Enormous Crime or Locked in the Cabinet

Enormous Crime: The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia

Author: Bill Hendon

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
An Enormous Crime is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate. The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, this book brilliantly reveals the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973, what these brave men have endured, and how administration after administration of their own government has turned its back on them.
            This authoritative exposé is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. An Enormous Crime is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our history: ugly, harrowing, and true.

Kirkus Reviews

A sprawling indictment of eight U.S. administrations. The charge: sacrificing American war prisoners in the interest of focusing, as Bush aides have said, "not on Vietnam's past but on its future."Beginning in 1966, write former Rep. Hendon (R-NC) and attorney Stewart, GIs captured in South Vietnam were moved north along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and other routes. Cataloguing sightings with the diligence of Vincent Bugliosi-whose Reclaiming History (2007), on the JFK assassination, is something of a companion piece-Hendon and Stewart reckon that hundreds of POWs had crossed the Demilitarized Zone by the time of the Tet Offensive, their numbers swelled by pilots downed over North Vietnam. Many of these soldiers, Hendon and Stewart charge, were used as human shields against American bombing attacks on power plants, military headquarters and other strategically important venues. North Vietnam and its allies in Laos and Cambodia weren't particularly forthcoming on all these things, but the U.S. played a dirty hand, too; by the authors' account, the prisoners' ultimate release was bound up in negotiations conducted by Henry Kissinger, "the surrogate president," who reneged on promises of U.S. aid owing to supposed violations of previous accords, thus closing off a diplomatic channel for repatriation. Fast forward to 1987, when Ross Perot traveled to Vietnam and told the foreign minister, who insisted that there were no POWs there, "Don't embarrass yourselves, I know too much." Fruitful negotiations ensued, the authors report, only to be brushed aside by the Reagan administration-even though, they claim, at least 100 U.S. prisoners were still alive in Vietnam. Hendon and Stewart, who appearnonpartisan in their disdain for governmental inaction and double-dealing, close by offering advice to President Bush to send an army of former presidents and their staffs to negotiate the release of the remaining captives. Much of the authors' evidence is circumstantial, but there's an awful lot of it. A convincing, urgent argument.

Interesting book: Hope in the Face of Cancer or If Only I Could Quit

Locked in the Cabinet

Author: Robert B Reich

Robert Reich's unique perspective as Secretary of Labor, presidential advisor, and long-running observer of American economics and politics makes this bestselling memoir an intimate, funny, and sobering portrait of government at its highest levels, an unflinching document of expedience and courage, rampant cynicism and genuine (although often wavering) idealism. In Locked in the Cabinet, Reich debunks and demystifies Washington as never before. He honors the much-maligned civil servants who make government work and skewers the politicians who often bring it to a halt. He tells us what he and Bill Clinton dreamed of achieving and why some of those dreams never came true.

Library Journal

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be in a powerful position in government, author Reich's memoirs of his stint as President Clinton's Labor Secretary (1992-96) is a good place to start. Known as the "conscience" of the Clinton administration, Reich reveals a life inside the loop that is a funny, enlightening personal account of his efforts to put his boomer ideals into practice. These journal entries deal with the relentless pressure from all sides about pending legislation, ridiculous interactions with elected officials and lobbyists, advice to the President on wage and labor issues, and interactions with such powerful officials as Alan Greenspan, Newt Gingrich, and, of course, his 20-year pal, Bill Clinton. Reich's experience as a writer (e.g., The Work of Nations, Vintage, 1992), not a laborer, posed peculiar difficulties in building relationships with labor leaders. From striking baseball players to union bosses to shameless politicians, Reich has had to deal with them all in his strong commitment to Clinton's goals while struggling to maintain family balance, classifying him as one of the more successful labor leaders in history. This is essential for larger public libraries in metropolitan areas with heavy interest in memoirs of insider politicos.Dale Farris, Groves, Tex.