Peters, Charles and Branch, Taylor (eds). Blowing the Whistle: Dissent in
the Public Interest. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972. 305 pages.
This is a collection of 17 essays from "Washington Monthly," a DC
journal with a warm spot in its pages for the occasional government whistle-
blower. An introductory essay by Monthly co-managing editor Taylor Branch,
who at the time was working with Bill Clinton on McGovern's 1972 campaign,
depicts whistle-blowing as an emerging variant on America's turn-of-the-
century muckrakers. Branch is an excellent writer, but his optimism is
unfounded. Whistle-blowers usually defy their own interests in favor of the
public interest, and all societies need this sort of spirit. But if things
get so bad that liberals begin to depend on them, then it's already too late;
whistle-blowing is too rare to make a major impact on the system. Now that
buddy Bill is president, for example, Branch's own whistle is gathering dust.
Still, some of these essays are classics: Adam Hochschild on the
Reserves and National Guard (pp. 30-42); Patrick J. McGarvey on the Defense
Intelligence Agency (pp. 43-76); the bureaucratic dismantling of OEO's
Office of Legal Services (pp. 77-100); Christopher Pyle on domestic
political surveillance by the U.S. military (pp. 109-120); A. Ernest
Fitzgerald on defense procurement practices (pp. 195-221); Taylor Branch
on the Otto F. Otepka case (pp. 222-245); and an interview by Branch with
Daniel Ellsberg (pp. 246-275).
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