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On June 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan visited France to mark the 40th anniversary of D-Day. The speech he delivered at the windswept Normandy promontory looking out over the English Channel--known now in history as the Boys of Pointe du Hoc address--was the opening salvo to a new American indebtedness to World War II veterans. By honoring the daring action of the 2nd Ranger Battalion--225 young Army volunteers whose mission was to climb the treacherous 100-foot-high Pointe du Hoc cliff while being shot at by entrenched German soldiers--he was paying tribute to an entire generation. (Out of those 225 "boys,"...

DENVER (AP) - Hunter S. Thompson, the "gonzo journalist" with a penchant for drugs, guns and flame-thrower prose, might have one more salvo in store for everyone: Friends and relatives want to blast his ashes out of a cannon, just as he wished. "If that's what he wanted, we'll see if we can pull it off," said historian Douglas Brinkley, a friend of Thompson's and now the family's spokesman. Thompson, who shot himself to death at his Aspen-area home Sunday at 67, said several times he wanted an artillery send-off for his remains. "There's no question, I'm sure that's what...

Diary Bombshell: Kerry Met with Terrorists In a bombshell development that could have turned President Bush's victory into a landslide had it come out before the election, John Kerry wrote in his Vietnam war diary that he met "terrorists" in Paris - a revelation that "flabbergasted" his running mate John Edwards. All during the campaign, Kerry had adamantly refused to release his diary, claiming that he'd given exclusive rights to use the document to his biographer, Douglas Brinkely. But when Brinkley told reporters that wasn't true, Kerry still declined to make the diary public. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/11/7/101350.shtml

On Sunday, October 17 at 6:00 pm and at 11:45 pm ET -------------------------------------------------------- Interview with Douglas Brinkley, Author of "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War" followed by segment featuring John O'Neill, author of "Unfit for Command" Description: Douglas Brinkley talks about how he came to write "Tour of Duty," the research he conducted for the book, and the criticism he has received from groups like Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The interview is followed by a talk given by John O'Neill, co-author of "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry."

http://www.c-span.org/ Brinkley Interview Tonight C-SPAN interviews Douglas Brinkley, author of "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War." Prof. Brinkley talks about how he came to write the book, the controversy surrounding John Kerry's Vietnam service, Sen. Kerry's run for the presidency, and much more.

NEW YORK Stung by a quote attributed to him in Friday's New York Times, author and historian Douglas Brinkley issued an unusual clarification this afternoon. In a news analysis titled "Truth Be Told, the Vietnam Crossfire Hurts Kerry More," Jodi Wilgoren quoted Brinkley commenting on recent attacks against both Kerry and Bush relating to their Vietnam era service: "Every American now knows that there's something really screwy about George Bush and the National Guard, and they know that John Kerry was not the war hero we thought he was." This "not the hero we thought he was" had to raise...

John Kerry's biographer today called on the presidential candidate to release his military records and warned a Navy investigation into his medals could prove to be the "death knell" of his campaign. In the past, Kerry has said he could not release some documents because of contractual obligations to Douglas Brinkley, author of "Tour of Duty." Brinkley said he has no contractual claims to any of the papers. "Clearly some of these military records should be made available to the press," he said on Steve Malzberg's WABC New York radio show today. Brinkley also said that if the Navy investigation...

Douglas Brinkley, author of the John Kerry biography Tour of Duty, was on Steve Malzberg's radio show today. He called on John Kerry to release his military records, saying: "Clearly some of these military records should be made available to the press." Brinkley also said that if the Navy investigation reveals deception in connection with Kerry's medals, it "could be" the "death knell" for Kerry's campaign. Professing uncertainty about what to make about the Swift Boat Vets' claims, Brinkley said: Right now it's unclear. So we have to just wait to see what all this adds up to. While the...

Sen. John Kerry's campaign biographer Douglas Brinkley said Sunday that if an ongoing Navy investigation into Kerry's military decorations turns up evidence of "purposeful" deception, it could spell doom for the top Democrat's White House bid. Praising reporter Thomas Lipscomb, who broke news of the Navy investigation on Friday, Brinkley told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, "Journalists are going to have to see whether there's a discrepancy on [the citations posted to Kerry's] web site - whether there's something wrong that's said there or not." "If so," said the "Tour of Duty" author, "Kerry would have to fix it immediately -...

I haven't watched or listened to Don Imus for a while, but heard that he is no longer supporting Kerry (he is "undecided"). But today, he had Douglas Brinkley on, and Brinkley, of course, was naturally sympathetic to Kerry. But what was most disturbing was that Brinkley said the media would soon start going after the President with personal attacks (I'm paraphrasing), and that we could look forward to them soon. What's that about? Are they now all in collusion? And what is there to attack him with regarding his personal life? Don't we know everything about him already? And...

