Seymour Hirsch releases report documenting CIA domestic spying on US citizens: "A New York Times reporter, Seymour Hersh, had uncovered the secret of the agency's spying on Americans. He had gotten the gist of the story from months of reporting, and on Friday, December 20, 1974, he received a long-sought interview with Colby at headquarters. Colby, who secretly taped the conversation, tried to convince Hersh that the illegal surveillance was of no great importance, a small affair, best left unspoken. "I think family skeletons are best left where they are--in the closet," he said to Hersh. But, he conceded, it had happened. Hersh wrote all night and into Saturday morning.
The story ran December 22, 1974, on page one of the Sunday paper. The banner headline read: HUGE C.I.A. OPERATION REPORTED IN U.S. AGAINST ANTI-WAR FORCES.