The humble title of Seymour Hersh’s memoir is somewhat at odds with the tone of the book. He says the celebrated New York Times Vietnam War correspondent David Halberstam once wrote to him saying: ‘You are, my friend, a national treasure. Bless you.’
Another New York Times star, Harrison Salisbury, is quoted in reference to the Watergate scandal:
It was as though Sy Hersh had been born for this moment. At long last the great investigative story and the great investigative reporter had been linked.
To be fair, Hersh has much to be immodest about. He is best known for exposing what happened in the village of My Lai, Vietnam, where First Lieutenant William L. Calley Jnr was accused by the US army of directing the killing of 109 ‘oriental’ men, women and children. ‘Did the army mean to suggest that one oriental life was somehow worth less than that of a white American?’ Hersh asks.
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