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A Washington Tragedy: How the Death of Vincent Foster Ignited a Political Firestorm

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Dan Moldea is one of America's best investigative reporters. Afer you finish this book, pick up "Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA and the Mob," where Moldea explores the dark side of conservative America's favorite president. It's an eye-opener.

"A Washington Tragedy" is a balanced account of Vincent Foster's death but it contains too many viewpoints and no new information. Like "Rashamon", it's literally a bibliography of sources but it neither enlightened nor entertained this reader.

Don't let his detractors on labor's loony left or the hard right fool you. Dan Moldea calls them as he sees them -- and his years of investigative and journalistic experience propel "A Washington Tragedy" at the top of the pile of books about the high-profile suicide of Vincent Foster. Moldea's critical eye, rigorous thinking and fair, balanced analysis of the facts make this book the essential read for anyone seeking the truth surrounding the most tragic sideshow stemming from the Whitewater business scandal.

As much as I would like it to be otherwise, this book is about a country that exists only in the civics textbooks and in our imaginations. Let's call it "Dan Moldea's America."

In Dan Moldea's America, deputy White House counsels don't come to the job fresh from having handled the legal work for the person reportedly responsible for bringing to America the largest criminal enterprise in history, a person heavily involved in financing both Republican and Democratic political campaigns, most recently the campaign of America's president, the counsel's boss.

In Dan Moldea's America, the deputy White House counsel does not engage in two days of meetings two days before his mysterious violent death, meetings with the Deputy U.S. Attorney General and another person heavily involved in political finance who also has invested in casinos jointly with members of the Gambino family and the Meyer Lansky organization.

In Dan Moldea's America, there have never been strong, attributed allegations that the deputy White House counsel had contracted a detective to spy on the future president at the behest of the future first lady, that the detective and the future deputy White House counsel had themselves been involved in the illegal drug business, and that the detective correctly predicted his own subsequent murder upon hearing of the death of the deputy White House counsel.

In Dan Moldea's America, presidents don't have close friends, family members, and political backers who are or have been heavily involved in the illegal drug business.

In Dan Moldea's America, presidents have never had subordinates who have covered up murders related to the illegal drug business or people apparently working on their behalf who have either threatened or actually inflicted bodily harm upon inconvenient witnesses.

In Dan Moldea's America, autopsy doctors might make occasional mistakes, but they never are simply flat-out corrupt, fabricating cause of death at the behest of corrupt higher-ups who are protecting powerful people engaged in the illegal drug business.

In Dan Moldea's America, heaven forbid that government clandestine and police organizations themselves might be involved in the illegal drug business, and, of course, no serious allegations have ever been made that they are.

In Dan Moldea's America, if there were any truth at all to numbers 1-7, America's major news organizations would have duly reported them, with appropriate emphasis.

In Dan Moldea's America, the word of a public official is always worth more than that of a private citizen unless, perhaps, that private citizen is employed by a major news organization.

In Dan Moldea's America, major news organizations are interested only in pursuit of the truth. They never knowingly withhold important information from the public and they would never, ever knowingly assist public officials in covering up a crime.

In Dan Moldea's America, if a capital-area college student doing undercover work for the Drug Enforcement Administration were to have been ruled dead of a gunshot suicide by the authorities and a second autopsy paid for by the parents showed convincingly that the young man was beaten to death, the news would not be blacked out by The Washington Post.

In Dan Moldea's America, the major news organs do not get ahead of the official "investigators" in uncovering and revealing anonymously sourced "evidence" that reinforces the official line.

In Dan Moldea's America, when witnesses, suspects, or investigators change their story, the last story told is always to be believed implicitly when it supports the official line.

In Dan Moldea's America, government agents would not harass and intimidate a witness in an important case and if it were to happen, it would not be ignored by the major news organs.

In Dan Moldea's America, official reports on important investigations are always critically examined and duly reported upon by major news organizations.

In Dan Moldea's America, major news organs do not falsely report that investigating police did not talk to immediate family members on the night of the mysterious violent death of a high level government official and leave the record uncorrected for a year.

In Dan Moldea's America, major news organs do not black out the news that a suicide note in a high-profile case has been determined to be a forgery by reputable handwriting examiners.

