Recorder Quotes
The reporters were not intimidated. They published not only the story about the joke but the threats of the Chief of Staff who later apologized publicly to minimize the political damage. The quotation is important for two reasons. First it illustrates something that occurs in all countries—political officials intimidating journalists to suppress a story they do not want public. Second, the vibrancy of the Israel freedom of the press, where even the highest ranking general in the nation could not intimidate ordinary journalists. In most counties, the journalists would have been imprisoned, and possible tortured and killed if they crossed such a powerful man. In many democracies, the journalists would have been fired.
The General was not a fan of President Lyndon Johnson. He was asked by a historian of the Lyndon Johnson Library if he would consent to an oral interview about his Vietnam War recollections:
