Politics & Government
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The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys―and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy
In this "gripping . . . spectacular piece of reporting" (Ken Burns), a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist examines Senator Frank Church, the man at the center of numerous investigations into the abuses of power within the American government.
For decades now, America's national security state has grown ever bigger, ever more secretive and powerful, and ever more abusive. Only once did someone manage to put a stop to any of it.
Senator Frank Church of Idaho was an unlikely hero. He led congressional opposition to the Vietnam War and had become a scathing, radical critic of what he saw as American imperialism around the world. But he was still politically ambitious, privately yearning for acceptance from the foreign policy establishment that he hated and eager to run for president. Despite his flaws, Church would show historic strength in his greatest moment, when in the wake of Watergate he was suddenly tasked with investigating abuses of power in the intelligence community. The dark truths that Church exposed-from assassination plots by the CIA, to links between the Kennedy dynasty and the mafia, to the surveillance of civil rights activists by the NSA and FBI-would shake the nation to its core, and forever change the way that Americans thought about not only their government but also their ability to hold it accountable.
Drawing upon hundreds of interviews, thousands of pages of recently declassified documents, and reams of unpublished letters, notes, and memoirs, some of which remain sensitive today, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter James Risen tells the gripping, untold story of truth and integrity standing against unchecked power-and winning-in The Last Honest Man.
For decades now, America's national security state has grown ever bigger, ever more secretive and powerful, and ever more abusive. Only once did someone manage to put a stop to any of it.
Senator Frank Church of Idaho was an unlikely hero. He led congressional opposition to the Vietnam War and had become a scathing, radical critic of what he saw as American imperialism around the world. But he was still politically ambitious, privately yearning for acceptance from the foreign policy establishment that he hated and eager to run for president. Despite his flaws, Church would show historic strength in his greatest moment, when in the wake of Watergate he was suddenly tasked with investigating abuses of power in the intelligence community. The dark truths that Church exposed-from assassination plots by the CIA, to links between the Kennedy dynasty and the mafia, to the surveillance of civil rights activists by the NSA and FBI-would shake the nation to its core, and forever change the way that Americans thought about not only their government but also their ability to hold it accountable.
Drawing upon hundreds of interviews, thousands of pages of recently declassified documents, and reams of unpublished letters, notes, and memoirs, some of which remain sensitive today, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter James Risen tells the gripping, untold story of truth and integrity standing against unchecked power-and winning-in The Last Honest Man.
Editorial Reviews
"Vigorous… a welcome restoration of a largely forgotten politician who navigated issues that continue to reverberate."―Kirkus Reviews
"Church was that rarity among elected representatives: an ideologue fully prepared to sacrifice his career to a great cause… [The Last Honest Man] pairs the gripping pace of an espionage thriller with the intense research of a comprehensive and timely account of government oversight."―Booklist (starred review)
"Both paean and lament... The Last Honest Man is a gem, marbled with scoop, laden with interviews."―The Guardian
"James Risen is one of our country's greatest investigative reporters, and Frank Church, the senator at the heart of this book, is an American icon-a man of supreme confidence, integrity, and wisdom. The dark truths he exposed about America's spy agencies are shocking even by today's standards. A gripping book, The Last Honest Man is a spectacular piece of reporting that reads like a spy novel with the eloquence of great history."―Ken Burns
"The Last Honest Man is a vitally important, timely story about how our elected politicians-few of them perfect-can protect us from tyranny by insisting that presidents, spies, and generals follow the law. It is also a ripping good read: a Washington thriller that reliably sorts fact from myth about the Mafia, JFK, and the CIA, while re-investigating improbable episodes of a tumultuous era."―Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 and Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
"James Risen's engrossing book is more than a biography of a hugely significant senator, more than the resurrection of one of the most influential congressional committees of the 20th century, and more than a colorful tour of the CIA's assassination plots, mafia ties and outrageous mind control experiments. It's a vivid reminder that American democracy is always fragile."―Jonathan Alter, New York Times bestselling author of The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope and His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life
"This new biography of one of the Senate's most principled and effectual bulwarks against America's warfare state,...
"Church was that rarity among elected representatives: an ideologue fully prepared to sacrifice his career to a great cause… [The Last Honest Man] pairs the gripping pace of an espionage thriller with the intense research of a comprehensive and timely account of government oversight."―Booklist (starred review)
"Both paean and lament... The Last Honest Man is a gem, marbled with scoop, laden with interviews."―The Guardian
"James Risen is one of our country's greatest investigative reporters, and Frank Church, the senator at the heart of this book, is an American icon-a man of supreme confidence, integrity, and wisdom. The dark truths he exposed about America's spy agencies are shocking even by today's standards. A gripping book, The Last Honest Man is a spectacular piece of reporting that reads like a spy novel with the eloquence of great history."―Ken Burns
"The Last Honest Man is a vitally important, timely story about how our elected politicians-few of them perfect-can protect us from tyranny by insisting that presidents, spies, and generals follow the law. It is also a ripping good read: a Washington thriller that reliably sorts fact from myth about the Mafia, JFK, and the CIA, while re-investigating improbable episodes of a tumultuous era."―Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 and Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
"James Risen's engrossing book is more than a biography of a hugely significant senator, more than the resurrection of one of the most influential congressional committees of the 20th century, and more than a colorful tour of the CIA's assassination plots, mafia ties and outrageous mind control experiments. It's a vivid reminder that American democracy is always fragile."―Jonathan Alter, New York Times bestselling author of The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope and His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life
"This new biography of one of the Senate's most principled and effectual bulwarks against America's warfare state,...
Readers Top Reviews
Nancy Adair
In the fall of 1975, The Church Committee began an investigation into why the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) held a lethal toxin. Since its inception, there had been no oversight of the CIA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), or the National Security Agency (NSA). Senator Frank Church was leading a righteous crusade to unearth abuses by intelligence agencies. Church had been in intelligence during WWII, a part of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the first spy agency. That group evolved into the CIA. Had Church not decided to go into politics, he would have been on a career path in the CIA. Instead, decades later he was holding the CIA accountable for covert actions involving assassinations and spying on Americans. The Watergate scandal was an alert to investigate other government misdeeds. The Church Committee’s research took them into all the intelligence agencies. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford all found these agencies to be useful. Eisenhower fought the Cold War through the CIA. The CIA’s knowing Kennedy’s secrets muzzled any complaints. Frank Church was a complex man. He was considered a radical, driven by high ideals. He ran clean campaigns, unwilling to sling dirt. He loved media attention and enjoyed cocktail parties with Hollywood celebrities and counted John F. Kennedy as a friend. He never paled around with the other senators. He was against gun control, a nod to his Idaho constituents, and against the Viet Nam War. He supported the protection of wilderness lands. The Church Committee findings were acted upon by President Carter in 1978 with the first oversight reforms, including banning the assassination of foreign leaders. The intelligence community were spitting mad, and so were conservatives like future president Ronald Reagan. George H. Bush had lead the CIA before becoming president, and his son George W. Bush supported Dick Cheney’s working to weaken the reforms. Walter Mondale told the author that what he was most proud of in his career was his work with the Church Committee. If oversight had not been enacted, who knows what America could have evolved into. Most of the abuses described I had heard about as breaking news stories, but seeing them all together in one narrative was sobering, and frankly, terrifying. Thank you to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
