Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost: “An enthralling story, full of fascinating characters,intense drama, high adventure, deceitful manipulations,courageous truthtelling, and splendid moral fervor . . . A work of history that reads like a novel.” —Christian Science Monitor
“Carefully researched and vigorously told, King Leopold’s Ghost does what good history always does —expands the memory of the human race.” —Houston Chronicle
Adam Hochschild’s awardwinning, hearthaunting account of the brutal plunder of the Congo by Leopold II of Belgium presents a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a royal figure as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of Shakespeare’s great villains. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave, committed handful of idealists, missionaries, travelers, diplomats, and African villagers who found themselves witnesses to and, in too many instances, victims of a holocaust.
In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company’s ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo, Leopold II’s vast new African colony. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor on a vast scale could account for these cargoes, Morel resigned from his company and almost singlehandedly made Leopold’s slavelabor regime the premier humanrights story in the world. Thousands of people packed hundreds of meetings throughout the United States and Europe to learn about Congo atrocities. Two courageous black Americans—George Washington Williams and William Sheppard—risked much to bring evidence to the outside world. Roger Casement, later hanged by Britain as a traitor, conducted an eyeopening investigation of the Congo River stations. Sailing into the middle of the story was a young steamboat officer named Joseph Conrad. And looming over all was Leopold II, King of the Belgians, sole owner of the only private colony in the world.
King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, Adam Hochschild, 21 September 1998
The Massacre at El Mozote: A Parable of the Cold War, Mark Danner, 5 April 1994
The Massacre at El Mozote: A Parable of the Cold War, Mark Danner, 1994
Mark Danner, The Massacre at El Mozote: In December 1981 soldiers of the Salvadoran Army’s select, American-trained Atlacatl Battalion entered the village of El Mozote, where they murdered hundreds of men, women, and children, often by decapitation. Although reports of the massacre — and photographs of its victims — appeared in the United States, the Reagan administration quickly dismissed them as propaganda. In the end, El Mozote was forgotten. The war in El Salvador continued, with American funding.
When Mark Danner’s reconstruction of these events first appeared in The New Yorker, it sent shock waves through the news media and the American foreign-policy establishment. Now Danner has expanded his report into a brilliant book, adding new material as well as the actual sources. He has produced a masterpiece of scrupulous investigative journalism that is also a testament to the forgotten victims of a neglected theater of the cold war.
The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris, 1988
The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris
“The Thin Blue Line” [1988, 103 minutes] is the fascinating, controversial true story of the arrest and conviction of Randall Adams for the murder of a Dallas policeman in 1976. Billed as “the first movie mystery to actually solve a murder,” the film is credited with overturning the conviction of Randall Dale Adams for the murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood, a crime for which Adams was sentenced to death. With its use of expressionistic reenactments, interview material and music by Philip Glass, it pioneered a new kind of non-fiction filmmaking. Its style has been copied in countless reality-based television programs and feature films.
The Puzzle Palace: A Report on N.S.A., America’s Most Secret Agency, James Bamford, 1 August 1982
The Puzzle Palace: A Report on N.S.A., America’s Most Secret Agency, James Bamford, 1982
Philip Taubman’s review of The Puzzle Palace in The New York Times, 19 September 1982: FIFTY-THREE years ago [1929], in the early months of Herbert Hoover’s Administration, Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson was presented with a small batch of Japanese telegrams that had been deciphered by a highly secret American code-breaking organization known as the Black Chamber. Appalled at the invasion of another nation’s private communications, Stimson immediately cut off funding to the cryptologists with the admonition ”Gentleman do not read each other’s mail.” It was not one of the more pre-scient decisions in American history. Driven by the exigencies of World War II and then the Cold War and drawing on advances in computers and electronics, in 1952 the Government created a new version of the Black Chamber – the National Security Agency, which is the largest, most sensitive and potentially most intrusive American intelligence agency.
