From: Ktperehwon@aol.com [Karl Pflock]
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 18:00:09 -0400 (EDT)
Fwd Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 21:05:42 -0400
Subject: Corso and the Senator, or Waiting for Trudeau (To
Greetings to The List -- Yesterday, I was bcc'd on the following message
(have no idea who the addressee[s] was/were, or who "zenpride@well.com" is):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
BCC from zenpride@well.com:
Sounds like Karl Pflock didn't do his homework, and needs to
be debunked, at least regarding the last point.
Below is an excerpt from an interview by Michael Lindemann
with Philip Corso. It appeared in CNI News, one of the best
sources of up-to-date info on UFOs. (Subscriptions are
available from 1-800-898-0284 or CNINews1@aol.com, and
no I'm not on the staff.)
************************************************
Michael Lindemann: What about the problem with Senator
Strom Thurmond's foreword to your book? Simon and Schuster
has issued a bland apology, saying they're going to pull
Thurmond's foreword out of future printings of the book. What
was your understanding with the Senator?
Philip Corso: I've known Strom Thurmond for almost a
lifetime. He's a very honest, sincere and courageous
individual. We've alway been close. I found out recently that
his staff did it. I don't think the old man knew it, and I think
the old man will eventually call me. We were too close for
a signed release. Then [the Senator's staff] came back and
said, "As a matter of courtesy, if we say that the Senator
really wasn't clear on the nature of the book..." and Simon and
Schuster said, "Well, if it's a matter of courtesy, then we can
certainly understand that in the heat of material passing
back and forth, misunderstandings can happen." So, that was
the basic agreement.
ML: So, once they got the niceties of language straightened
out, the agreement was that the foreword would be pulled from future
printings of the book?
BB [presumably, William Birnes, Corso's coauthor. -- KTP]: Yes, exactly. But
it will remain as it is, with this cover, for this printing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In truth, it's Corso who needs debunking.
An aside: I assume "Zen" is using "debunking" in a positive rather
than pejorative sense--that is, to mean remove the bunk. Don't know
about others here on UpDates, but I've always found it curious and
unfortunate that the words "debunk" ("to expose the sham or
falseness of"--WEBSTER'S NEW COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY, 1977),
"debunker," "debunking," and "debunked" have long since come to mean
something negative in UFOdumb. After all, isn't removing/exposing
the bunk essential to getting at the facts about UFOs and the truths
they embody? Then there's "skeptic"--thanks, CSICOP, grumble, gripe...
As I was saying, it's Corso who needs debunking. On the specific
matter of Sen. Thurmond's foreword, the simple truth is, Corso pulled
a bait and switch on the senator, who trusted him as an officer and a
gentleman.
My "homework" clearly and unequivocally established this. In
preparation for writing my MUFON UFO JOURNAL (July '97) feature on the
book, I called the senator's press secretary to inquire about the whys
and wherefores of the foreword. Much to my delight and surprise, I
discovered this was Chris Cimko, with whom I'd worked in the Pentagon (conspiratorialists, please hold your orgasms until after the family
hour). Needless to say, this facilitated matters.
Yes, it's true the foreword was drafted by one of the senator's staff.
That's the way it usually is done. It was done at the senator's
direction on the understanding he had FROM CORSO that it was to be for
Corso's memoirs, for which he and his staff were supplied an outline,
a document which made NO mention of UFOs.
I know of my own certain knowledge the senator was and is mad as hell
about the cheap trick Corso pulled on him, compounded by the story
breaking during a week of celebrations honoring Thurmond's record
service in the U.S. Senate. He quite rightly feels cynically
betrayed by a former aide whom he thought to be a man of honor. It
would be very interesting to be a fly on the wall (not to say a bug
on the line) when and if the senator ever calls Corso.
As for the "niceties of language" or the "matter of courtesy"
nonsense, anyone who doubts what the senator wanted done should read
his June 11 letter to Simon & Schuster (Pocket Books parent company)
Deputy General Counsel Eric Raymond: recall all copies of the first
printing--failing that, remove all dust jackets with the senator's
name on them; stop using any reference to the foreword or the senator
in promoting the book; do not use the foreword in any subsequent
printings of the book; issue a statement acknowledging the truth,
"to establish for the public record" that the senator "had no
intention or desire to write the foreword to THE DAY AFTER
ROSWELL," a "project I completely disavow."
Well, the senator didn't get the first printing recalled (which
he acknowledged in his letter to Raymond was "a logistical and
financial impossibility"), nor did he get the dust jackets
replaced (same problem), but he DID get the foreword dropped
from future printings and current promotional material, and he
did get the statement he asked for. Some excerpts from same,
with emphasis added:
"Following publication, Senator Thurmond advised Simon &
Schuster that he wrote the foreword for an ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT
BOOK PROJECT THAT MR. CORSO HAD DESCRIBED TO THE SENATOR AS
PERSONAL MEMOIRS of his career in military intelligence. Senator
Thurmond informed Simon & Schuster that he did NOT know the
subject matter or the actual contents of 'The Day After Roswell'
until they were described to him by reporters [i.e., Yours Truly].
"Simon & Schuster and Philip J. Corso [sic] regret any
impression created by this foreword's inclusion in The Day
after Roswell that Senator Thurmond was aware or approved
the book's subject matter or contents.... No future printing
of The Day After Roswell will include this foreword."
I wouldn't characterize this as "a bland apology." It doesn't
take a lot of reading between the lines to see that S&S's general
counsel told his management they were had by the short ones and,
if Thurmond wanted to make a legal issue of it, he damn' well
likely could make it stick. Undoubtedly, he also told them it
was highly likely Thurmond, as a politician, was much more
interested in putting the matter to rest than keeping it high
profile, so an apology which implicitly acknowledged the truth of
the senator's claim to have been euchred by the author and
pulling the foreword from future printings (if any) would
probably do the trick. Besides, the dust up has helped to sell
books which likely would have been remaindered, so what the heck...
It's worth noting the Thurmond staffer who drafted the fateful
foreword not only is still on the senator's staff, but has been
given a more responsible position since the late difficulties, not
exactly what one would expect with a screw-up responsible for a
severe embarrassment to the senator. No, that responsibility lies
squarely on the shoulders of Corso the Betrayer.
Which reminds me, there's another prominent man who's name and
reputation Corso is exploiting, the conveniently late Lt. Gen.
Arthur Trudeau. As Dennis Stacy has put it, the book really
should be called WAITING FOR TRUDEAU (TO DIE). Maybe that's
what the foreword-less paperback edition or the movie will be
called.
Finally, anyone interested in reading Senator Thurmond's official
statement on this whole matter should be able to obtain a copy of
his June 5 press release, "Right Foreword, Wrong Book," from his
Washington office. I imagine the same would be true of his June
11 letter to S&S lawyer Eric Raymond.
-- KARL deBUNKER
UFO UpDates - Toronto -
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