THOMPSON, Marilyn W. 1952-

PERSONAL:

Female. Born 1952, in Salisbury, NC; children: two sons. Education: Graduated from Clemson University.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Lexington Herald-Leader, 100 Midland Avenue, Lexington, KY 40508.

CAREER:

Journalist and author. Columbia Record, Columbia, SC, governmental affairs and investigative reporter; Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia, PA, 1982-86, general assignment and investigative reporter; New York Daily News, New York, NY, 1986-87, general assignment reporter, 1987-88, assistant city editor for investigations, 1988-90, Washington bureau correspondent; Washington Post, Washington, DC, 1990-91, government reporter, 1991-92, metropolitan projects editor, 1992-99, deputy national editor for domestic coverage and then investigations editor, 1999-2003, assistant managing editor for investigations; Lexington Herald-Leader, Lexington, KY, executive editor, 2004—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Congressional fellow, American Political Science Association, 1982.

WRITINGS:

Feeding the Beast: How Wedtech Became the Most Corrupt Little Company in America, Scribner (New York, NY), 1990.

(With Jack Bass) Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond, Longstreet (Atlanta, GA), 1998.

The Killer Strain: Anthrax and a Government Exposed, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

A long-time investigative journalist, Marilyn W. Thompson broke the first stories concerning Wedtech Corp. and government-contract fraud in the mid-1980s. After covering the ensuing scandal for several years, Thompson wrote Feeding the Beast: How Wedtech Became the Most Corrupt Little Company in America. In the book, Thompson details the extent of fraud and corruption stemming from a small South Bronx machine shop whose founders bribed numerous government officials, both on the state and federal levels, to win huge defense contracts. The company also falsified its standing as a minority contractor to help it win no-bid contracts for such efforts as building army engines and navy pontoons. In the end, about two dozen people were convicted for bribery, conspiracy, fraud and racketeering, as the name Wedtech became synonymous with graft. Overall, the company's leaders wasted approximately $150 million of public money and private capital. Michael M. Thomas, reviewing the book in Washington Monthly, thought that Thompson focuses too much on the processes involved in committing the fraud rather than delving more into what Thomas called "the most florid characters a novelist could wish for." Thomas added that "she follows too hard on the money, too closely and too doggedly, and after a while the changes rung on a single theme become monotonous and wearisome." New York Times Book Review contributor Robert L. Jackson, however, noted that "Thompson is at her best when she is describing the background and character traits of the Wedtech malefactors." Writing in Publishers Weekly, Genevieve Stuttaford said that Thompson "strikes paydirt in this hard-hitting, gutsy, damning probe."

Thompson collaborated with Jack Bass for her next book, Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond. The book tells the story of the late South Carolina senior senator, who served eight terms in the U.S. Senate beginning in 1952. He was the oldest and longest-serving legislator in U.S. history when he retired from office in January 2003 at the age of one hundred. When Thompson and Bass wrote their book, however, Thurmond still held office and had gone from a suspected white supremacist and staunch segregationist to voting to extend the Voting Rights Act in the 1980s and support funding for historically black colleges. Writing in Library Journal, Karl Helicher noted that Thompson and Bass portray Thurmond "as a savvy political curmudgeon." Booklist contributor Mary Carroll said that the authors "produced a balanced narrative that explores the twisted intricacies of South Carolina politics, the facts of (and rumors about) Thurmond's personal life, and a range of national issues on which he has played a critical role."

In their 1998 book, Thompson and Bass also detail the story of Thurmond siring an illegitimate daughter with a black maid when he was a young man. The story remained largely ignored until Thurmond died and Essie Mae Washington came forth in 2003 at the age of seventy-eight to declare that she was Thurmond's daughter. Thompson, who doggedly pursued the story, broke Washington's announcement in the Washington Post in December of 2003. In an interview with Michele Norris on PBS's All Things Considered, Thompson explained why she had chased the story for more than two decades. "I wanted to get the absolute definitive truth, as all investigative journalists want, and I felt like that if it were true, for Thurmond, it was a complete recasting of what everyone had thought about him, and to me, it was the ultimate political hypocrisy."

Thompson put her investigative talents to use once again for her 2003 book, The Killer Strain: Anthrax and a Government Exposed. This time, Thompson provides a definitive account of the anthrax scare following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. While the country was still reeling from the attacks, an unknown person began mailing anthrax-laced letters to people throughout the country. In the end, five people died and many others became extremely sick. Based on thousands of pages of government documents and extensive interviews with FBI agents, scientists, victims, and others, the book details the stories of many of the individuals involved in the case and presents a stinging exposé of the government's failure to prepare for such an attack and to protect its citizens. On the Washington Post Web site, Thompson explained: "I think you do have to hold government accountable—which is the reason I wrote this book. I followed the anthrax case as an editor and knew that it had the potential to fall off the public's radar—unless someone took the time to go back and reconstruct what happened and what mistakes were made." Writing in Booklist, Gilbert Taylor noted that "Thompson gives no quarter to the federal government's spin on the attacks, lending spice to what overall is a dispassionate, just-the-facts-ma'am narrative." A Kirkus Reviews contributor called the book a "vivid account of the anthrax scare" and a "can't-put-it-down narrative."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Journalism Review, June-July, 2004, Dana Hull, "'She's the One': Award-winning Investigative Reporter Takes the Helm in Lexington, Kentucky," p. 12.

American Spectator, March, 1999, Florence King, review of Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond, p. 70.

Booklist, December 15, 1998, Mary Carroll, review of Ol' Strom, p. 709; May 1, 2003, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Killer Strain: Anthrax and a Government Exposed, p. 1560.

Business Week, September 10, 1990, Harris Collingwood, review of Feeding the Beast: How Wedtech Became the Most Corrupt Little Company in America, p. 18.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2003, review of The Killer Strain, p. 526.

Library Journal, June 1, 1990, Ron Christenson, review of Feeding the Beast, p. 140; November 15, 1998, Karl Helicher, review of Ol' Strom, p. 74.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, September 16, 1990, Robert L. Jackson, review of Feeding the Beast, p. 4.

National Review, September 17, 1990, Joe Mysak, review of Feeding the Beast, p. 47.

New York Times Book Review, July 29, 1990, Andrew Feinberg, review of Feeding the Beast, p. 9.

Publishers Weekly, June 1, 1990, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of Feeding the Beast, p. 51.

Washington Monthly, July-August, 1990, Michael M. Thomas, review of Feeding the Beast, p. 55.

ONLINE

Clemson University Web site,http://www.strom.clemson.edu/ (June 29, 2004), "Marilyn Thompson."

Washington Post Web site,http://www.washingtonpost.com/ (April 1, 2003), "The Killer Strain" (online discussion).

OTHER

National Public Radio, April 22, 2003, Michele Norris, All Things Considered, "Interview: Marilyn Thompson Discusses the 2001 Anthrax Attack Investigations"; December 15, 2003, Michele Norris, All Things Considered, "Marilyn Thompson Discusses the Story in the Washington Post about Essie Mae Washington-Williams' Announcement That She's the Illegitimate Daughter of the Late Strom Thurmond."*