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A. Ernest Fitzgerald, Pentagon whistleblower fired by Nixon, dies at 92
Source: Washington Post
A. Ernest Fitzgerald, Pentagon whistleblower fired by Nixon, dies at 92
By Harrison Smith February 7 at 7:10 PM
A. Ernest Fitzgerald, a Pentagon official tasked with analyzing project expenses, was summoned to Capitol Hill in 1968 to discuss a new fleet of Lockheed C-5A transport planes before the Joint Economic Committee.
He had been instructed to play dumb about the cost.
He did not.
Under oath, he said the C-5A was $2 billion over budget. In testifying, Mr. Fitzgerald later said, he was merely “committing truth.”
The revelation about the vast cost overruns made national headlines, stunning members of Congress as well as Mr. Fitzgerald’s superiors. Back at the Pentagon, he was met with a blunt question from his secretary: “Have you been fired yet?”
Mr. Fitzgerald lasted another two years in his position before President Richard M. Nixon ordered his dismissal. He went on to sue Nixon, an action that resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case on presidential immunity and helped make him “America’s best-known whistleblower,” The Washington Post wrote in 1987.
-snip-
By Harrison Smith February 7 at 7:10 PM
A. Ernest Fitzgerald, a Pentagon official tasked with analyzing project expenses, was summoned to Capitol Hill in 1968 to discuss a new fleet of Lockheed C-5A transport planes before the Joint Economic Committee.
He had been instructed to play dumb about the cost.
He did not.
Under oath, he said the C-5A was $2 billion over budget. In testifying, Mr. Fitzgerald later said, he was merely “committing truth.”
The revelation about the vast cost overruns made national headlines, stunning members of Congress as well as Mr. Fitzgerald’s superiors. Back at the Pentagon, he was met with a blunt question from his secretary: “Have you been fired yet?”
Mr. Fitzgerald lasted another two years in his position before President Richard M. Nixon ordered his dismissal. He went on to sue Nixon, an action that resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case on presidential immunity and helped make him “America’s best-known whistleblower,” The Washington Post wrote in 1987.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/a-ernest-fitzgerald-pentagon-whistleblower-fired-by-nixon-dies-at-92/2019/02/07/2f3277f4-2afe-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html
A. Ernest Fitzgerald was a senior financial management specialist in the Air Force and one of the Pentagon’s most prominent whistleblowers. (U.S. Air Force)