A compulsively readable biography of an influential figure somewhat forgotten to time. As an Idahoan, the name Frank Church often comes up as one of the state's proudest creations, but I had very little idea about his ambition and evolution throughout his political career. The biography's delineation between his upbringing and early years in the Senate/one of the first political actors to voice dissent against the Vietnam War, the Church Committee's groundbreaking investigation in the American intelligence state, and his later years makes for a quick-moving history. Full disclosure, I still have a couple of chapters to go, but this is a book I find myself devising ways to spend more time with.

The Last Honest Man by James Risen is biography of Frank Church that wrestles with being a summary of the Church Committee. The issue is that it proves hard to accurately stretch to both these goals even with the lengthy page count. There is no shortage of information. The book spends a lot of time summarizing Frank Church’s life proceeding the committee. There is a certain air of pretentiousness presented by the title. What made Risen decide to bestow this title onto Frank Church? The answer is not in the book. Although, maybe it can be found in the skirting of almost any meaningful criticism of Church’s work. History is very great full to Church for his contributions to reigning in the renegade intelligences community. But, one could say that his enemies came to have the last laugh through the Patriot Act. I think the main gripe with the book is it’s avoidance of this as well as the other things like the full scope of the committee. The book focuses very heavily on the CIA section of the committee, and hurriedly summarizes the NSA and FBI components. I was personally more interested in delving into those parts, so I was disappointed by how fast the book ran through it. I think the ending of the book felt very rushed. It almost felt like he died right after the church committee, and losing the 1980 election. I don’t know if I would’ve advocated for a longer book, or just rearranged the way the story is told, but it took a bit too long to get to the good part, and ended to abrupt. Although, I was engaged the whole time, so I can see why other people who know less going in might really enjoy it.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Little, Brown and Company for an advanced copy of this look at a Senator and his attempt to hold members of America's national security accountable for its actions during the Cold War.

Political parties love to attack each other, weak on this, weak on that, too much spending on this, much too much on that. Once a party gets a majority in the House or Senate in the United States hearings are called, members of the government are made to come down and perform a bit of theater, where voices are loud, news bits are made, and nothing really changes. This is standard. No one really wants to be against the troops, so no need for the Pentagon to explain where trillions go. For all their fury currently parties will not go after the FBI or thought to be for defunding the police, and the CIA gets a past because who wants to be known for coddling terrorists. Being on the committees that let these group do whatever they want that is power in Washington DC. Going after them is political suicide. Frank Church though, was a man who seemed to thrive on conflict with these sacred beasts. A man with plenty of aspirations, but a man who believed that America was it's own worst enemy in the world, Church and his Church Committee looked at the actions of the CIA, FBI and the unknown at the time NSA, and what he found still have reverberations that effect us all today. The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys—and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy by journalist James Risen is both a biography of this unique Senator, and the hidden history of America he brought to life.

Frank Forrester Church was born in Idaho with a love of language a gift for debating and a lot of dreams for the future. Church served in the Second World War in China as a military Intelligence officer which gave him in insight into the thinking of both the military and the intelligence world, and how information could be misinterpreted. Also working with the Chinese forces, Church was able to see the corruption and ineptitude that can come from poorly run governments, especially dictatorships. After becoming a lawyer and learning politics both by running for office and his socially contacted wife, Church ran for the Senate, and won. Church was first a friend to the Master of the the Senate, Lyndon Johnson, but later turned on him for his stance on Vietnam. Church could see the South Vietnamese government was inept, and not worth America's intervention. With Church's committees gaining both publicity, and the enmity of other Senators, Church began to look at the nation's intelligence services. And history wouldn't be the same.