In Dan Moldea's America, there is an adversarial relationship between the government and the press.

In Dan Moldea's America, challenges to the official verdict in high level cases come only from nebulously-defined "conspiracy theorists" or well-financed political fanatics.

In Dan Moldea's America, certain reporters are granted selective access to official "investigators" not because the reporters are stooges who will parrot the obvious official line--or the less obvious disinformation line-- but because they possess exceptional charm.
The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories
Failure of the Public Trust

I had a reason for wanting to read this book. Every time the name of Vince Foster is mentioned in the media, there continues to be a shroud of mystery surrounding him. The last time I heard someone mention Foster's name, it was Lucianne Goldberg who was commenting on Hillary Clinton's LIVING HISTORY. Lucianne was observing that there are so many events and issues to which Mrs. Clinton could have addressed herself but Mrs. Clinton never even mentioned most of them. And then Lucianne wondered if we all wouldn't like to know what happened to Vince Foster. What makes it interesting for Lucianne to ask that question is that Lucianne was or still is close to Linda Tripp. Linda Tripp was one of the last people to see Vince Foster alive. She gave testimony on what she observed about him as he left the White House for the last time. So, if Lucianne is wondering what really happened to Vince Foster, does that mean that Linda Tripp is not satisfied with the result of several investigations including that of the DOJ's Special Prosecutor? I decided it was time to find out more about Vince Foster, and Dan E Moldea was my source of choice. What I didn't want was a book written by someone who was up to the eyeballs in conspiracy theory. I wanted to know the facts insofar as anyone apart from Vince Foster himself could provide them. Moldea's book was purported to be a factual assessment of the event. Whoever it was who did this purporting was correct for most of the book's 388 pages. And then with one final sentence Moldea made me want to hurl his book at the pre-selected spot on the wall I reserve for books that infuriate me.

For anyone who has a curiosity about why the death of Vince Foster created so much controversy, this is a straightforward account of the step-by-step investigation of his suicide. In my opinion, Moldea's research on the various investigations as well as the people who conducted them, along with his attention to detail, provide a great deal of support for the conclusions reached by the Special Prosector. Moldea depended upon the public record for the information he collected for his book, and to the extent that my interest was in just knowing the facts, this account provides them in as much entirety as an author can provide. For anyone wanting a more detailed account complete with personal interviews of what Vince Foster was really all about, this is not the book from which to draw that kind of information. Actually Moldea is rather short on details about some matters that should have been better explained. It was interesting to me that while Moldea provided a more than adequate explanation for the Whitewater mess, he backed off on a more thorough accounting of the Travelgate matter. Since Vince Foster was up to his eyeballs in Travelgate, it seemed to me that should have been the focus of more detail. Especially when Travelgate was cited as a possible cause for Foster's mental state.

For 388 pages Moldea makes a case for the facts and what conclusions may logically be drawn from them. And then with one final sentence, Moldea decides what did and did not contribute to Foster's decision to kill himself. He just spent an entire book taking apart the conspiracy theories and the bits and pieces of the case upon which those theories depend. And then with one final sentence he blows his whole case right out of the water by passing judgement on something it is in no one's power to know but Vince Foster's. And Foster isn't talking.

For me, A WASHINGTON TRAGEDY is proof of the fact that a situation cannot be understood merely by researching public records and reading details of reports and investigations. While it's true that I didn't want an account of Foster's death that was riddled with gossip and inuendo, overall Moldea's book raises more questions than it answers. However, this book is also titled "How The Death Of Vince Foster Ignited A Political Firestorm". The "how" is more than adequately addressed. It's too bad Moldea violated his own chosen format to muck it up with that one last sentence.

Dan Moldea does an outstanding job of presenting the entire record of the Vince Foster tragedy in context. Unanswered questions posed by the conspiracists are answered, with significant referencing to the forensic record.

But this book does much more. It reviews the various articles written by Scaife funded activists, like Chris Ruddy and Reed Irvine, and demonstrates how the conspiracists twist the story to suit their agenda. This book is a must read to anyone studying the vast right wing conspiracy.

There are such strange circumstances around the death of Foster that no unprejudiced person who has done serious research can conclude it was suicide. But Moldea does. Draw your own conclusion.