In the second-to-last paragraph of your excellent piece on the New York Times' non-apology regarding ruining Wen Ho Lee, you noted that, among other things, we need to find out more about Jeff Gerth and his connections to right-wing forces out to destroy the Clintons.
You have hit the nail on the head.
Gene Lyons, in Fools for Scandal, states that Gerth is a friend of longtime Arkansas Clinton foe (and evil being) Sheffield Nelson. Susan McDougal has seconded Lyons' statement, and has elaborated on it at length in interviews and while in court defending herself against Kenneth W. Starr.
I suggest that you get hold of both Mr. Lyons and Ms. McDougal for further information.
WP
29 September 2000
I want to express my support for your coverage of the New York Times. The Times is a “news source” that should be relegated to the ranks of the tabloid journals found at the checkout counter of the supermarket. Let's not forget its coverage of the NATO attack on Yugoslavia.
LR
29 September 2000
Many thanks for your defense of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and by implication, their co-defendant, Morton Sobell, whose case was, in the words of Julius Rosenberg, an attempt to make Jew, Communist and traitor synonymous. It was an attempt to create support for the anticommunist Korean War. As you know, I wrote a news report in 1990, which you printed, on the Rosenberg Art Show's appearance in San Francisco. Many thanks for printing that article; it meant a great deal to see that in print.
In reading the story on the Chinese-American nuclear scientist, Wen Ho Lee, I was appalled the US government actually used the threat of the murder by the American government of the Rosenbergs against Wen Ho Lee, telling him he would suffer the same murder if he did not cooperate. Fortunately for him, not only are the times different, but he is not at all progressive. He learned about this racist society from his case; the Rosenbergs understood the anti-Semitic nature, as well as anti-working class and anticommunist nature, of this country and system very well. Every bit of “evidence” in the case, from the Jello box tops to the non-passport photos, and much more, clearly demonstrated a frame-up, and of course, there was no nuclear secret. It might interest you to know that in Bill Mandel's autobiography, Saying No to Power, there is a description of the funeral for the Rosenbergs, in which Bill and his family participated. Regardless of what you may think about Bill Mandel (unlike him, I firmly believe in the fight for socialism), the book is an excellent historical record and well worth reading.
LH
23 September 2000