With acres of computers, electronic listening posts located around the world and a fleet of spy satellites circling overhead, the N.S.A. can eavesdrop on communications of friends and enemies, including American citizens. News of an invasion, an assassination or a coup overseas can be flashed from the point of interception to the President’s desk within minutes. The latest performance data from Soviet missile tests can be recorded and analyzed, providing the main means of verifying Soviet compliance with strategic arms limitation agreements. Even the radiophone conversations of top Soviet officials riding to the Kremlin in their limousines has been snatched out of the atmosphere by the N.S.A. In code breaking and making, the fundamental function of the agency, the work of the Black Chamber has long since given way to enormously complex mathematical puzzles that are the province of powerful computers. With an annual budget in excess of $2 billion and more than 60,000 employees, the N.S.A. easily eclipses other intelligence organizations in size, including the Central Intelligence Agency.
Despite its size and significance, the N.S.A. has operated in almost absolute secrecy. For years its very existence was considered secret, and the seven-page memorandum signed by President Truman in 1952 that created the agency by consolidating various Defense Department offices is still classified. James Bamford, a Massachusetts writer who has a law degree and who specializes in investigative research, rips away the secrecy with this book. There have been glimpses inside the N.S.A. before, but until now no one has published a comprehensive and detailed report on the agency. The quality and depth of Mr. Bamford’s research are remarkable. Through interviews with former N.S.A. officials, scrutiny of thousands of obscure public documents and aggressive use of the Freedom of Information Act, Mr. Bamford has emerged with everything except the combination to the director’s safe. In some sections it appears that he may even have that….
Intelligence officials have been dreading publication of this book, and they made a concerted effort to limit Mr. Bamford’s research. The Justice Department, at the insistence of the N.S.A., even took the highly unusual step of asking Mr. Bamford to return documents about the agency that Justice itself had released to him. They dealt with a 1975-76 investigation of widespread illegal monitoring of domestic communications by the N.S.A. Mr. Bamford refused to return the papers….
The catalyst for the Justice Department investigation was a series of disclosures in the 1970’s in the press and in testimony before Congressional committees about questionable N.S.A. operations. These revelations included the fact that the Nixon Administration had used the N.S.A. to monitor the activities of antiwar leaders and radicals, including the Weathermen. In one memorable case the Government abruptly dropped criminal charges in Detroit against a group of Weathermen rather than risk exposure of the N.S.A.’s involvement in monitoring their communications….
As Mr. Bamford makes clear, the N.S.A. and its predecessor agencies often operated outside the Constitution and the law by intercepting certain kinds of domestic communications. From 1919, when Black Chamber officials arranged for Western Union to violate the law by providing them copies of telegrams, to the 1960’s and early 1970’s, when the N.S.A.’s technology was used to spy on antiwar protesters, intelligence officials frequently displayed a startling insensitivity to the law….
The law has not kept up with communications technology and the technology of spying. ”Where America’s chief source of raw intelligence was the clandestine agent with his or her Minox camera,” he writes, ”today that source is the same worldwide blanket of microwave signals and rivers of satellite transmissions that gives us our telephone calls and our remote banking, telegrams, and soon, our mail.” With no compensating changes in the law to control the application of the new technology, he warns, ”Like an ever-widening sinkhole, NSA’s surveillance technology will continue to expand, quietly pulling in more and more communications and gradually eliminating more and more privacy.”
By revealing the scope and opening up the operations of the N.S.A. without giving away its most sensitive secrets, Mr. Bamford has performed an important public service in this impressive book.
The Atomic Café, Kevin Rafferty, 1982
The Atomic Café, Kevin Rafferty
The Atomic Café, 1982, 86 minutes: After testing an atomic bomb in New Mexico, the U.S. dropped the nuclear weapon on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. In television news footage, President Harry S. Truman declares atomic weapons necessary for America’s safety and for its image as a prospering nation. In military training films, U.S. pilots are instructed to select untouched “virgin” targets throughout the Pacific that can be used to study nuclear destruction. Images of hospitalized, dismembered Japanese civilians are juxtaposed with Americans basking in their postwar victory as they dance, eat, and play on the beach. On the remote Pacific Island of Bikini, an American Navy officer tries to convince the locals that the U.S. needs to test the atomic bomb on their land for the good of the world. The U.S. military declares that the islanders are “more than happy” to evacuate. A Paramount News report summarizes America’s postwar struggles against Communism. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon justify America’s use of nuclear weapons by claiming that the atom bomb is the ultimate guardian of democratic values. Television and radio broadcasts replay the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, warning Americans against the danger of Communist spies. News of Russia’s own hydrogen bomb in August 1953 elevates the nation’s Cold War paranoia. Politicians make televised appearances, encouraging the use of the bomb to end the Korean War. Returning to the Bikini Island test bombing, newsreel footage reports that atomic ash from the detonation wrought injuries on outlying island populations and caused severe radiation poisoning in crewmembers of a nearby Japanese fishing boat. The radioactive fish later sold in Japan caused catastrophic damage to Japanese trade, essentially shutting down the country’s fish market. The American government, however, issues public service announcements that minimize the threat of health risks, lightheartedly equating radiation exposure to a woman burning her hand on the stove and a man slipping in the shower. As young girls enjoy milkshakes at a roadside diner and a housewife browses a wide selection of frozen meals at the grocery store, President Eisenhower declares that America’s atomic bomb symbolizes the nation’s growing strength. A chipper cartoon character instructs schoolchildren how to “duck and cover” under their desks or seek refuge outside during an atomic bombing. Televised programs instruct suburban families how to collect food and build underground shelters to protect themselves in the event of an attack. Footage of a simulated air raid assures Americans that the country is well prepared, and the possibility of illness or death is minimal. There is nothing to do but sit back and relax.
