The investigative journalist who exposed the My Lai Massacre in South Vietnam, the secret of the B-52 bombing of Cambodia and the CIA’s illegal spying on American anti-war activists and other citizens, will be speaking Tuesday as part of The Forum lecture series.

Seymour Hersh’s address, “Foreign Policy in an Election Year,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Zorn Arena.

Hersh, a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and four George Polk Awards for excellence in journalism, is the author of several books and is now a freelance writer.

He was born in Chicago in 1937 and received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Chicago. After failing out of law school, he was hired to work in the City News Bureau and began his career as a journalist.

During this last year, Hersh wrote reports in The New Yorker on the failure of U.S. intelligence and American policy toward Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

When Ralph Nader spoke during his Forum lecture Sept. 24, he urged students to see Hersh speak.

“I do want to urge you to show up in late October when Seymour Hersh comes here because if there’s anybody in Washington D.C. who knows more what’s going on and can tell it more truthfully, I haven’t met that person yet,” Nader said. “It’s really important, especially given today’s headlines, to come and listen to him and interact with him.”

Hersh wrote an article that ran in The New Yorker on June 3 in which he discussed the failure of the White House to reveal its knowledge related to Sept. 11.

Author Saul Landau has known Hersh for more than 20 years and interviewed him for an article in The Progressive.

“He is one of a very rare breed of reporters who continues to be driven by the desire to protect the public – the true function of journalism,” Landau wrote in the October 1998 issue.

Jennifer Hinners, special events and arts coordinator assistant at UW-Eau Claire, said more than 500 tickets had been sold for the event as of Thursday morning, which is a good amount in comparison to tickets sold at previous Forum events.

“I think it’s going to be a very powerful presentation,” Hinners said, “and I hope people take the time to come out and see it.”