Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [58]
Self-appointed experts began questioning every aspect of the case: Why wasn’t there more blood around Foster’s body? Why was the gun still in Foster’s hand? Why did nobody hear the shot, including people at the residence of the Saudi Arabian ambassador nearby? Why were there no gunpowder burns inside Foster’s mouth? Why did the so-called confidential witness not see a gun in Foster’s hand when he first observed the body? And why was no bullet found? Rumors being disseminated on the radio talk shows and in the tabloids ranged from sinister to outlandish. They included assertions that the Clintons and other White House operatives had murdered Foster; tales of secret Swiss bank accounts and drug-smuggling sponsored by the CIA; reports of a “safe house” hideaway in Virginia where Foster was engaging in trysts with girlfriends; and rampant speculation that Foster had been having a clandestine love affair with Hillary Clinton—an affair that had gone awry and had led him to blow his brains out.
If any aspect of the Foster death left a deep scar on the president and First Lady, it was the circulation of these grotesque rumors. Said President Clinton, years later, attempting to contain his anger, “I heard a lot of the right-wing talk show people … and all the sleazy stuff they said.” He clenched a fist. “They didn’t give a rip that he [Foster] had killed himself or that his family was miserable or that they could break the hearts [of Foster’s friends and family]. It was just another weapon to slug us with, to dehumanize us with.”
The hysteria surrounding the death of one of his best childhood friends, President Clinton said, was an “enlightening experience”: “Because I realized I was up against a group of people who, while they claim they have great values and worship God, in fact worship power. And that they would do or say anything, and that they really thought that we were illegitimate occupiers of their natural throne in Washington, D.C., and that anything they said or did against any of us was okay.”
Sitting back in the chair at his kitchen table in Chappaqua, President Clinton closed his eyes for a moment, then regained his composure: “You know, I was heartbroken by Vince’s death, and I spoke at his funeral and I visited his grave not long ago when I was home. I think about him all the time. But the way they treated the aftermath, the way those people treated his family and Hillary and all of us who were involved in it, it only steeled my resolve to endure this. I thought, ‘My country doesn’t belong in the hands of people who think like this. This is not human. This has nothing to do with conservative or liberal or Republican or Democrat. This is way beyond the pale if people think that this kind of behavior is legitimate.’ And I just said, ‘I’m going to take a deep breath and go back to work.’”
In fact, Bill Clinton might have succeeded in going back to work, leaving behind the heartbreaking Vince Foster episode for the rest of his presidency, were it not for several unforeseen developments. A month after Vince’s death, a municipal judge, David Hale, was indicted in Arkansas, charged with defrauding the Small Business Association. Some of the transactions for which federal authorities were pursuing Hale involved Jim McDougal. Now Hale suddenly appeared on television news shows, stating that he could prove Bill Clinton had participated in the bogus deals if prosecutors would only cut a deal with him.
Jim McDougal, whose behavior was becoming even more bizarre, emerged from the trailer-cottage on