Friday, September 03, 2004 Kerry apparently signed Form 180 for Brinkley — thereby waiving confidentiality — but Brinkley is cooperating in the cover-up I had always assumed that Sen. Kerry had himself provided his biographer Douglas Brinkley with Kerry's official military records that were already in Sen. Kerry's hands. But in reviewing Brinkley's citations and references for ToD, I came upon this statement at page 520 of his "Acknowledgements" section (boldface mine): Also with Kerry's permission, I obtained his Navy records and have used them as a reliable source. I don't know any other way to interpret this than to...

Tuesday, August 31, 2004 Brinkley had in-hand the Belodeau Eulogy, but ignored it in telling the Rassmann rescue story My regard for Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley as an historian has dropped to a new low. I've discovered that Brinkley must have had in his hands — and ignored — an unimpeachable source in which John Kerry told a version of the Jim Rassmann rescue that is completely, mutually inconsistent with the version which Kerry has related, and Brinkley himself has repeated, everywhere else. In reading his book Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, I've mostly marvelled at...

Another John Kerry excuse for refusing to release some of his Viet Nam records has just taken a direct hit. And this one comes from his “official” biographer Douglas Brinkley, author of the fawning 546-page pro-Kerry tome “Tour of Duty.” The book jacket claims, “Tour of Duty" is the definitive account of John Kerry's journey from war to peace.”

Local author caught in the crossfire Kerry book becomes ammo for both sides When the time comes to write the history of this year's presidential campaign, how will presidential historian Douglas Brinkley be portrayed? In recent weeks, the University of New Orleans scholar has emerged as a central figure in the highly partisan debate about Democratic candidate John Kerry's actions in combat during the Vietnam War. Brinkley's writings about Kerry -- in particular his biography "Tour of Duty," which was made with Kerry's cooperation -- have been cited by both the senator's opponents and supporters. In a wide-ranging interview in...

Douglas Brinkley is the William Ginsburg of the Kennedy death circus. Before the crash, the boyish, gap-toothed Brinkley was known primarily as a Michael Beschloss-in-waiting, a telegenic historian fielding calls from the cable news networks. Now the University of New Orleans professor has parlayed a contributing editorship at George and a friendship with Kennedy into a job as a necropublicist. Between Saturday and Tuesday, Brinkley appeared on MSNBC, Late Edition, Meet the Press, Good Morning America, Dateline, Today (twice), and NPR (twice). He also penned columns about his relationship with Kennedy for Newsweek and the New York Times, and was...

Here's how "presidential historian" Douglas Brinkley figures it: Various factual inaccuracies and contradictions in Tour of Duty, his famously sycophantic biography of John Kerry, are frequently cited by opponents of Kerry's presidential campaign. On the other hand, the sycophantic parts of the book are just as frequently cited by Kerry's friends. In other words, both parties find his work useful. And what better proof of his academic objectivity and integrity could there be than that? So, nah, Brinkley's "not worried" about appearing biased, he tells the New Orleans Times-Picayune in a "wide-ranging interview in the soaring lobby of his Uptown...

August 27, 2004 DID DOUGLAS BRINKLEY single-handedly create John Kerry's Swift Boat nightmare? It appears so. First Douglas Brinkley inspired the founding of "Swift Boat Vets for Truth" with his book "Tour of Duty". Quotable: Retired since 1978 as a two-star rear admiral, [Roy] Hoffmann comes under particular criticism in the Kerry biography. Brinkley wrote that Kerry saw him as approving cowboy tactics and holding a cavalier attitude toward civilian casualties. Hoffmann said was stunned to find what he termed "gross exaggerations" and "distortions of fact" attributed to Kerry in the Brinkley book. That motivated him to contact other...

The MRC's Geoff Dickens caught this exchange, on Monday's Hardball on MSNBC, in which Matthews not only refused to admit his distortion of Malkin's point, but repeated it: Matthews: "Welcome back to Hardball. Before we go to Dick Cavett, we want to get some final thoughts from Doug Brinkley and Stanley Karnow. Let me go to Doug Brinkley on a hot point on this program. Doug, there was a woman on the show the other night, Michelle Malkin or something, who was discussing in rather loose terms the idea that maybe John Kerry had purposely wounded himself to win a...

