Nearly a year after he first reported on the Abu Ghraib prison abuse in the New Yorker, investigative journalist and author Seymour Hersh will give the 39th annual Meiklejohn lecture tonight at 7:30 in Salomon 101. Perhaps best known for exposing the My Lai massacre in 1969 and its subsequent cover-up during the Vietnam War, Hersh has garnered attention in recent years for his critical coverage of the Bush administration and Iraq war.
Though former Pentagon advisor Richard Perle has declared him the "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist," many laud Hersh's commitment to free speech. According to Associate Professor of Political Science Ross Cheit, who chairs the Meiklejohn Committee that extended the speaking invitation to Hersh last fall, his dedication to the First Amendment makes Hersh a particularly appropriate speaker.
"It's an endowed lecture about freedom under the constitution, and he's a real advocate of the free press, that's for sure," Cheit said. He added that the committee tries to attract a range of judges, lawyers and academics as Meiklejohn lecturers from year to year.
Endowed by Louis Schweitzer, the lecture honors the memory of 1893 Brown alum and Dean of the College Alexander Meiklejohn. In addition to his contribution to the University, Meiklejohn established himself as a firm advocate of free speech and constitutional freedoms through his publications and involvement in the American Civil Liberties Union.
Multiple people suggested that Hersh give the Meiklejohn lecture this year, Cheit said. A University of Chicago graduate, Hersh has not spoken at Brown before. He began his journalism career in 1959 and received the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting 11 years later after breaking the My Lai massacre story for the Associated Press. He worked in the Washington and New York bureaus of the New York Times in the 1970s and currently writes on military and security issues for the New Yorker, although he has rejoined the Times twice on special assignment.
Hersh's coverage of the Bush Administration has been controversial, notably a 2004 article on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney's circumvention of normal intelligence analysis in their justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But in May 2004, Hersh's reports on abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison, including the now-infamous pictures of the prisoners, instantly sparked widespread media coverage.
Hersh himself was not a subject of public scrutiny until he published an article later that month claiming the abuses were part of an interrogation program called "Copper Green" that was expanded to Iraq with Rumsfeld's permission.
His work in 2005 has included a January article suggesting the United States is conducting covert operations in Iran to identify possible strike targets - a claim denied by the U.S. and Iranian governments. Hersh also published a piece claiming Pakistan and the United States have a "Khan-for-Iran" deal that dictates Washington will ignore Pakistani nuclear activity and the role of its nuclear proliferator, A.Q. Khan, in exchange for Pakistan's cooperation in U.S. efforts to neutralize Iran's nuclear plans.
Despite the questions occasionally surrounding Hersh's regular work for the New Yorker - part of the magazine's "Fact" section - he has won over a dozen major journalism awards, including four George Polk Awards.
The author of eight books, he won the National Book Critics Circle Award for "The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House." Tonight he is expected to speak on his most recent book, "Chain of Command: From 9/11 to Abu Ghraib," an in-depth investigation of pivotal post-Sept. 11 events that led to the U.S. invasion of Baghdad.
Hersh's coverage of terrorism investigations included mention of Jesselyn Radack '92, a Department of Justice attorney who garnered media attention in 2003 when she leaked e-mails to Newsweek implicating the department in ethics violations. Radack quit the Justice Department in 2002 after she received an unduly poor performance report shortly following her complaints that FBI prosecutors questioned "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh without his lawyers present, thereby contradicting her professional advice. Radack, who has since met Hersh, played a central role in bringing Hersh to Brown, Cheit said, and will introduce his lecture.
Cheit anticipates Hersh's significant name recognition may draw a larger crowd than previous Meiklejohn lectures, and for that reason a larger venue was selected for the speech. Sponsored by the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, the lecture is free and open to the public. Hersh will speak for between thirty minutes and one hour, allowing time for questions following his remarks. Although the speech has been advertised as focusing on his latest book, no book signing has been arranged.
Regardless of Hersh's specific remarks, Cheit hopes his lecture will spark continued conversation and discussion in the Brown community after the event itself. "He's a beacon of investigative journalism," Cheit said.