Hearts and Minds, Peter Davis, 1974
Hearts and Minds, 1974, 112 minutes: The film is a compilation of newsreel and documentary footage, as well as original interviews, about the Vietnam War and its aftermath, including the following scenes: in Hung Dinh Village, Vietnam, peasants toil in the fields, guarded by armed soldiers; an aide to former U.S. President Harry S. Truman, Clark Clifford, reflects that America felt an elevated sense of entitlement after WWII, which translated into a desire for world domination; in the 1950s, the U.S. funded seventy-eight percent of the French war in Indochina, fearing a Communist uprising. According to retired French Foreign Minister Georges Bidault, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles suggested the use of two atomic bombs in Vietnam. In the early days of the war, future President Lyndon B. Johnson tells a news conference that the success of the war depends on the “hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people. At a homecoming ceremony, prisoner of war Lt. George Coker tells a cheering crowd that faith in God and country kept him alive. However, an aide to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Johnson, Walt Rostow, admits that the administrations had no evidence to prove that the Vietnamese people wanted a Communist government. Rostow claims that the U.S. was involved in the war only to protect the country from outside forces and says that the Soviet Union was perceived as a greater threat after the launch of Sputnik, on 4 Oct 1957. Arkansas Senator J. W. Fulbright concedes that in 1964, Johnson relied on false information about supposed North Vietnamese naval attacks against the U.S. in the Tonkin Gulf to rally the country to war.
Former U.S. Capt. Randy Floyd reminisces about his youth, when he and his schoolmates were indoctrinated with John Birch Society literature and learned to loathe Communism. Other veterans explain their desire to prove their manhood and their patriotism; hatred of Communism proved a convenient outlet for aggression. On the streets of Saigon, Vietnam, U.S. soldiers are solicited by prostitutes and by impoverished children. Back in the U.S., former Defense Department aide and RAND Corporation executive Daniel Ellsberg states that the Vietnam War was approached with benevolent assumptions that were pervasive in WWII, but these ideals were the underpinnings of imperialism, not compassion. Veterans Capt. Floyd and Lt. Coker discuss the thrill of piloting bombers, while Vietnamese peasants Nguyen Van Tai, and sisters Vo Thi Hue and Vo Thi Tu, share stories of their immense losses on the ground. Religious leader, Father Chan Tin, describes Vietnam’s history of fighting foreign invaders and argues that the war with the U.S. was genocide; the Vietnamese were fighting for independence against imperialists, not unlike Americans during the Revolutionary War. According to Senator Fulbright, Vietnam President Ho Chi Minh was familiar with the U.S. Constitution and originally thought that America would act as an ally.
