EOTO #3: Seymour M. Hersh

By all accounts, Seymour M. Hersh is a horn in the side of the government, and he prefers it that way. 

For over half a century, this Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist has been one of the most fearless voices in media: challenging official narratives, exposing military cover-ups, and holding some of the most powerful institutions in America accountable. 

Bettman Archive 
Seymour M. Hersh, 1970

Early Years

Born in 1937 to Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Lithuania, Seymour M. Hersh grew up on the South Side of a working-class neighborhood in Chicago. His parents ran a dry-cleaning business, and like many first-generation Americans, Hersh was instilled early with a strong work ethic and deep skepticism of authority.His father passed away when he was just a kid, leaving his mother to support the household alone. His childhood was pragmatic, modest, and tough— factors later shaping his no-nonsense approach to journalism. 

Hersh attended the University of Chicago to become a lawyer, but his plans fell short when he was expelled for poor grades. A friend referred him to a job opening at the City News Bureau of Chicago, a famous, grueling training ground for young reporters. He quickly became immersed in the demands of fact-based, deadline-driven reporting and realized he was much more interested in exposing hard truths than interpreting the law. 

My Lai

Hersh’s national breakthrough came in 1969 with a story so damming that it altered the course of the Vietnam War. Acting on a tip from a lawyer, Hersh tracked down Lt. William Calley, the officer accused of leading a massacre in the village of My Lai. Over a series of dogged interviews and government documents, Hersh uncovered that U.S. troops had slaughtered, raped, and mutilated more than 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians in 1968– an act the milatery initially tried to cover up. 

     Ronald L. Haeberle 
Primary source photo taken during the My Lai Massacre
Mainstream publications initially balked at the story. So Hersh pushed it through a small Dispatch News Service, a gamble that paid off. The report ignited worldwide outrage, turning Calley into a household name and significantly eroding public support for the war. Hersh was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1970. 

But more importantly, the My Lai investigation cemented Hersh’s core ethos: dig deep, follow the facts, and don’t blink under scrutiny. It was never about the headline; it was about the truth, no matter how ugly. 

Nixon and the CIA

In the years that followed My Lai, Hersh took his reporting talents to the New York Times, where he became the paper’s provocateur during the Watergate era. While Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were unraveling the break-in itself, Hersh cast a wider net, investigating the CIA’s illegal domestic spying operations, covert warfare program, and widespread political manipulation. 

National Security Archive
Hersh's front page story of the CIA's illegal domestic
operations in the New York Times, 1974
His reporting directly led to the creation of the Church Committee and ushered a wave of congressional oversight on intelligence agencies. He also penned The Price of Power (1983), a scathing portrait of Henry Kissinger that painted the former Secretary of State as a master manipulator operating in a world of duplicity and shadow diplomacy. 

Hersh’s work during the 1970s and ‘80s earned acclaim from civil liberties advocates while making more than a few enemies in the White House. 

The War on Terror

In the aftermath of 9/11 while many rallied around the flag, Hersh went back to doing what he does best: asking the questions no one else wanted to ask. 

Visual evidence of mistreatment of 
prisoners at Abu Ghraib; Hooded and
naked forced to stand on cardboard boxes
As a staff writer for the New Yorker, he heavily scrutinized the Bush Administration’s case for invading Iraq, casting doubts on its claims about weapons of mass destruction. His reporting ran parallel to Knight Ridder's, one of the few other journalistic voices at the time questioning the intelligence used to justify the war. But it was his 2004 exposé on the abuse and torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib’s prison that once again put him at the center of a political firestorm. 

With photographic evidence and first-hand testimony, Hersh revealed the brutal system of dehumanization, not unlike what happened in Vietnam. His reporting yet again sparked global outrage, led to the resignation of high-level military officers, and forced the US government to confront the morality of the war.

Controversies

Later in his career, Hersh’s reporting became more controversial, particularly for his reliance on unnamed sources and publication in outlets outside the mainstream press. His 2015 article in the London Review of Books disputed the official account of the US operation that killed Osama bin Laden, alleging that Pakistan had secretly held bin Laden in custody and cooperated with the raid. This story was highly criticized for lacking corroboration.

Don J. Usner 
Seymour M. Hersh, 2016
Similarly, his reporting on chemical weapons in Syria questioned whether the Assad regime was responsible, contradicting findings by U.S. intelligence and international investigators. Though his critics accused him of an overreliance on anonymous sources and speculative leaps, Hersh maintains that the job of a reporter is to question— and when necessary, contradict— the government’s version of events. 

Legacy

Seymour M. Hersh career is a study in persistence, rigor, and moral clarity. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, from the CIA’s domestic surveillance to illegal secret warfare abroad, his work has consistently forced powerful institutions to answer for their actions. Though his methods and conclusions have not been without controversy, his commitment to exposing the truth, regardless of personal cost, has left an indelible mark on journalism. 

In an era where trust is eroding and misinformation reigns, Hersh’s legacy is a reminder that journalism, at its best, is about finding and exposing the truth, forever a watchdog for democracy. 

Author's Note

First of all, I want to apologize that this post is neither as long nor as eloquent as my previous work. Due to recent events, I wasn’t able to dedicate nearly as much time and energy to it as I would have liked. Still, I did my best to capture who Seymour Hersh is and why he’s such an important figure to know.

I plan to revisit and rewrite this post later in the summer—after I’ve had more time to process my grief and return from Australia. If you'd like, I’d be happy to share the updated version with you when it's ready. Hersh is a remarkable journalist, and I truly wish I had more energy to honor his work the way it deserves. This is just a surface-level introduction, so I encourage you and anyone interested to read his memoir, Reporter. I’m only halfway through, and already deeply inspired by his courage and integrity.

Thank you for being such a wonderful teacher. This is the first time I’ve ever written a blog, and I definitely plan to use it as a writing sample when applying for jobs. Your class has taught me so much—not only about the history of journalism, writing, and blogging, but also about letting go of the debilitating perfectionism I carried into this semester; I'm incredibly grateful.

Wishing you a relaxing and joyful summer:)

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