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Jackson Northman Anderson (October 19, 1922 - December 17, 2005) was an American newspaper columnist and is considered one of the fathers of modern investigative journalism. Anderson won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his investigation on secret American policy decision-making between the United States and Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. Jack Anderson was a key and often controversial figure in reporting on J. Edgar Hoover's apparent ties to the Mafia, Watergate, the John F. Kennedy assassination, the search for fugitive ex-Nazi Germany officials in South America and the Savings and Loan scandal. He discovered a CIA plot to assassinate Fidel Castro, and has also been credited for breaking the Iran-Contra affair, though he has said the scoop was "spiked" because he had become too close to President Ronald Reagan. Anderson was a crusader against corruption. Henry Kissinger once described him as "the most dangerous man in America." [ citation needed ] Anderson was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1986. In July 2004, at the age of 81, Anderson retired from his syndicated column, "Washington Merry-Go-Round." He died of complications from Parkinson's disease, survived by his wife, Olivia, and nine children. A few months after his death, the FBI attempted to gain access to his files as part of the AIPAC case on the grounds that the information could hurt U.S. government interests.
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