John Kerry's Final Mission in Vietnam John Kerry's last mission in Vietnam was a deadly Swift boat patrol up the Bay Hap River where everything was ventured but nothing gained -- except another medal and more horrific memories. By Douglas Brinkley March 13, 1969, would prove among the worst and best days John Kerry spent in Vietnam. Three years earlier, with the main thrust of the antiwar movement yet to come, Kerry had graduated from Yale University, delivering his class oration. Although he had just signed up with the U.S. Navy, in that address he questioned U.S. involvement in Southeast...

One of the most powerful messages to come out of "Unfit for Command," the Swiftvets' book on Kerry, is how many times they cite Kerry's court hagiographer, Douglas Brinkley, in the book. That's because Brinkley wrote "Tour of Duty" for Kerry based on interviews with Kerry, plus access (that no one else seems to have) to his notes and journals. The Swifties demolish Kerry's claims so effectively, and so often, that it now calls into question Brinkley's work as a historian. Did he not attempt to contact ANY of the Swifties? Did he not interview any of them? Why not?...

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: In 1971, John Kerry appeared on “The Dick Cavett Show” to debate Vietnam with John O‘Neill. Tonight: Thirty years later, the debate rages on. We‘ll talk about the origins of the political firestorm with Dick Cavett and Pat Buchanan. Plus, President Bush denounces all attack ads by outside groups and calls for a halt to the practice. The latest on the swift boat ad wars and the big question: Can the political wounds over Vietnam ever heal? And could John Kerry‘s presidential campaign be that war‘s latest casualties? Good evening. I‘m Chris Matthews. In recent weeks, the...

Key question..Kerry has given his wartime journal to Brinkley, said that's why he can't releasde it to the press. Will he be asked to make them public?..or will they all go in the tank

Brinkley told the Atlantic magazine, which excerpted a portion of the book, that he interviewed "every single one" of John Kerry's crewmates on the so-called swift boats that Kerry captained in Vietnam. But in fact he did not interview crew member Steven Gardner, and -- surprise! -- Gardner turned out to be the only one of Kerry's crewmates who disliked his former commander. "I would have talked to Gardner, but I couldn't find him," Brinkley says now.

"KERRY WENT into Cambodian waters three or four times in January and February 1969 on clandestine missions," historian Douglas Brinkley told the London Telegraph last week. "He had a run dropping off U.S. Navy Seals, Green Berets, and CIA guys. . . . He was a ferry master, a drop-off guy, but it was dangerous as hell. Kerry carries a hat he was given by one CIA operative. In a part of his journals which I didn't use he writes about discussions with CIA guys he was dropping off." John Kerry was obliged last week to recant a number of...

The greatest frustration of the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" is the establishment media's reluctance to explore their powerful testimony. Follow running mate John Edwards' advice and spend three minutes with "those men who served with" John Kerry in Vietnam, and you sense the disgust over this absence of dedication. Compounding it all are the escalating personal attacks unrelated to the substance of these first-hand accounts and the vigor displayed in digging into President Bush's service and even the backgrounds of the "Swifties." Indeed, Kerry seems to have predicted this behavior, leaning heavily on his wartime experience despite possible revelations...

"KERRY WENT into Cambodian waters three or four times in January and February 1969 on clandestine missions," historian Douglas Brinkley told the London Telegraph last week. "He had a run dropping off U.S. Navy Seals, Green Berets, and CIA guys. . . . He was a ferry master, a drop-off guy, but it was dangerous as hell. Kerry carries a hat he was given by one CIA operative. In a part of his journals which I didn't use he writes about discussions with CIA guys he was dropping off." John Kerry was obliged last week to recant a number of...

assessment of Douglas Brinkley John Kennedy Jr.'s most prolific mourner. Douglas Brinkley is the William Ginsburg of the Kennedy death circus. Before the crash, the boyish, gap-toothed Brinkley was known primarily as a Michael Beschloss-in-waiting, a telegenic historian fielding calls from the cable news networks. Now the University of New Orleans professor has parlayed a contributing editorship at George and a friendship with Kennedy into a job as a necropublicist. Between Saturday and Tuesday, Brinkley appeared on MSNBC, Late Edition, Meet the Press, Good Morning America, Dateline, Today (twice), and NPR (twice). He also penned columns about his relationship with...

Last Thursday, The Drudge Report touted an exclusive report that John Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley was rushing to publish in The New Yorker a corrected version of Kerry's seared memory of being in Cambodia on Christmas Day, 1968.However, The New Yorker's press release issued today for their next issue, dated August 23, 2004, contains no mention at all of the piece by Brinkley.Hmmm....still in rewrite, perhaps?

