''The Strange Death of Vincent Foster: An Investigation'' is a 1997 book by the journalist
Christopher Ruddy. Ruddy first wrote about the Foster story while reporting for ''
The New York Post'' and the ''
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'', also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Although it transitioned to an all-digital format on December 1, 2016, it rem ...
'', owned by the millionaire
Richard Scaife
Richard Mellon Scaife (; July 3, 1932 – July 4, 2014) was an American billionaire, a principal heir to the Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune, and the owner and publisher of the ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review''. In 2005, Scaife was n ...
. The book is about a conspiracy theory tying
Bill and
Hillary Clinton to the alleged murder of
Vincent Foster
Vincent Walker Foster Jr. (January 15, 1945 – July 20, 1993) was an American attorney who served as deputy White House counsel during the first six months of the Clinton administration.
Foster had been a partner at Rose Law Firm in Litt ...
. There were three separate official investigations of Foster's death, each concluding that he committed suicide.
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of the report on the 1993 death of White House counsel Vincent W. Foster, Jr., compiled by Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr Ruddy believes
Kenneth Starr's investigation was part of the conspiracy, calling Starr a "patsy for the Clintonites and those that believe that the stability and reputation of America is more important than justice."
Content
Former
FBI Director
William S. Sessions
William Steele Sessions (May 27, 1930June 12, 2020) was an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and Director of the Federal Bureau of Inve ...
described Ruddy's inquiry into Foster's death as "serious and compelling".
Richard Brookhiser (editor of the conservative ''
National Review'') wrote in ''
The New York Times'' that "Ruddy argues that his doubts do not require him to posit some vast conspiracy of silence... At the same time Ruddy clearly believes that something dastardly happened, and he cannot stop dark hints from leaking out." Brookhiser wrote "'If,' Ruddy writes on page 1, Vince Foster 'had been killed ...' If Ruddy didn't want to make such an Oliver Stone argument, even hypothetically, he should have left his rhetorical teasers on the cutting-room floor."
Jacob Cohen (professor at
Brandeis University) wrote in ''
National Review'' that the book was "conspiracy central", while
Ann Coulter "ripped it as a 'conservative hoax book' that was 'discredited' by conservatives." A
''Slate'' review called the book "absurd".
References
External links
Columbia Journalism ReviewBook Discussion on The Strange Death of Vincent Foster at C-SPAN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strange Death of Vincent Foster, The
1997 non-fiction books
Books about the Clinton administration
Books about conspiracy theories
English-language books