Unfit for Command

Last updated
Unfit for Command
Unfit for Command.jpg
Author John E. O'Neill and Jerome Corsi
Publisher Regnery Publishing
Publication date
August 2004
Media typeHardcover/Paperback
ISBN 0-89526-017-4
OCLC 56057932
973.931/092 B 22
LC Class E840.8.K427 O54 2004

Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry is a 2004 book about then U.S. Presidential candidate John Kerry by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi published by Regnery Publishing. The book was released at the time that ads by Swift Vets and POWs for Truth were being aired on U.S. television.

Contents

Content and criticism

The book criticizes Kerry's judgment in battle, his truthfulness, his entitlement to certain medals, and his later anti-war activities. The book was based in part on interviews with veterans who served in or with Kerry's division, and also on biographies of Kerry. [1] Several members of Kerry's crew stated that O'Neill failed to interview them. [2] Neither O'Neill nor Corsi had any firsthand knowledge of Kerry's service. O'Neill served on the Swift boats after Kerry left Vietnam and Corsi never served in Vietnam. [3] According to the Swiftboat skipper who served with Kerry, the book was "wrong." [4]

Kerry's fellow sailors released a point-by-point rebuttal of the claims and stated that "The book's authors don't give Kerry's supporters the space or the credence that they warrant." [5] According to the Seattle Times , the government documents support Kerry's war awards and claims. [6] Some veterans interviewed for the book complained that their statements were edited to strip out material favorable to Kerry. [7]

At the same time the book was being criticized, the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth group was being criticized because "None of those in the attack ad by the Swift Boat group actually served on Kerry's boat. And their statements are contrary to the accounts of Kerry and those who served under him." [8]

After controversial statements made by Corsi became public, O'Neill denied Corsi's coauthorship of the book, saying that Corsi was "simply an editor and not really any sort of co-author." [9] [10] However, portions of the book [11] contain material also found in articles posted under Corsi's name at WinterSoldier.com, a website critical of John Kerry, [12] [13] and O'Neill is cited in a later book as describing Corsi as helping to write Unfit for Command, and urging him to back out of media appearances after the controversial comments became public. [14]

Controversy with publisher

In 2007 Corsi, along with several other authors, sued Regnery's parent company, Eagle Publishing, claiming the company "orchestrate[d] and participate[d] in a fraudulent, deceptively concealed and self-dealing scheme to divert book sales away from retail outlets and to wholly owned subsidiary organizations within the Eagle conglomerate." [15] The suit was dismissed on June 30, 2008. [16]

2008 election

Corsi published The Obama Nation in August 2008, criticizing then U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. Corsi's motivations behind its publication and book itself has been compared to Unfit for Command and criticized as unsubstantiated, misleading, or inaccurate. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] In response, the Obama campaign issued a 40-page rebuttal called Unfit for Publication, a play on the title of Corsi's 2004 book, on his website FightTheSmears.com, alleging serious factual errors. [26]

See also

Related Research Articles

Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, formerly known as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), was a political group of United States Swift boat veterans and former prisoners of war of the Vietnam War, formed during the 2004 presidential election campaign for the purpose of opposing John Kerry's candidacy for the presidency. The campaign inspired the widely used political pejorative "swiftboating", to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. The group disbanded and ceased operations on May 31, 2008.

John Ellis O'Neill is a Vietnam War veteran and lawyer who was the spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Rear Admiral Roy F. "Latch" Hoffmann, U.S. Navy (retired) (1925–2022) was chairman of the former Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, established May 4, 2004, in opposition to John Kerry's candidacy for U.S. President, and which disbanded on May 31, 2008. As a naval officer, he patrolled the Mekong Delta on swift boats during the Vietnam War.

<i>Stolen Honor</i> 2004 American film

Stolen Honor is a 45-minute anti-John Kerry video documentary that was released during the September 2004 election season. It features interviews with a number of American men who contend they were prisoners of war in North Vietnam and suffered increased maltreatment while prisoners as a direct result of Kerry's Fulbright Hearing testimony in April 1971. The subtitle of the film is Wounds That Never Heal; on the production company's website the complete title is given instead as Stolen Honor: John Kerry's Record of Betrayal. Its name was based on the book Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History by B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley.

During John Kerry's candidacy in the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign, a political issue that gained widespread public attention was Kerry's Vietnam War record. In television advertisements and a book called Unfit for Command, co-authored by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), a 527 group later known as the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, questioned details of his military service record and circumstances relating to the awarding of his combat medals. Their campaign against Kerry's presidential bid received widespread publicity, but was later discredited and gave rise to the neologism "swiftboating", to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. Defenders of Kerry's service record, including former crewmates, stated that allegations made by SBVT were false.

<i>Going Upriver</i> 2004 American film

Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry is a documentary film on U.S. Senator John Kerry's military service during the Vietnam War and his subsequent participation in the peace movement. There is significant emphasis on Kerry's famous speech before a Senate committee, historical footage from the Winter Soldier Investigations, and coverage of the Dewey Canyon III anti-war demonstrations in Washington, D.C. The majority of the film is composed of archival footage, with much of it in the original black-and-white format.

America in Vietnam is a book by Guenter Lewy about America's role in the Vietnam War. The book is highly influential although it has remained controversial even decades after its publication. Lewy contends that the US actions in Vietnam had been neither illegal nor immoral and that tales of American atrocities were greatly exaggerated in what he understands as a "veritable industry" of war crimes allegations.

The term swiftboating is a pejorative American neologism used to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. The term is derived from the name of the organization "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" because of their widely publicized—and later discredited—political smear campaign against 2004 U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry. Since the 2004 election, the term has come to commonly refer to a political attack that is dishonest, personal, and unfair.

The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) from January 31, 1971, to February 2, 1971. It was intended to publicize war crimes and atrocities by the United States Armed Forces and their allies in the Vietnam War. The VVAW challenged the morality and conduct of the war by showing the direct relationship between military policies and war crimes in Vietnam. The three-day gathering of 109 veterans and 16 civilians took place in Detroit, Michigan. Discharged servicemen from each branch of the armed forces, as well as civilian contractors, medical personnel and academics, all gave testimony about war crimes they had committed or witnessed during the years 1963–1970.

The military career of John Kerry occurred during the Vietnam War. Kerry served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy during the period from 1966 to 1970. His only tour in Vietnam was four months as officer in charge of a Swift boat in 1969. Kerry received several combat medals during this tour, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. Kerry's military record received considerable attention during his political career, especially during his unsuccessful 2004 bid for the presidency.

Bobby Jack Perry, known as Bob J. Perry, was a Houston, Texas homebuilder, owner of Perry Homes, and major contributor to a number of politically oriented 527 groups, such as the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth and the Economic Freedom Fund.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kerry</span> American politician and diplomat (born 1943)

John Forbes Kerry is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the administration of Barack Obama. A member of the Forbes family and of the Democratic Party, he previously represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1985 to 2013 and later served as the first U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate from 2021 to 2024. Kerry was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in the 2004 election, losing to then-incumbent president George W. Bush. He remains the most recent Democrat to have lost the popular vote in a presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bud Day</span> United States Air Force Medal of Honor recipient (1925–2013)

George Everette "Bud" Day was a United States Air Force officer, aviator, and veteran of World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War. He was also a prisoner of war, and recipient of the Medal of Honor and Air Force Cross. As of 2016, he is the only person to be awarded both the Medal of Honor and Air Force Cross. He was posthumously advanced to the rank of brigadier general effective March 27, 2018, as directed by the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.

The Swift Boat challenge from US oilman T. Boone Pickens was his reported offer of $1 million to anyone who can disprove a single charge made by the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, formerly the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, during the Presidential election campaign.

The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs was a special committee convened by the United States Senate during the George H. W. Bush administration to investigate the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, that is, the fate of United States service personnel listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War. The committee was in existence from August 2, 1991 to January 2, 1993.

<i>The Obama Nation</i> Book by Jerome Corsi

The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality is a book by Jerome Corsi opposing Barack Obama's candidacy for President of the United States. The book alleges Obama's "extreme leftism", "extensive connections with Islam and radical politics", "naïve... foreign policy", past drug use and connections to corrupt backers, among other things. The book has been criticized for containing factual errors, for being racist, and for being a political "attack book" containing smears, falsehoods, and innuendo.

<i>The Case Against Barack Obama</i> 2008 book by David Freddoso

The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate, by author David Freddoso, is an American non-fiction book published in late 2008, providing a critical examination of the life and opinions of the then United States presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama.

