Neil Sheehan

This article is about the journalist. For the record label owner, seeStandBy Records.

For other people named Cornelius Sheehan, seeCornelius Sheehan (disambiguation).

Neil Sheehan
Born	Cornelius Mahoney Sheehan (1936-10-27)October 27, 1936 Holyoke, Massachusetts,U.S.
Died	January 7, 2021(2021-01-07)(aged 84) Washington, D.C.,U.S.
Education	Harvard University
Occupation	Journalist

Cornelius Mahoney Sheehan(October 27, 1936 – January 7, 2021) was an American journalist. As a reporter forThe New York Timesin 1971, Sheehan obtained the classifiedPentagon PapersfromDaniel Ellsberg.His series of articles revealed a secretUnited States Department of Defensehistory of theVietnam Warand led to aU.S. Supreme Courtcase,New York Times Co. v. United States,403U.S.713(1971), which invalidated the United States government's use of a restraining order to halt publication.

He received aPulitzer Prizeand aNational Book Awardfor his 1988 bookA Bright Shining Lie,about the life of Lieutenant ColonelJohn Paul Vannand the United States involvement in theVietnam War.

Early life

Sheehan was born inHolyoke, Massachusettson October 27, 1936. His father, Cornelius Joseph Sheehan, worked as a dairy farmer; his mother, Mary (O'Shea), was a housewife. Both immigrated to the United States fromIreland.He was raised on a dairy farm near Holyoke. Sheehan graduated from Mount Hermon School (laterNorthfield Mount Hermon) andHarvard Universitywith aB.A.in history (cum laude) in 1958. He served in theU.S. Armyfrom 1959 to 1962, when he was assigned toKoreaand then transferred toTokyo;there, he did work moonlighting in the Tokyo bureau ofUnited Press International(UPI).

Career

See also:Xá Lợi Pagoda raids

Following his discharge, Sheehan spent two years covering the war inVietnamas UPI'sSaigonbureau chief. In 1963, during theBuddhist crisis,Sheehan andDavid Halberstamdebunked the claim by theNgô Đình Diệmregime that theArmy of the Republic of Vietnamregular forces had perpetrated theXá Lợi Pagoda raids,which U.S. authorities initially accepted. They showed instead that the raiders wereSpecial Forcesloyal to Diệm's brother,Nhuout to frame the army generals. In 1964, he joinedThe New York Timesand worked the city desk for a while before returning to theFar East,first toIndonesiaand then to spend another year in Vietnam.Sheehan was one of numerous U.S. and international journalists who received valuable information fromPham Xuan An,a 20-year veteran correspondent forTime MagazineandReuters,later revealed to also be a spy for theNational Liberation Front for South Vietnam.

In the fall of 1966, he became thePentagoncorrespondent. Two years later, he began reporting on theWhite House.He was a correspondent on political, diplomatic, and military affairs. After being notified of their existence byMarcus Raskinand Ralph Stavins at theInstitute for Policy Studies,Sheehan copied thePentagon Papersfor theTimeson March 2, 1971,against leaker and Vietnam-era acquaintanceDaniel Ellsberg's wishes. He made the copies with the help of his wife Susan in numerous copy shops in Boston, then they flew with the copies to a hotel room atThe Jeffersonin Washington for reading, before mailing them to his editorJames L. Greenfield's apartment, then he worked with Greenfield and a large team of editors, writers and lawyers on organizing the copies for publication in theNew York Hilton Midtown,as he would later reveal in 2015.The U.S. government tried to halt publication and the case,New York Times Co. v. United States(403 U.S. 713), saw the U.S. Supreme Court reject the government's position and establish a landmarkFirst Amendmentdecision. The exposé would earnThe New York TimesthePulitzer Prize for Public Service.

In 1970, Sheehan reviewedConversations With AmericansbyMark Lanein theNew York Times Book Review.He called the work a collection of Vietnam War crime stories with some obvious flaws which the author had not verified. Sheehan called for more thorough and scholarly work to be done on thewar crimesbeing committed in Vietnam.