Back in Vietnam, coffin maker Mui Duc Giang reports that he constructs up to 900 caskets a week for children alone and seven of his own offspring have died from napalm. Army deserter, Former Sec. 5 Edward Sowders, visits his mother, who begs him not to return to Vietnam. As the war continues, young men prepare for enlistment, playing high school football. Others, who are already stationed in Vietnam, recreate with prostitutes while their comrades capture prisoners and set fire to peasants’ homes. Vietnam businessman Nguyen Ngoc Linh explains how capitalism can benefit the country. Presidential advisor Clark Clifford describes Gen. William Westmoreland’s appeal for a surge of troops in 1968, noting that there was no plan to end the war and the Vietnamese had not exhibited a desire to cease fighting. Meanwhile, Americans demonstrate against the war, but according to Daniel Ellsberg, the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy provoked a pervasive sense of hopeless. Veterans describe loss of faith in their country and Ellsberg explains from his perspective the lies advocated by U.S. presidential administrations from Truman, in the 1950s, to Richard Nixon, in the early 1970s. Ellsberg argues that although the Vietnam conflict was portrayed as a civil war, it was entirely financed by the U.S. government and casualties on both sides were a consequence of failed American foreign policy, not Communist aggressors.
The former President of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, is praised by President Johnson, but later assassinated in 1963. Similarly, Diem’s successor, General Nguyen Khanh, was coerced into resigning, even though the American Ambassador to South Vietnam at that time, General Maxwell Taylor, publically claimed to embrace Khanh’s leadership; Khanh plays a tape recording in which Taylor confirms an order for Khanh to step down. President Nixon appoints a new leader to South Vietnam, Nguyen Van Thieu, and funds his government with $2 billion annually, but Father Chan Tin reports that the country is a police state, where citizens are arrested, tortured and imprisoned without trial. Former political prisoner Nguyen Thi Sau describes how she was beaten and held captive by Thieu’s soldiers. According to Father Chan Tin, anyone who advocated for peace was considered a Communist; however, the government’s actions backfired as citizens increasingly associated Communism with liberty and justice.
Back in the U.S., government official Walt Rostow makes no apologies for the war. David Emerson, who lost his son in Vietnam, insists that the sacrifice was not too great for preserving American ideals and he finds solace and faith in President Nixon. At a May 1973 White House dinner for returned prisoners of war hosted by Bob Hope, President Nixon is applauded for his decision to extensively bomb North Vietnam in December 1972. However, the campaign was devastating to North Vietnam; a farmer describes the death of his family and calls Nixon a murderer, while children clutch photographs of their deceased parents and mourners wail in agony at a cemetery. Back in the U.S., Gen. Westmoreland claims that Eastern religious philosophies do not value human existence and therefore “life is cheap.” Veteran Randy Floyd admits that the suffering of the Vietnamese people did not effect him at the time of the war and reflects that Americans have never endured the same kind of violence in their own country. Attempting to hold back tears, Floyd contends that Americans are in denial about Vietnam and argues that people who are fighting for freedom can never be constrained by violence or foreign oppressors.
(Additional resource: Hearts and Minds: The Right Side of History. Judith Crist, Criterion Collection, 2002.)
Winter Soldier, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, 1972
Winter Soldier, Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Winter Soldier, 1972, 96 minutes: In February 1971, one month after the revelations of the My Lai massacre, an astonishing public inquiry into war crimes committed by American forces in Vietnam was held at a Howard Johnson motel in Detroit. The Vietnam Veterans Against the War organized this event called the Winter Soldier Investigation. More than 125 veterans spoke of atrocities they had witnessed and committed.
Though the event was attended by press and television news crews, almost nothing was reported to the American public. Yet, this unprecedented forum marked a turning point in the anti-war movement. It was a pivotal moment in the lives of young vets from around the country who participated, including the young John Kerry….Their courage in testifying, their desire to prevent further atrocities and to regain their own humanity, provide a dramatic intensity that makes seeing Winter Soldier an unforgettable experience.
(Additional resource: “Why did it take 30 years for this film to get a national release?” Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 September 2005.)
Titicut Follies, Frederick Wiseman, 1967
Titicut Follies, Frederick Wiseman
Titicut Follies [1967, 84 minutes, B&W] is a stark and graphic portrayal of the conditions that existed at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. TITICUT FOLLIES documents the various ways the inmates are treated by the guards, social workers and psychiatrists.
The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966
The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo
One of the most influential political films in history, The Battle of Algiers [1966, 121 minutes], by Gillo Pontecorvo, vividly re-creates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés, and French soldiers resort to torture to break the will of the insurgents. Shot on the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film is a case study in modern warfare, with its terrorist attacks and the brutal techniques used to combat them. Pontecorvo’s tour de force has astonishing relevance today.