cover image Passion for Truth: From Finding JFK's Single Bullet to Questioning Anita Hill to Impeaching Clinton

Passion for Truth: From Finding JFK's Single Bullet to Questioning Anita Hill to Impeaching Clinton

Arlen Specter. William Morrow & Company, $26 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-06-019849-7

""Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts,"" asserts Specter in the opening of his political memoir, which greatly resembles the senator's (R., Pa.) public persona: gruff, direct, given to long, detailed explanations leavened with an appealing touch of humor. Specter has been a major player in some of the most dramatic political events of late 20th-century America, and with his single-minded focus on ""combating distrust,"" he describes his role in these events and the logic and reasoning that led to the conclusions he drew. Having begun his political rise as the district attorney of Philadelphia, Specter brings to each episode a prosecutor's dogged pursuit of truth. The ""single bullet theory,"" which he developed as a member of the Warren Commission, simply fit the facts, he claims. Similarly, it was his ""fetish for the facts"" that led Specter to vote against Robert Bork for the Supreme Court (""He said our system could function without judicial review""), to conclude that Anita Hill was lying and to find Clinton not guilty of the charges in his impeachment. Specter emerges as a figure who lets neither party loyalty nor political expediency deter him from doing what he believes to be the right thing. This has not always made him a popular figure, but in today's political atmosphere, certainly a rare one. While there is little here to startle his readers, the sheer details of Specter's stories make this an informative and enjoyable read. 16 pages of b&w photos, not seen by PW. Agent, Deborah Grosvenor. (Nov. 1)