Sheehan published an article in theNew York Times Book Reviewon March 28, 1971, entitled "Should We have War Crime Trials?". He suggested that the conduct of the Vietnam War could be acrime against humanityand that senior U.S. political and military leaders could be subject to trial. In response, the Pentagon prepared a detailed rebuttal justifying its conduct of the war and exonerating senior commanders, however, the rebuttal was never released due to the belief that it would only exacerbate the issue.

Sheehan published his first book,The Arnheiter Affair,in 1972.Marcus Aurelius Arnheiter,the subject of the book, proceeded to bring an action forlibelagainst Sheehan but was ultimately unsuccessful.Sheehan then secured an unpaid leave from theTimesto work on a book aboutJohn Paul Vann,a dramatic figure among American leaders in the early stages of the war in Vietnam. Two years later, in November 1974, Sheehan was badly injured in a road accident on a snowy mountain road inwestern Maryland.Sheehan's wife, the veteranNew Yorkerstaff writerSusan Sheehan,chronicled details of the accident and its emotional, legal, and financial impact in a 1978 article for the magazine.The time and effort spent fighting three libel suits in connection with his first book that endured until 1979, and Sheehan's lengthy recovery from his injuries, delayed work on his Vietnam book. After theTimesended his unpaid leave in 1976, he formally resigned from the newspaper to continue work on the book.

Although he received an advance of $67,500 (of which he was entitled to $45,000 prior to publication) fromRandom Housein 1972, Sheehan – a "dreadfully slow" writer who "[chased after] the last fact" – mainly subsisted on lecture fees and fellowships from theJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation(1973–1974), the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Studies at theUniversity of Chicago(1973–1975), theLehrman Institute(1975–1976), theRockefeller Foundation(1976–1977), and theWoodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars(1979–1980) for the remainder of the 1970s.According to William Prochnau, the latter fellowship marked a significant "turning point" for the book, as Sheehan "talked about Vietnam all day long every day" withPeter Braestrupafter abandoning several hundred manuscript pages later characterized as a "false start" by Susan Sheehan.When Sheehan finished "three-fifths of the manuscript" in the summer of 1981, the initial advance was renegotiated and raised to $200,000 with a projected delivery date of 1983, whileWilliam ShawnofThe New Yorkeragreed to excerpt the finished manuscript and advance funds as needed.

Still beset by health problems (including apinched nerveandosteoarthritis), he eventually completed the book,A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam,in 1986.Edited byRobert Loomisand published in 1988, it was nominated for thePulitzer Prizesin Biography and History and received thePulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.It also won theNational Book Award for Nonfiction.In 1990, Sheehan received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.

Later life

External videos
Q&Ainterview with Sheehan onA Fiery Peace in a Cold War,September 20, 2009,C-SPAN

Sheehan released the book,After the War Was Over: Hanoi and Saigon,in 1992.It was inspired by his visit to Vietnam three years earlier.He published his last book,A Fiery Peace in a Cold War,in 2009. It detailed the story ofBernard Schriever,who was the father of the U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile system.

Personal life

Sheehan was introduced to his wife,Susan Margulies,by fellow reporterGay Talese.She wrote forThe New Yorkerat the time,and subsequently won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction forIs There No Place on Earth for Me?in 1983.They married in 1965,and had two daughters (Catherine and Maria).

Sheehan died on January 7, 2021, at his home inWashington, D.C.He was 84, and suffered from complications ofParkinson's diseasein the time leading up to his death.

Books

• The Pentagon Papers as published by the New York Times(1971),ISBN9780552649179
• The Arnheiter Affair(1972) – aboutMarcus Aurelius Arnheiter,a U.S. Navy officer relieved of command in 1966
• A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam(1988),ISBN9781407063904
• After the War Was Over: Hanoi and Saigon(1992),ISBN9780679745075
• A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon(2009),ISBN9780679745495

In popular culture

Sheehan was portrayed byJonas ChernickinThe Pentagon Papers(2003),andJustin SwaininThe Post(2017).He appears as himself inKen Burns' 2017 documentary seriesThe Vietnam War.

External links

• Neil SheehanatIMDb
• AppearancesonC-SPAN