The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide is a 2013 book by American journalist and academic Gary J. Bass[1] about The Blood telegram, a state department dissent memo on American policy during the 1971 Bangladesh genocide sent by Archer Blood the American Consul General to Dhaka, East Pakistan.[2]
 | |
| Author | Gary J. Bass |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | History |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
Publication date | 2013 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | xxiv, 499 (first edition) |
| ISBN | 978-0-307-70020-9 |
Author
editGary J. Bass is an American journalist and a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University.[3]
Contents
editFollowing the 1970 Pakistani general election held under General Yahya Khan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his Awami League won the election. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was an ethnic Bengali from East Pakistan, which was a Bengali majority province. The Pakistan Army was composed mostly of recruits from Punjab and other provinces in West Pakistan. On March 25, 1971, the Pakistan Army launched a crackdown on East Pakistan and started the 1971 Hinduphobic, anti-Bengali Bangladesh Genocide. Archer Blood was then the U.S. consul general in Dhaka, East Pakistan. The staff at the U.S. consulate in Dhaka were "horrified" by the violence and asked Washington, D.C. to intervene. Blood later described the response from Washington as "deafening" silence. Then Blood and his staff created a dissent cable, the Blood telegram. Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger did not intervene because they were trying to use Pakistan to open diplomatic relations with China.[3][4][5]
An excerpt from the telegram reads, "Our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy. Our government has failed to denounce atrocities.... Our government has evidenced what many will consider moral bankruptcy...."[6]
Critical reception
editDexter Filkins wrote in The New York Times, "Nixon and Kissinger spent the decades after leaving office burnishing their images as great statesmen. This book goes a long way in showing just how undeserved those reputations are."[2] In 2014 it was the winner of the Lionel Gelber Prize and the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature.[7][8] It also won the 2013 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in the Non-Fiction Book category.
References
edit- ^ Bhattacherjee, Kallol. "History divided". The Hindu. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^ a b Filkins, Dexter (September 29, 2013). "'The Blood Telegram,' by Gary J. Bass". The New York Times. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^ a b Sheehan, Neil (October 4, 2013). "'The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide' by Gary J. Bass". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^ "Blood meridian". The Economist. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^ "Unholy Alliances". The New Yorker. September 23, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^ "One genocide, one telegram, and two opportunists". The Daily Star. March 25, 2017. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ^ "Bass Wins 2014 Lionel Gelber Prize". Woodrow Wilson School. March 31, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
- ^ "Gary Bass wins Cundill Prize in Historical Literature". Retrieved September 9, 2020.