WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR: The New York Times and Our Times

by Harrison E. Salisbury ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 28, 1980

Not much humility either. But tucked inside Salisbury's valentine to his old employer the New York Times--merely ""the leading newspaper in the world""--are three great stories, l) The Times and the Pentagon Papers--a metaphor, as Salisbury sees it, for the Times' transition from faithful scribe to full partner with government. 2) The power struggle inside the Times--a sequel, in effect, to Gay Talese's 1969 The Kingdom and the Power 3) The Times and the CIA; or, guilty as charged? Any one of these could have made a book--a trimmer, more focused, theoretically better book. Actually? Actually, the first, is virtually a book as it stands--a reconstruction in-depth of how young Times reporter Neil Sheehan, ""so Irish it was hard to believe,"" and young political analyst Daniel Ellsberg, ""very much a man of the system,"" both gave up on the Vietnam War because of ""the lies"" and became convinced that publishing the Pentagon Papers, letting the lies out, would set up a clamor for the war's end. Henry Kissinger--alone--thought likewise; and it was his violent reaction to the leaks that touched off the complex chain of events--the court challenge to the Papers' publication, the White House ""dirty tricks""--that led to Watergate and Nixon's downfall. Salisbury documents these developments from personal witness at the Times, from myriad interviews (sometimes tellingly in conflict), and, most stunningly, from Ehrlichman's notes. Then come two important subplots: as a prelude to the Times' Supreme Court victory (viewed here as the green light to Woodstein and the Washington Post), the Times' successful defense in the Birmingham libel cases (it was Salisbury who wrote the offending reports); as a prelude to Halberstam, Sheehan, et al. in Vietnam (and afterward), the Times' coverage of the civil rights movement. Meanwhile, threads of Times history have been surfacing; now, these come together--somewhat stagily--around the volatile person of executive editor Abe Rosenthal, his transformation of the paper and his unhappiness with the Washington bureau (why did the Times lag on Watergate?). Finally, because Carl Bernstein charged, in Rolling Stone, that Arthur Hays Sulzberger had had ""an understanding"" with the CIA, that his nephew Cyrus Sulzberger had actively aided the Agency, Salisbury scrutinizes the Times' foreign (and domestic ""subversive"") reportage from Bolshevik Russia to Abenz' Guatemala to the Bay of Pigs. . . and Sy Hersh's unmasking of the domestic operations of the CIA (without, however, being able to absolutely disprove Bernstein's allegations). En masse, this is not unlike ""The New New York Times""--a little something for everyone, lots to chew on, and a bargain at the price.

Pub Date: May 28, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Times Books

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION