Seymour Hersh, one of the giants of US journalism has published his memoirs ‘Reporter’ to generally rave reviews. John Le Carre talks of his ‘low cunning and tireless legwork, warmth and humanity.’ He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his exposé of the massacre in My Lai, Vietnam when US soldiers massacred 109 Vietnamese civilians. He doggedly tracked down William Calley who had been in charge and then initially he could find no editor willing to publish his piece. Since then he has received numerous awards for books and reportage over decades in DC, Vietnam and the Middle East, including Abu Ghraib and Bin Laden’s death.
One gripe does come from Haaretz: ‘Missing from all these mainstream reviews was any mention of what should have been Hersh’s career-ending disaster – the apologetics for Bashar Assad and Vladimir Putin which culminated in a supposed expose of the Khan Sheikhoun sarin attack.’ Multiple agencies and governments later laid the blame at Assad’s feet.
Hersh was born 8 April 1937 8.05am Chicago, Illinois. He has an 11th house Aries Sun which is on the focal point of a T Square to an ultra-confident Jupiter opposition Pluto, so ego-centric and unconcerned about social niceties in going for what he wants. Mercury in Taurus is also on the focal point of that opposition heightening his ability to communicate; as does Pluto in the 3rd which is the journalistic house and Jupiter in the publishing/global 9th.
He’ll be drawn to war and dark subjects by Pluto which trines Saturn; and to adventure by his Mars in Sagittarius. His compassionate Pisces Moon is in his career 10th, so he’ll have a feel for public taste and appreciate his work attention it brings. It opposes Neptune in the 4th squaring onto a Sagittarius North Node in his 7th – the emphasised North Node also puts him in the centre of the zeitgeist.
I wouldn’t imagine he’s the easiest man to get along with work-wise or emotionally but he made a difference. He’s been married since 1958 to a psychoanalyst and has three children.