They Dare to Speak out or Higher Purpose

They Dare to Speak out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby

Author: Paul Findley

The first book to speak out against the pervasive influence of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on American politics, policy, and institutions resonates today as never before. With careful documentation and specific case histories, former congressman Paul Findley demonstrates how the Israel lobby helps to shape important aspects of U.S. foreign policy and influences congressional, senatorial, and even presidential elections. Described are the undue influence AIPAC exerts in the Senate and the House and the pressure AIPAC brings to bear on university professors and journalists who seem too sympathetic to Arab and Islamic states and too critical of Israel and its policies. Along with many longtime outspoken critics, new voices speaking out include former President Jimmy Carter, U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney, Senator Robert Byrd, prominent Arab-American Dr. Ziad Asali, Rabbi Michael Lerner, and journalist Charles Reese. In addition, the lack of open debate among politicians with regard to the U.S. policy in the Middle East is lamented, and AIPAC is blamed in part for this censorship. Connections are drawn between America’s unconditional support of Israel and the raging anti-American passions around the world—and ultimately the tragic events of 9/11. This replaces 1556520735.

Table of Contents:

	Preface	vii
1	Rescue and Involvement	1
2	King of the Hill	27
3	Stilling the Still, Small Voices	51
4	The Deliberative Body Fails to Deliberate	81
5	The Lobby and the Oval Office	117
6	Penetrating the Defenses at Defense and State	147
7	The Assault on Assault	187
8	Subverting Academic Freedom	209
9	Paving the Way for the Messiah	249
10	Not All Jews Toe the Line	281
11	Scattering the Seeds of Catastrophe	313
12	What Price Israel?	349
	Acknowledgments	375
	Notes	379
	Index	395

New interesting book: Shamans Mystics and Doctors or Touch

Higher Purpose: Profiles in Presidential Courage

Author: Thomas J Whalen

In the American political system we know today, courage and the presidency are rarely spoken of in the same sentence. With a few notable exceptions, recent occupants of the Oval Office have appeared all too willing to sacrifice principle for the sake of political expediency. Extreme partisanship, special-interest money, and an unhealthy obsession with opinion polls have discouraged modern presidents from assuming unpopular stands. Forgotten is the axiomatic wisdom of Andrew Jackson: One man of courage makes a majority. Thomas Whalen's A Higher Purpose seeks to prove the inherent truth behind Jackson's words by relating the stories of nine historic decisions made by commanders-in-chief over two centuries of American history.

Publishers Weekly

Boston University social scientist Whalen (Kennedy Versus Lodge) insightfully applies to residents of the White House JFK's rubric from his Profiles in Courage. As Kennedy did, Whalen seeks heroes who display a willingness to go against the political tide in order to do what is right. The ultimate example is Gerald Ford, who took the profoundly unpopular step of pardoning Nixon and then paid the political price in the next presidential election. Whalen also cites FDR's maneuvering to support Great Britain against the Nazis in the days before Pearl Harbor despite an isolationist and antiwar electorate; Harry Truman's firing of the abrasive but wildly popular Douglas MacArthur; and Kennedy's siding with civil rights interests challenging segregation at the University of Alabama. Several other examples are less obvious instances of presidential courage. These include Andrew Jackson's heartfelt yet ill-advised fight against a national bank and Grover Cleveland's opposition to the annexation of the Hawaiian islands. Two more events in Whalen's roster are debatable. Was Lincoln going against, or with, political currents when he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation? And was Theodore Roosevelt not catering to his large Progressive base when he broke up the Northern Securities railroad companies' combination? These quibbles aside, Whalen's study constitutes intriguingly construed history, eloquently told. Illus. (Sept.)

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Kirkus Reviews

A highly readable exercise forthrightly modeled on JFK's Profiles in Courage, examining nine instances in which American presidents have acted against their own political interest. Some are well known, others not-or at least not in their full details. Everyone knows, for example, that the Emancipation Proclamation aroused scorn in the rebellious states; few recall how bitterly it divided Lincoln's nominal supporters in the North. Whalen (Social Science/Boston Univ.) opens each tale of moral courage with a mini-portrait of the president involved. Some episodes feel too large for the book's slight frame: Andrew Jackson's war against the aristocratic Bank of the United States, which plunged the nation into financial panic; Teddy Roosevelt's prosecution of J. Pierpont Morgan's Northern Securities Company as an illegal railroad combination under the antitrust laws; and FDR's Lend Lease agreement with Britain, which frightened and angered a large portion of the mostly isolationist public. For the most part, however, the author has chosen bite-sized incidents of presidential courage perfectly suited to his theme: Truman's firing of insubordinate World War II icon General Douglas MacArthur; Chester Arthur's unexpected transformation from a machine politician to a civil service reformer; JFK's 1963 address committing his administration to civil rights; Gerald Ford's unpopular pardoning of Richard Nixon. Whalen pointedly distinguishes between presidential courage and presidential recklessness, using the example of George Bush's decision to invade Iraq, but at the same time somewhat contradictorily laments recent presidents' willingness "to sacrifice principle for the sake of political expediency."He acknowledges this will not be "the final word," and indeed one might wonder why Jimmy Carter's relinquishment of the Panama Canal in 1977 was not every bit as morally courageous as Grover Cleveland's principled refusal to annex Hawaii in 1893. Uneven but entertaining.

What People Are Saying

Donald A. Ritchie
"This is a timely and engaging study of moral courage in high office. . . . "--(Donald A. Ritchie, author of Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps)

James N. Giglio
"Concentrates on nine U.S. presidents who exhibited moral courage while confronting national crises. An excellent read especially for the non-specialist...."--(James N. Giglio, author of The Presidency of John F. Kennedy, Revised, Updated Edition)

Leon Panetta
"These historic examples of presidential courage are needed now more than ever."