**Exclusive** TOUR OF DUTY author and John Kerry historian Doug Brinkley is rushing a piece for the NEW YORKER: to set-the-record-straight on Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia tale, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Kerry has turned to author Brinkley for a "modification" after it was exposed that Kerry was not in Cambodia during Christmas of 1968, as he once claimed from the Senate floor. The Brinkley piece for the NEW YORKER will now say that Kerry was not in Cambodia during Christmas, but rather in January, publishing sources tell DRUDGE. MORE Since the early 1970s, Kerry has spoken and written of...

What kind of a historian is Douglas Brinkley anyway? These days Brinkley is acting a lot less like a historian and a lot more like a PR flack for John Kerry, the subject of Brinkley's flattering bestseller "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War." Brinkley proclaims his independence from the Kerry campaign -- "This is my book, not his," he writes in "Tour" -- but he's become a major player in the Kerry agitprop machine.

What did Sen. John Kerry know and when did he know it about a plot to assassinate pro-Vietnam War U.S. senators hatched at a November 1971 Kansas City meeting of the group Vietnam Veterans Against America? According to presidential biographer Douglas Brinkley, that's the question Sen. Kerry needs to answer. If it turns out that the likely Democratic presidential nominee knew of the treasonous plan, Brinkley says he had an obligation to go to the authorities. "The question is: did Kerry quit [VVAW] before Kansas City or did he quit after Kansas City," Brinkley told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg. "If...

Sunday, Mar. 14, 2004 10:49 PM EST Brinkley: Kerry Faces Questions about Senate Hit Plot What did Sen. John Kerry know and when did he know it about a plot to assassinate pro-Vietnam war U.S. Senators hatched at a November 1971 Kansas City meeting of the group Vietnam Veterans Against America? According to presidential biographer Douglas Brinkley, that's the question Sen. Kerry needs to answer. If it turns out that the likely Democratic presidential nominee knew of the treasonous plan, Brinkley says he had an obligation to go to the authorities. "The question is: did Kerry quit [VVAW] before Kansas...

What did Sen. John Kerry know and when did he know it about a plot to assassinate pro-Vietnam war U.S. Senators hatched at a November 1971 Kansas City meeting of the group Vietnam Veterans Against America? According to presidential biographer Douglas Brinkley, that's the question Sen. Kerry needs to answer. If it turns out that the likely Democratic presidential nominee knew of the treasonous plan, Brinkley says he had an obligation to go to the authorities. "The question is: did Kerry quit [VVAW] before Kansas City or did he quit after Kansas City," Brinkley told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg. "If...

You have probably read the Time Magazine article, "The Tenth Brother," by Kerry's hagiographer, Douglas Brinkley: Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2004 The Tenth BrotherDouglas Brinkley, author of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, interviews Kerry’s tenth warmate and gets a story sharply different from what the other nine crew members have had to saySource At first blush it is a surprising piece. Brinkley managed after a Herculean effort to unearth a former crewmember of Kerry's Swiftboats who doesn't think Kerry walks on water. When writing my book Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War (William Morrow...

Just when it looked like Senator John Kerry’s so-called Band of Brothers were unified in vouching for his leadership in Vietnam there is suddenly a lone ripple of dissent in the ranks. “What can I say?” Kerry said when told that a former crewmate had unpleasant memories of him as his commanding officer. “I’ll take nine out of ten testimonies anytime.” Every sailor who served under Lieutenant John Kerry on Swift boats PCF-44 and PCF-94 have gushed about his poise under enemy fire. They tell stories of his rescuing a Green Beret from drowning, killing a Viet Cong sniper, and...

Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2004The Tenth Brother Douglas Brinkley, author of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, interviews Kerry’s tenth warmate and gets a story sharply different from what the other nine crew members have had to say ByDOUGLAS BRINKLEY Just when it looked like Senator John Kerry’s so-called Band of Brothers were unified in vouching for his leadership in Vietnam there is suddenly a lone ripple of dissent in the ranks. “What can I say?” Kerry said when told that a former crewmate had unpleasant memories of him as his commanding officer. “I’ll take nine out...

<p>Thirty-three years ago this winter, more than a hundred Vietnam War veterans from around the United States gathered at a Howard Johnson hotel in Detroit's New Center.</p> <p>In a second-floor ballroom, before an audience of hundreds of long-haired youths and conservatively dressed older people, the vets confessed to atrocities they claimed to have witnessed or committed in Vietnam, where hundreds of people on both sides still were dying each week.</p>

John Kerry's Final Mission in Vietnam John Kerry's last mission in Vietnam was a deadly Swift boat patrol up the Bay Hap River where everything was ventured but nothing gained -- except another medal and more horrific memories. By Douglas Brinkley March 13, 1969, would prove among the worst and best days John Kerry spent in Vietnam. Three years earlier, with the main thrust of the antiwar movement yet to come, Kerry had graduated from Yale University, delivering his class oration. Although he had just signed up with the U.S. Navy, in that address he questioned U.S. involvement in Southeast...

