Phil Ochs 1973 Interview on Nixon, Watergate, & S. America

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• published: 24 Aug 2015
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Phil Ochs was interviewed by Vic Sadot and Rich Lang, host of Interface, a WGTB Public Affairs Program, in Washington, DC in early May of 1973. The Sound Engineer was Skip Pizzi. Rich Lang announces the show and introduces Phil Ochs and Vic Sadot. Vic explains that Phil is in DC for a week long engagement at The Cellar Door. Vic asks Phil about Watergate, the Senate and the press. Phil talks about “the Watergate conspiracy” and the increasing possibility of impeachment of President Richard Nixon; Rich asks Phil about Vice President Spiro Agnew; Nixon in the polls, and the significance of Attorney General John Mitchell admitting to breaking the law. Phil expresses surprise that Judge John Sirica pursued the Watergate case thus far, talks of the lack of character of Eliot Richardson, quotes John Lennon’s song, Working Class Hero, refers to “crooks” and “creeps” (Committee to Re-Elect the President), mentions FBI Director L. Patrick Gray admitting to having destroyed evidence, and the break-in to the office of the psychiatrist of Pentagon whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg. Phil talks about his appearance on a TV show called “Panorama” the day before, what some members of the international press, were saying, and notes that the German paper Der Spiegel calls it the “Nixon scandal”. Phil comments on the dignity and utility of a parliamentary vote of no confidence compared to the Congressional impeachment process offered in the US Constitution. Phil Ochs sings "Here’s to the State of Richard Nixon", an update of a song he had previously written and released as "Here’s to the State of Mississippi". Includes Phil's lyrics. Phil had just returned from South America. So Vic asked Phil about his travels in recent years. Phil covers the globe with his commentary on Vietnam and Cambodia, and his report on his most recent travels to Chile, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Bali, Jakarta, Singapore, Thailand, the Phillipines, and Philadelphia. Phil describes the struggle going on in Chile with the democratic election of Salvador Allende, a socialist who nationalized the copper mines, a great national asset of Chile that came to be owned by ITT Anaconda. This interview was in May 1973, which is 4 months before the coup by General Pinochet. Unknown to us at the time, ITT and the CIA were working with the Chilean military to plan the attack on the elected Chilean government. The coup came on September 11, 1973. Phil cites the assassination of the head of the Chilean Armed Forces (General René Schneider Chereau on October 25, 1970, in Santiago) as a “false flag” operation to make it seem like the newly elected socialist government was attacking the Chilean military. (Note: General Carlos Prats Gonzáles was killed on September 30, 1974, in Buenos Aires). He considered the movie “State of Siege” to be an accurate portrayal of the revolutionary movements in South America, particularly in regard to tactics of the Tupamaros in Uruguay. Then he tells the story of being at a university in Uruguay when it was surrounded by the army and shots were exchanged. He says and Dave Ifshin were arrested and taken to a prison for questioning and some physical abuse. He suspects that Interpol tried to have the two American tourists deported to the new military dictatorship in Bolivia from the Buenes Aires, Argentina airport. Instead they were able to fly to Peru. We discuss the role of universities in South America. Phil said that folk singers were able to make it on the juke box and radio in South America, but the songs that do are mostly romantic subjects rather than political ones. Phil talks about the CIA financing a spiritual movement in Chile called "Joven Poder" (Youth Power) to drain youth from the class conscious revolutionary struggle in Chile. (There may have been more to this interview since the reel tape ends without a definitive conclusion). Note: Phil does not mention Chilean folk singer Victor Jara. Yet we later learned that he traveled and sang with Victor Jara to the copper miners and university students. Phil organized "Friends of Chile" to do a concert on May 9, 1974 at the Felt Forum in New York City titled "An Evening With Salvador Allende". Bob Dylan was the big draw. Also on the bill were Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Dave Van Ronk, Dennis Hopper, Mike Love & Dennis Wilson, and Melani. This video ends with the last part of "Broadside Balladeer", a song tribute to Phil Ochs by Vic Sadot, which was released on 9/11/11 on a CD titled "9/11 Truth & Justice Songs", which is available at CD Baby. It tells Phil's story while citing the titles to many of his songs. It was in written in 1977, a year after Phil committed suicide on April 9, 1976 at the house of his sister Sonny Ochs in Far Rockaway, New York. He had gone through a period of alcoholic disorientation

Fred Newman Ph.D. & Lenora Fulani with Jack Germond (1999)

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• published: 14 Aug 2013
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Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani interview Jack Germond. Germond, a veteran political reporter from the late 1960s to the turn of the millenium was on a book tour for the 1999 edition of "Fat Man in the Middle: Forty Years of Covering Politics." He shares his candid memories and opinions of Richard Nixon, George Wallace, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and more with Fred Newman and Lenora Fulani. Germond passed away August 14, 2013.