James Risen has a real gift for capturing the politics of the era, and what America was doing behind to scenes to both our friends, enemies, and even worse perceived enemies. The Church Committee was responsible for bringing the CIA assassination program to light, the MK-Ultra program, various propaganda efforts and a lot more. Most of this has become grist for the mill of conspiracy theories, but the sad thing is the truth is way worse than fiction. The book serves as a biography of Church who comes across as a man with a lot of good intentions, but a single mindedness that probably gave him more problems than helped. However, Church's political aspirations aside, what Church did was point out that America really is it's own worst enemy. All these efforts, the LSD dosing, the killing of Black Panther and foreign government presidents, really didn't make America safe. The cult of secrecy did more to destroy America's reputation than anything our enemies ever did. The book is very well written and sourced, and really seems like a thriller in many ways. Church is shown to be a very complicated person, but I think a good person, who many politicians should look at and go, hmm. A very good biography on a man whose name I was familiar with, but really knew nothing about.

Recommended for readers who enjoy political biographies and about the machinations that go on in the Senate. This is also a very good look at the antics in some occasions and crimes of both the CIA and the FBI from domestic spying, assassination, even the NSA in spying on American communications before the days of FISA. A very well-written history, as expected from an author as proficient as James Risen.

In the fall of 1975, The Church Committee began an investigation into why the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) held a lethal toxin. Since its inception, there had been no oversight of the CIA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), or the National Security Agency (NSA). Senator Frank Church was leading a righteous crusade to unearth abuses by intelligence agencies.

Church had been in intelligence during WWII, a part of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the first spy agency. That group evolved into the CIA. Had Church not decided to go into politics, he would have been on a career path in the CIA. Instead, decades later he was holding the CIA accountable for covert actions involving assassinations and spying on Americans.

The Watergate scandal was an alert to investigate other government misdeeds. The Church Committee’s research took them into all the intelligence agencies. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford all found these agencies to be useful. Eisenhower fought the Cold War through the CIA. The CIA’s knowing Kennedy’s secrets muzzled any complaints.

Frank Church was a complex man. He was considered a radical, driven by high ideals. He ran clean campaigns, unwilling to sling dirt. He loved media attention and enjoyed cocktail parties with Hollywood celebrities and counted John F. Kennedy as a friend. He never paled around with the other senators. He was against gun control, a nod to his Idaho constituents, and against the Viet Nam War. He supported the protection of wilderness lands.

The Church Committee findings were acted upon by President Carter in 1978 with the first oversight reforms, including banning the assassination of foreign leaders. The intelligence community were spitting mad, and so were conservatives like future president Ronald Reagan. George H. Bush had lead the CIA before becoming president, and his son George W. Bush supported Dick Cheney’s working to weaken the reforms.

Walter Mondale told the author that what he was most proud of in his career was his work with the Church Committee. If oversight had not been enacted, who knows what America could have evolved into.

Most of the abuses described I had heard about as breaking news stories, but seeing them all together in one narrative was sobering, and frankly, terrifying.

Thank you to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

The Last Honest Man by James Risen and Thomas Risen
To start, The Last Honest Man is former Senator Frank Church from Idaho. I enjoyed reading this book but it is certainly for a specific type of political junky. The story stays on track and is essentially the life and times of Church as he becomes the head of an investigation in the Senate that was called The Church Commission. The purpose was to understand and then propose legislation to finally put in controls on the Intelligence Agencies including the CIA, NSA and the FBI. Coming out of the Red Scare Era, congress had provided no oversight to these groups and either on their own or with a wink from multiple presidents had overstepped boundaries. This included assassination of foreign leaders, spying on Americans, illegal wire- tapping and attempting to destroy the reputations of leading controversial Americans such as Martin Luther King.
The story is timely, since at the moment the Republican controlled US House has started an investigation against some of the same agencies in an attempt to suggest there is bias against the Right. This committee headed by Jim Jordan even tries to cloak themselves as a Church Committee investigation. The original committee headed by Senator Church was remarkably bipartisan. Although at that time ( during the Ford Administration) The House was vastly Democrat, Church set up the committee 6-5 Democrat. And even with Barry Goldwater, and Senator Towers of Texas as vice-chair there was a very impartial effort to get to the bottom of the illegal activities of the spy agency.
It is worth a read for those who believe or not that there is a Deep State today. It is just a shame we will not have an investigation run by adults.