By Anne Ward
In “one of the most bizarre and overlooked chapters of American political history,” aides to President Richard Nixon met at the Hay-Adams, a hotel across from the White House, on a chilly afternoon in March 1972 to plan the assassination of syndicated columnist Jack Anderson.
So writes Mark Feldstein, associate professor of media and public affairs, in the prologue of his soon-to-be-released book, Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson and the Rise of Washington’s Scandal Culture.
Mr. Anderson, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1972, was known for reporting controversial stories from a CIA attempt to assassinate former Cuban President Fidel Castro to J. Edgar Hoover’s alleged mafia ties, which led the former FBI director to refer to him as “lower than the regurgitated filth of vultures.”
A 2005 obituary in The New York Times called Mr. Anderson “a flamboyant bridge between the muckrakers of the early decades of the 20th century and the battalions of investigative reporters unleashed by news organizations after Watergate.”
Dr. Feldstein and Brit Hume, a political analyst at Fox News, both former aides to Mr. Anderson, helped bring The Jack Anderson Collection to Gelman Library in 2005. The collection, which consists of more than 450 boxes of reporter’s notebooks, correspondences, research materials and story drafts, was opened to the public last June.
Mr. Hume joined Dr. Feldstein at an event at Gelman Library on Sept. 14. After Mr. Hume discussed Mr. Anderson’s impact on journalism, an audience member asked him what it was like to work for the legendary journalist.
Mr. Hume told the questioner he felt very lucky. “I was in the boat when the tide went out,” he said. “Those were amazing days.”
Having Mr. Hume, Dr. Feldstein and Mr. Anderson’s family on hand to remember Mr. Anderson “truly compliments the man and his work now housed and accessible here at the Gelman Library,” said Meredith Evans-Raiford, director of the library’s Special Collections Research Center.
“Mr. Anderson wanted people to gain an open understanding of government operations,” said Jack Siggins, university librarian. “He worked to expose undemocratic, or even unlawful, government actions against citizens. Mr. Anderson wanted these things out in the open, and I am pleased that Gelman Library can fulfill his wishes.”