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Remember the author/Bush critic who was suicided in July 2001
In the Afterword of his book Hatfield states:
"On August 4, 1999, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle publicly charged the Press with giving George W. Bush a 'free ride' in regards to the persistent rumors of past cocaine use, adding that it was a "a legitimate question" to expect any presidential candidate to answer to determine if he or she is morally fit to hold the highest elected office in the U.S.
In response to Senator Dashcle's challenge, later the same day the New York Daily News asked Bush and his other eleven political rivals where they had ever used cocain. All of them--except the presidential front-runner, who refused to answer the question--denied ever experimenting with the illegal drug. When the Associated Press asked the same candidates about the general use of the drugs, eight said no, and two acknowledged trying marijuana. Once again, Bush refused to answer the question, contributing to the media's feeding frenzy regarding allegations of his prior drug use by evasively responding: "I've made mistakes in the past and I've learned from my mistakes," branding such rumors "ridiculous and absurd," but declining to lable them false." (pp.299-300)
More on Hatfield: Below is an excerpt from the Forward section of a book 'Fortunate Son',by Bush family biographer J.H. Hatfield. This book was stripped from bookshelves back in Nov. 1999 and the publisher, 'St. Martin's Press', burned 70,000 copies after recieving alot of pressure from 'Poppy' and son. The following occured beginning on Oct. 19, 1999 as reported by Hatfield:
...Approximately 104,000 copies of my new biography. 'Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President, had been printed and 87, 933 copies had been shipped to bookstores after St. Martin's publicity director, John Murphy, boasted that The New York Times was running a front page story on the book in their Sunday, October 17 edition. In addition, Murphy claimed that he had arranged for me to be interviewed on the Today show in a two part segment to be aired the following Monday and Tuesday. When both promotional efforts for the new book failed to materialize, St. Martin's executives panicked.
At the meeting, they urged me to violate my journalistic principles and confidentiality agreements with the three sources quoted the book's controversial Afterword and provide their names to various news agencies in hopes of advancing publicity for Fortunate Son, a request I refused outright.
Murphy, whose reputation was on the line, was instructed by the other publishing company executives to call in all of his 'markers' in the media in order to publicize Fortunate Son and sensationalize the Afterward's allegations that George W. Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972, but had his record expunged after his father arranged for him to perform community service.
Murphy faxed a two-page press release to various news agencies, but he quickly found himself running into a virtual news blackout and lack of media coverage of publication of my new biography of the Texas governor. St. Martin's publicists were told repeatedly "off the record" by news agencies that the Bush presidential campaign was putting pressure on the media, telling reporters that if they covered Fortunate Son, they would find themselves "sitting in folding chairs" outside the press room when Bush got to the White House.
My editor, Barry Neville, and other St. Martin's executives once again desperately urged me to provide the names of my three confidential sources in increments to various reporters while fielding telephone calls in Neviille's office throughout Monday and Tuesday, October 18 and 19, in a an effort to "get the press worked up for the book", but I steadily declined...."
The forward does go on to explain how the book was pulled from the shelves and the flap in the press over censorship:
"Online Journal's Linda L. Starr claimed: 'Censorhsip is not done in this country, complete with book burnings and shreddings. This is America, not Nazi Germany.
Hatfield also had a line on aircraft being used for flying into buildings......In the summer of 2001 at the G8 meeting in Italy they mounted anti-aircraft batteries on the top of the building.......
Reuters - July 20, 2001 Writer of Recalled Bush Biography Apparent Suicide By Steve BarnesLITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) - James Howard Hatfield, whose biography of President Bush won national attention before its publisher withdrew it over the author's criminal past, died in an Arkansas motel in what police on Friday called a suicide. Police said Hatfield, 43, died of an apparent drug overdose. His body was found by a maid on Wednesday, the day after he checked into the motel in Springdale, near his native Bentonville and about 200 miles northwest of Little Rock. Detective Sgt. Mike Shriver of the Springdale PD said there was no question it was a suicide. ``He left a note and everything,'' Shriver said of Hatfield. ''It's really cut and dried.'' Hatfield's unauthorized biography, ``Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President,'' made headlines in October1999 when Bush was campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, with allegations based on unnamed sources that Bush had a record of cocaine use in the 1970s. Bush declined to comment directly on the cocaine allegations, saying only that he had made mistakes in his youth but had not used illegal drugs since at least 1974. No witnesses came forward to support the allegations. Bush's father denied the book's allegations that his son was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972 and that a Texas state judge wiped the arrest off the younger Bush's record in return for political favors. Hatfield's credibility was quickly called into question and publisher St. Martin's Press recalled all unsold copies after revelations that Hatfield had pleaded guilty in 1988 and served time in Arkansas for attempted murder. Hatfield denied he was the ex-convict with the same name, but Arkansas parole officials said he was the same man. Shriver said Hatfield had checked into the motel the night before his body was found. He said a suicide note near the body referred to financial problems, and that friends had told investigators Hatfield was becoming increasingly depressed in his last days. Hatfield lived in nearby Bentonville, where he was born. Shriver said prescription drug bottles were found at the scene, but declined to identify the pharmaceuticals pending a toxicology report from the Arkansas medical examiner that could require three months to complete.
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