According to the publisher's press release, Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, by Douglas Brinkley, "was never intended as a political biography"--meaning, I suppose, that it is not meant to be confused with those ghost-written, election-year puffers and potboilers under whose weight the remainder-tables of America's bookstores are already beginning to buckle and break. Tour of Duty is intended to be a real book that makes an enduring contribution to the national letters--akin to the moving and beautifully written "Faith of My Fathers," by John McCain and Mark Salter, rather than "A Charge to Keep," by George...

...Moreover, in recent days Republican operatives have been circulating copies of Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April 1971, which has formed the basis of much of the conservative critique about Kerry's efforts against the war.... Although many of the alleged atrocities have never been verified -- and some have been disproved -- Kerry told the Senate that such stories were not isolated occurrences but had happened "on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."... ...Historian Douglas Brinkley, the author of the recently published "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and...

Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley revealed Sunday that Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry personally met with "Hanoi Jane" Fonda at least twice during the days when the two played leading roles in the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War, including a never before detailed 1971 meeting in Detroit. "The Jane Fonda incidents occurred in two places; one on a march from Morristown to Valley Forge when they shared a platform at Valley Forge," Brinkley told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg. "Then he met her in the more troubling Detroit Howard Johnson's Comfort Center [event], where there was this thing called the Winter...

Owens and Zaladonis, the Kerry Swift boat crewman, doubt there were anywhere near as many war crimes as portrayed by those who took part in the "Winter Soldier" investigation, which was organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in early 1971 in Detroit and formed the basis for Kerry's later testimony before the Senate. Kerry attended the Detroit meeting but didn't testify. "My main objective was to educate myself," Kerry later told historian Douglas Brinkley for Tour of Duty, John Kerry and the Vietnam War, his recent book on the senator's Vietnam-era activities. "You might say I was on...

Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley hinted Monday that more photos of Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry protesting the Vietnam War with "Hanoi" Jane Fonda may yet emerge. Asked if there were "photos" of Kerry and Fonda protesting together, Brinkley answered in the plural, telling "Radio Factor" host Bill O'Reilly, "I think there are. They probably will come out this year." While researching his recent book on Kerry's war years, "Tour of Duty," Brinkley said he came across several references to the Kerry-Fonda alliance. "I've seen their names in a University of Wisconsin archive on [Kerry's group, the Vietnam Veterans Against the...

David Thorne, ex-brother-in-law to Sen. John Kerry, strongly denied late Monday that the Democratic presidential front-runner had any ties to anti-American actress "Hanoi" Jane Fonda, who adopted Kerry's group, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, as her pet cause in 1971. Asked if Kerry had any relationship whatsoever with Fonda, David Thorne told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes," "No." But he immediately qualified the unequivocal denial, telling Alan Colmes that Kerry and "Hanoi" Jane had "met each other, they knew each other a little bit." Still, Thorne insisted, "John was never part of what Jane Fonda did." Mr. Thorne,...

A look at the senator's 1971 antiwar opus, "The New Soldier." HOW CONVENIENT that Douglas Brinkley's hagiographic "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War" should be hitting bookstores just as Kerry's star ascends in the Democratic primaries. Less convenient, perhaps, is the fact that another Kerry book is getting hot right now: "The New Soldier," published in 1971, for which Kerry shares authorial credit with the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Hot not in sales--only a tiny number of copies seem to be around--but in price. A signed first edition in mint condition is being offered on...

Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said Thursday that reports indicating that John Kerry's first marriage to heiress Julia Thorne had collapsed amidst allegations of infidelity should not become an issue in this year's presidential campaign. "After his separation and before his marriage [to heiress Teresa Heinz], he was single, so stories might emerge from that era, but I don't think that will cause him any trouble," Brinkley told radio host Don Imus. Brinkley's recent book "Tour of Duty" offers what critics say is a whitewash of Kerry's exploits with the controversial group Vietnam Veterans Against the War after Kerry left the...

Senator John F. Kerry often cites his service in Vietnam as a formative element of his character. A new account of his time there—based on interviews with those who knew him well, and on his never-before-published letters home and his voluminous "war notes"—offers the first intimate look at a traumatic and life-altering experience.As he campaigns for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, Senator John F. Kerry often cites his experience as a U.S. Navy patrol-boat skipper in Vietnam as a formative element of his character. Next month the historian Douglas Brinkley will publish the first full-scale, intimate account of Kerry's Navy...