An Evening with Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh

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Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh will discuss his bestseller "Chain of Command" on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at Williams College. The talk is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Chapin Hall. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first come basis. "Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib" chronicles the path from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 to the American prisoner abuse scandals of Abu Ghraib. The book is based on articles that originally appeared in The New Yorker magazine. In a 2004 interview in Salon, Hersh said that he thought that Rumsfeld and senior administration officials had a chance in the fall of 2002 to set the limits and chose not to. "The chain of command is very responsive," he said. "If you put out the word that you're not going to tolerate this, it's not going to happen. But that's not the word they put out." Hersh is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and has written dozens of stories on military and security matters surrounding the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. One of the most controversial and award-winning journalists in the past 40 years, he was the first to expose the My Lai massacre of the Vietnam War in 1969. He also revealed the wiretapping authorized by Henry Kissinger during the Nixon administration and the C.I.A.'s sale of U.S. weapons to Libya during the 1980s. More recently, Hersh uncovered the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. His work has won more than a dozen major journalism prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting and four George Polk Awards. His best-selling books, "The Dark Side of Camelot" about President Kennedy and "The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House," won major national awards and were on bestseller lists for weeks. His other book prizes include the 1983 National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times award for biography, and the Sidney Hillman award. He won an Investigative Reporters & Editors prize for the Kissinger book in 1983, and another in 1992 for "The Samson Option," a study of American foreign policy and the Israeli nuclear bomb program. In 2004, Hersh won a National Magazine Award in public interest for his three pieces, "Lunch with the Chairman," "Selective Intelligence," and "The Stovepipe," an investigation of neoconservatives at the Pentagon. Richard Perle threatened to sue Hersh for libel after "Lunch with the Chairman" was published, but he failed to file suit. Hersh began his career in journalism working for The New York Times.
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Williams Community Chest Looking Forward to Centennial

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williamstown Community Chest is making plans to celebrate its centennial anniversary this year. 
 
"We are planning some big celebrations around this milestone," said board President Matt Carter at the nonprofit's 99th annual business meeting on Tuesday morning, unveiling the logo to be used this year "to look back on the history of the community, and to celebrate with all of you and the work that you do over this 100th year."
 
The 100th annual meeting will be held on March 10, 2027, the Community Chest's birthday (there will be cake, he promised) and a gala will be held at the Clark Art Institute on Sept. 25, 2027. 
 
"We're going to try to use this year to highlight the great work that everyone does. It's usually a custom for someone to say, well, we couldn't do this work without you, but you are the work," he said to the gathering at the Williams Inn. "We really exist to support you in doing this work."
 
The local Community Chest supports 19 agencies, awarding $318,500 in allocations, as well as $62,200 in grants in 2025 to local organizations. 
 

Executive Director Anne Singleton thanks the many volunteers and businesses that support the Community Chest and its 19 agencies.
thanked the chest's many supporters, including MountainOne for sponsoring the annual Fun Run, Williams College for hosting is Penny Social and Nonprofit Fair.
 
"I'd like to extend that thank you to our local businesses that support all kinds of events for us. They provide prizes for the Penny Social and they do this for many, many organizations and fundraisers," she said. 
 
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