIRNAVSECGRU msg. 191326Z, June 1967, www.nsa.gov.

  “He swam through”: Patrick O’Malley interview with author, Nov. 26, 2007.

  “Not much was said”: Lloyd Painter e-mail to author, June 8, 2008.

  “The arrival here today”: “Welcome, Liberty,” editorial, Virginian-Pilot, July 29, 1967, p. 8.

  The day before the Liberty’s arrival: Liberty Plan of the Day, July 28, 1967.

  “unprovoked and unexpected”: Hubbard, “‘Liberty’ Brings in Memories,” p. 1.

  A team of National Security Agency: USS Liberty msg. 021630Z, August 1967, www.nsa.gov.

  The bags: This scene is drawn from John McTighe interview with author, Nov. 19, 2007; Benjamin Cwalina interview with author, Dec. 3, 2007; Benjamin Cwalina oral history interview with Bob Farley, May 9, 1980, www.nsa.gov.

  “I remember thinking”: Lloyd Painter e-mails to author, June 8, 2008.

  “I made clear”: Ephraim Evron telegram 106 to the Foreign Ministry, Aug. 14, 1967, 4079/HZ-26, ISA.

  The Israeli prosecutor: Preliminary Inquiry Decision, 4079/HZ-27, ISA.

  Like Ron: Cristol, The Liberty Incident, p. 167.

  Yerushalmi ruled: Yitzhak Rahav, the second in command of Israel’s navy in 1967, resigned soon after the attack. An American military attaché in Israel reported his resignation in a memo dated Aug. 22, 1967, speculating that it had to do with the Liberty. Shlomo Erell, the head of the Israeli Navy in 1967, told this author in an Oct. 9, 2007, interview that he demanded Rahav resign: “I actually fired him, but not in a formal way,” Erell said, adding that he told Rehav: “You made a hell of a blunder and you cannot stay.” Rahav refuted that account in an interview with this author on Oct. 12, 2007. He said he resigned over Erell’s incompetence in managing the Navy, not the Liberty.

  “It seems likely”: Lucius Battle draft memo to Nicholas Katzenbach, Aug. 18, 1967, in Schwar, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, pp. 796–800.

  “A one-word summation”: Mayo A. Hadden, Jr., memo to Op-06, Aug. 22, 1967, Box 112, Liberty Press Releases, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC.

  “A nice whitewash”: Louis Tordella handwritten note, Aug. 26, 1967.

  “confirms that there was”: Nicholas Katzenbach interview with author, April 19, 2007.

  “My anger and frustration”: Horacio Rivero, Jr., Q&A with Joseph F. Bouchard, March 10, 1988.

  “Examining judge laid out”: Dean Rusk telegram to the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, Aug. 31, 1967, Box 1800, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 ARAB-ISR, NARA.

  His five-page report: Carl Salans memo to Nicholas Katzenbach, Sept. 21, 1967.

  “There were a lot of discrepancies”: Carl Salans interview with author, March 6, 2007.

  “The Israeli and U. S. Navy accounts”: Leonard Meeker e-mail to author, April 4, 2008.

  “How in the name”: Goulding, Confirm or Deny, pp. 133–34.

  CHAPTER 19

  The average American taxpayer: H. H. Stackhouse letter to J. Owen Zurhellen, Jr., Sept. 9, 1971.

  A single casket: “Military Honors,” Washington Post. Aug. 22, 1967, p. A8.

  five sailors and one Marine: Mayo A. Hadden, Jr., Memorandum for the Record, Aug. 21, 1967, Box 111, Liberty Briefing Book, Immediate Office Files of the CNO, Operational Archives Branch, NHC; Unclassified Naval Security Group File, U.S.S. Liberty, Post 1 Jan 1946, Command File, Operation Archives Branch, NHC.

  “DIED IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN”: In 1982, following requests from Liberty veterans, the government changed the headstone to read: “KILLED USS LIBERTY.”

  Race riots: “As Rioting Spread…The Search for Answers,” U.S. News & World Report, Aug. 14, 1967, p. 26.

  “guerrilla war”: “Looting, Burning—Now Guerilla War,” U.S. News & World Report, Aug. 7, 1967, p. 23.

  “Battlefield, U.S.A.”: Newsweek, Aug. 7, 1967, cover photo and headline.

  August 13 poll: Gallup, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1935–1971, vol. 3, 1959–1971, pp. 2075, 2062.

  lowest approval rating: “War…Riots…Crime…Taxes: Why Democrats Worry About �
��68,” U.S. News & World Report, Aug. 21, 1967, p. 46.

  A poll released a week later: Gallup, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1935–1971, vol. 3, 1959–71, p. 2076.

  president confided: Johnson, A White House Diary, pp. 565–67.

  McNamara, who became: McNamara, In Retrospect, p. 311.

  “I have seldom felt”: Johnson, A White House Diary, p. 593.

  “satisfied that the strafing”: “The U.S.S. Liberty—Tragedy of Errors,” Newsweek, Aug. 28, 1967, p. 14.

  “An Israeli court”: “The Liberty Incident—An Israeli View,” Newsweek, Sept. 4, 1967, p. 11.

  Newsweek printed a follow-up: “Why Israel Attacked the Liberty,” Newsweek, May 6, 1968, p. 23.

  “Why didn’t the Israelis”: “When U.S. Ship Was Victim of a ‘Shoot First’ Policy,” U.S. News & World Report, May 13, 1968, p. 12.

  a preliminary Navy analysis: NAVSCIENTECHINTELCEN msg. 281548Z, June 1967, www.libertyincident.com.

  “Is this Government”: Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 1st sess., Aug. 22, 1967, p. 23606.

  “The more the case is studied”: Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 1st sess., Sept. 19, 1967, pp. 26082, 26088.

  “Inasmuch as American”: Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 1st sess., Oct. 18, 1967, p. 29370.

  “The U.S.S. Liberty incident”: Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 1st sess., Oct. 20, 1967, p. A5167.

  “Does the gentleman”: Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 1st sess., Nov. 16, 1967, p. 32885.

  “provides full”: Congressional Record, 90th Cong., 1st sess., Nov. 17, 1967, pp. 32968–69.

  At 10:30 A.M.: Memorandum of conversation about U.S.S. Liberty claims, March 25, 1968.

  “incarnated the narrative”: Segev, 1967, p. 262.

  “view of the substantial”: Dean Rusk airgram to the American Embassy in Tel Aviv with attached draft note for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dec. 19, 1967; Carl F. Salans memo to Nicholas Katzenbach, March 22, 1968.