The Vietnam War POW/MIA issue concerns the fate of United States servicemen who were reported as missing in action (MIA) during the Vietnam War and associated theaters of operation in Southeast Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerome Corsi</span> American conservative author (born 1946)

Jerome Robert Corsi is an American conspiracy theorist and author. His two New York Times best-selling books, Unfit for Command (2004) and The Obama Nation (2008), attacked Democratic presidential candidates and have been criticized by opposition.

<i>Wheres the Birth Certificate?</i> 2011 book by Jerome Corsi

Where's the Birth Certificate?: The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible to Be President is a book by Jerome Corsi which promotes the false claim that then U.S. president Barack Obama was not a natural-born citizen of the United States and was thus constitutionally unqualified to hold the office. The book was released on May 17, 2011, and reached No. 6 on the New York Times list of best-selling hardcover non-fiction books. It has been publicized in politically conservative venues.

References

  1. ↑ "Book Details – Unfit for Command". Regnery. 2008-08-17. Archived from the original on 2008-08-04.
  2. ↑ Zernike, Kate; Rutenberg, Jim (2004-08-20). "Friendly Fire: The Birth of an Anti-Kerry Ad". New York Times. Archived from the original on May 24, 2006.
  3. ↑ "Unfit for Publication" (PDF). Obama for America. 2008-08-14. Retrieved 2008-11-14. page 36
  4. ↑ Jones, Tim (2004-08-04). "Swift boat skipper: Kerry critics wrong". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  5. ↑ King, Colbert I. (August 28, 2004). "What Matters About Kerry and Vietnam". Washington Post . Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  6. ↑ "Participant in mission, documents support Kerry's war claim". Seattle Times. August 22, 2004. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  7. ↑ Zernike, Kate; Rutenberg, Jim (2004-08-20). "Friendly Fire: The Birth of an Anti-Kerry Ad". New York Times. Archived from the original on August 17, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-26. "Mr. Runyon said the edited version was stripped of all references to enemy combat, making it look like just another night in the Mekong Delta."
  8. ↑ "Republican-funded Group Attacks Kerry's War Record". Factcheck.org. August 6, 2004. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  9. ↑ “Scarborough Country,” MSNBC , 10 August 2004
  10. ↑ “John O'Neill Interview with Wolf Blitzer,” CNN , 11 August 2004.
  11. ↑ "Excerpts from Unfit for Command". Archived from the original on 2007-03-23. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
  12. ↑ Corsi, Jerome (2004-07-27). "Communist Vietnamese honor John Kerry, the war protestor, as a hero in their victory over the United States in the Vietnam War – Part II". WinterSoldier.com. Archived from the original on 2005-03-24. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
  13. ↑ Corsi, Jerome (2004-05-03). "Coordinating with the enemy: Vietnam Veterans Against the War in Paris and Hanoi". WinterSoldier.com. Archived from the original on 2005-03-05. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
  14. ↑ “To Set the Record Straight: How Swift Boat Veterans, POWS and the New Media Defeated John Kerry,” by Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler, pp. 120–124
  15. ↑ "Conservative Authors Sue Publisher" . Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  16. ↑ Rich, Motoko (2008-02-02). "Authors Suit Dismissed". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  17. ↑ "Democrats Seek to Undermine Anti-Obama Author With His Own Words". ABC News. August 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  18. ↑ "Book on Obama blasted for 'vicious innuendo'". CNN. 2008-08-14.
  19. ↑ Eli Saslow (2008-08-14). "New Books Aim To Unweave the Obama Narrative". Washington Post .
  20. ↑ "Latest smear against Obama an abomination". Sun-Times. 2008-08-14. Archived from the original on August 19, 2008.
  21. ↑ Kate Linthicum, "Book attacking Obama makes the bestseller list", Los Angeles Times, August 12, 2008
  22. ↑ "Wild theories of 'Obama Nation' author". The Politico. 2008-08-14.
  23. ↑ Rutenberg, Jim; Julie Bosman (August 12, 2008). "Book Attacking Obama Hopes to Repeat '04 Anti-Kerry Feat". New York Times . Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  24. ↑ "Unfit for Publication: Corsi's The Obama Nation filled with falsehoods". Media Matters for America. August 4, 2008.
  25. ↑ "Who We Are". Media Matters for America. August 10, 2008.
  26. ↑ "Unfit For Publication: An Investigative Report On The Lies In Jerome Corsi's "Obama Nation"". Obama for America. 2008-08-14. Archived from the original on August 18, 2008.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.