Vince Foster

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Vince Foster

Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. (January 15, 1945 – July 20, 1993) was a deputy White House counsel during the first term of President Bill Clinton.

His death in was ruled a suicide by multiple investigations by the United States Park Police, the United States Congress, and Independent Counsels Robert B. Fiske and Kenneth Starr.

Life and career

Foster was born in Hope, Arkansas. He graduated first in his law school class at the University of Arkansas. Additionally he scored the highest in his class on the Arkansas bar exam[1]

A childhood friend of Bill Clinton, Foster had worked at the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas with Hillary Clinton. After Clinton's election, Foster joined his White House staff. The Foster residence was on Cambridge Place in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C.[2]

Foster had difficulty making the transition to life and politics in Washington. He was only a deputy counsel, but he was personally the target of several hostile Wall Street Journal editorials.

Wrestling with clinical depression, Foster was prescribed Trazodone over the phone by his doctor, though he could have taken at most a few pills before he died. The next day, Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park, a federal park in Virginia. He was found with a gun in his hand and gunshot residue on that hand. An autopsy determined that he was shot in the mouth and no other wounds were found on his body. A suicide note of sorts was found torn into 27 pieces in his briefcase, a list of complaints specifically mentioning the Wall Street Journal and complaining "I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here ruining people is considered sport."

His funeral Mass was held at St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Little Rock, Arkansas and he was buried in Memory Gardens Cemetery in his hometown of Hope, Arkansas. Foster was 48 years old, and left behind a widow, Lisa, and three adult children, Vince III, Laura, and Brugh.

Conspiracy theory

Background

Some find the official report (of suicide) questionable. The conservative Accuracy in Media, a group that has received funding from billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, has made available a transcript of an interview with Assistant U.S. Attorney Miguel Rodriguez) who resigned from the investigation, in which he states, "I knew what the result was going to be, because I was told what the result was going to be from the get-go." [3] Based on this assertion and other variables, some go so far as to propose that Foster was murdered to prevent him revealing information derogatory to Clinton, and others allege a romantic relationship between Foster and Hillary Clinton. [citation needed]

Scaife funded Christopher Ruddy (later founder of NewsMax), who previously was a writer for the Scaife owned Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, to dig up dirt on Clinton for the Arkansas Project. Ruddy was backed by Joseph Farah (founder of WorldNetDaily) and Farah's organization the Western Journalism Center. This group supplied Ruddy with "additional expense money, funding for Freedom of Information Act requests, legal support and publicity during his book research of a conspiracy surrounding the suicide of Foster.[4] Ruddy eventually released "The Strange Death of Vince Foster," which was even characterized by Ann Coulter as "discredited."[citation needed]

"On the basis of the logic on The New York Times editorial page, maybe Bill Clinton did kill Vince Foster. Evidently President Bush is responsible for Enron because he is from Texas and -- it is insinuatingly noted -- so is Enron! If the left's physical proximity argument constitutes evidence, I take it back: There are boatloads of evidence that Clinton killed Foster. " by Ann Coulter, More Slander, Jewish World Review July 11, 2002/ 2 Menachem-Av, 5762

"Nonetheless in 1999, Farah's Western Journalism Center "placed some 50 ads reprinting Ruddy's Tribune-Review stories in the Washington Times, then repackaged the articles as a packet titled The Ruddy Investigation, which sold for $12." [5] Shortly thereafter, the Western Journalism Center "circulated a video featuring Ruddy's claims, 'Unanswered-The Death of Vincent Foster,' that was produced by ultra-conservative James Davidson, chairman of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and co-editor of the Strategic Investment newsletter."[5] (NTU's research arm receives funds from Scaife.) Eventually, Scaife became an investor and the third-largest stockholder of Ruddy's NewsMax[6] and both NewsMax and the WorldNetDaily continue to publish materials that show the Clintions in a negative light (for example: NewsMax).

