Overview

Just four months after Richard Nixon's resignation, """"New York Times"""" reporter Seymour Hersh unearthed a new case of government abuse of power: the CIA had launched a domestic spying programme of Orwellian proportions against American dissidents during the Vietnam War. The country's best investigative journalists and members of Congress quickly mobilized to probe a scandal that seemed certain to rock the foundations of this secret government. Subsequent investigations disclosed that the CIA had plotted to kill certain foreign leaders and that the FBI had harrassed civil rights and student groups. Some called the scandal """"son of Watergate"""". Many observers predicted that the investigations would lead to far-reaching changes in the intelligence agencies. Yet, as Kathryn Olmsted shows, neither the media nor Congress pressed for reforms. For all of its post-Watergate zeal, the press hesitated to break its long tradition of deference in national security coverage. Congress, too, was unwilling to challenge the executive branch in national security matters. Reports of the demise of the executive branch were greatly exaggerated, and the result of the """"year of intelligence"""" was a return to the status quo.

Full Product Details

9780807845622

Table of Contents

Reviews

Kathryn Olmsted has provided a useful summary of the Frank Church and Otis Pike investigations. Nation Perceptive and gracefully written history. Journal of American History This important book is timely as the future of the CIA is debated in both the scholarly and government communities. Choice Olmsted successfully confronts and refutes the heroic myths surrounding post-Watergate journalism. Nation This is a fascinating study. Publishers Weekly

This important book is timely as the future of the CIA is debated in both the scholarly and government communities. Choice Olmsted successfully confronts and refutes the heroic myths surrounding post-Watergate journalism. Nation Kathryn Olmsted has provided a useful summary of the Frank Church and Otis Pike investigations. Nation Perceptive and gracefully written history. Journal of American History This is a fascinating study. Publishers Weekly

This important book is timely as the future of the CIA is debated in both the scholarly and government communities. Choice

This important book is timely as the future of the CIA is debated in both the scholarly and government communities.<p> Choice

Author Information

KATHRYN S. OLMSTED is assistant professor of history at the University of California, Davis. She is author of Challenging the Secret Government: The Post-Watergate Investigations of the CIA and FBI.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available