Besides the official investigations, including Kenneth Starr's report that ruled Foster's death a suicide, Dan Moldea wrote a book with encouragement from "from Al Regnery, the head of the conservative Regnery Publishing house" to write about the Foster case.[7] Besides concluding Foster's death was a suicide, he found the conspiracy theories were started by Robert Hines who when "he starts talking to Reed Irvine at Accuracy in Media, and Christopher Ruddy, who was then at the New York Post, he tells them that there is no exit wound in Foster's head, which was also untrue."[7] Moldea explained, "I don't think there was anything nefarious here," but Hines "was being approached by reporters and he wanted something to say."[7] Asked about the conspiracy theorists, "There were a couple of major people who were involved in this: Chris Ruddy of the New York Post, and later with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, which is owned by Richard Mellon Scaife --who is another player. There was also Joseph Farah, the executive director of the Western Journalism Center, which supposedly engages in nonprofit, pro-journalistic projects -- which of course just happen to be right-wing projects."[7] In reference to what specifically started the conspiracy theories, "Foster had some blond hair and carpet fibers on his suit jacket, and he had semen in his underwear. So, the Jerry Falwells and the right-wing crowd get a hold of this information, and what do they do with it? They start making movies alleging that the Clintons were involved in this murder. They were also saying that Foster had been having sex with some blond, that he either committed suicide or was murdered at a location other than Fort Marcy Park. That he was wrapped in a carpet and laid out to appear as though he committed suicide, and the gun was placed in his hand. Ruddy was involved with these videos."[7]

Different Theories

Some conspiracy theorists allege no bullet fragments were ever found and very little blood was present at the body's final location. Thus, the theorists assert suspicions that the body had been moved from another location to the park site. Some reject the official reports and believe that while Foster was located on an incline, the trickle of blood ran contrary to gravity. No explanation was offered to explain this. The U.S. Park Police were assigned to investigate the case, but no more information was ever disclosed.

With respect to this case, conspiracy theorists are largey divided into two groups. Some suspect that Foster committed suicide in a location that was embarrassing to figures connected to the Clinton administration and that government agents dumped his body in the park to avoid any embarrassment. Others suspect that Foster died from a shot from a small-caliber pistol to the neck and his body was dumped in the park. A book by Christopher Andersen entitled Bill and Hillary: The Marriage[8] claims that Foster and Hillary Clinton were involved in an affair, and some claim that this supposed affair has some relation to Foster's death.

Three federal judges -- David Sentelle, John Butzner, and Peter Fay -- attached an addendum to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's Report on Foster's death despite Starr's objection.[9] Starr's lead investigator, Assistant U.S. Attorney Miguel Rodriguez, stated in taped telephone conversations that he was told what the result would be before he began his investigation, and he said that "Starr's investigation was a sham" because he knew the result before the investigation began.[10]

Special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who investigated the Clintons on several other issues, including Whitewater, concluded after a three-year investigation that Foster had shot himself. Urban-legend-debunking website Snopes.com cites this as evidence that Foster was not murdered: "If Foster had been murdered or if unanswered questions about his death remained, Starr would have been the last person to want to conclude the investigation prematurely."[11]

See also

References

Web

  1. ^ "Vince Foster: One of the Best and Brightest". Retrieved 2006-05-02.
  2. ^ "Vince Foster Home". Retrieved 2006-05-02.
  3. ^ Rodriguez, Miquel (October 16, 2004). "Death of Vince Foster (Part 1)". Accuracy in Media. Retrieved 2006-05-03.
  4. ^ "The ConWebWatch Primer". Retrieved 2006-05-03.
  5. ^ a b ""Western Journalism Center - Joseph Farah"". Public Eye.Org. Retrieved December 15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ ""NEWSMAX MEDIA, INC. SB-2/A#1 REG. NO. 333-83408"". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved November 29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e Leibovich, Lori. "Why Vincent Foster can't rest in peace". Salon.com. Retrieved 2006-05-03.
  8. ^ "Book reveals Hillary's 'passionate affair'". BBC News. August 4, 1999. Retrieved 2006-05-03.
  9. ^ "Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-05-03.
  10. ^ Farah, Joseph (July 21, 2003). "Vincent Foster – 10 years later". WorldNetDaily.com. Retrieved 2006-05-03.
  11. ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (24 January 2001). "The Clinton Body Count". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2006-05-03.
  1. ""Death of Vince Foster (Part 1) by [[Miquel Rodriguez(agent)|Miquel Rodriguez]] "". Accuracy in Media. Retrieved December 16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help) (2001)
  2. ""Joseph Farah and the World Net Daily"". Con Watch. Retrieved December 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ""Why Vincent Foster can't rest in peace "". Salon.com. Retrieved December 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ""Why Vincent Foster can't rest in peace "". Salon.com. Retrieved December 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ""Americas Book reveals Hillary's 'passionate affair'" (1999)". BBC. Retrieved December 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. Mikkelson, Barbara.""The Clinton Body Count: False"". Snopes.com. Retrieved December 15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

Books

External links

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