Last Call

Mark Arsenault, author of ‘ The Imposter’s War’

Veer Mudambi

Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Mark Arsenault spent three years solving a century old mystery. Newspaper editor Jason Rathom, remembered for his major role in America’s entry into World War I, fell from grace following a public feud with his friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The former celebrity newsman died in obscurity in 1923 but while his journalism was history making, everything he said about himself was demonstrably false. In a new book, “The Imposter’s War,” which went on sale April 5, the Templeton native examines the checkered history of a member of journalism’s rogue’s gallery. Arsenault sat down with Last Call to discuss how he uncovered Rathom’s identity, conducted research during the pandemic, and how the story demonstrates clear parallels to propaganda tactics today.

How did you get started on writing this book?

I was a reporter at the Providence Journal from 1998 to 2008. In 2004, I was assigned to write a history of the paper for its 175th anniversary. Looking back at what people did for the 150th, we saw they had written about the Journal’s most famous editor — John Rathom. Convinced he was not who he said he was, they couldn’t go much further due to the lack of newspaper archives and databases. Even 15 years ago, I couldn’t have done this research. When we finished the project, I thought he should really be a book someday and it just sat in my head for 15 years.

So who was he and why is he such a compelling character?

He was both a criminal and a crimefighter. He was an excellent writer and produced powerful journalism exposing some really terrible wrongs — like an underage prostitution ring — but he was also a grifter, liar and an extortionist. In British Columbia, he would bribe businesses by threatening to write bad stories about them before the police almost caught up with him. He seemed to have no problem compartmentalizing this and believed he was entitled due to his good works.

In 1915, when he got to Providence via San Francisco, and the Germans sank the Lusitania, that changed Rathom. No longer about personal grift, he was committed to getting the U.S. into war against Germany. He made it his mission to grind down America’s resistance to going to war, one story at a time.

Why did he so desperately want it to happen?

Part of it was that he was Australian, a British subject, and maintained personal loyalties to Great Britain. But he legitimately saw Germany as a threat to world peace. And the Lusitania itself — 128 Americans died in that tragedy. It’s tempting to say it broke him, but it’s more like it mended something in him. He connected that incident to his ability to write about German intrigue and espionage, proceeding on a mission that he had set for himself.

So how did he engineer the US entry into the war?

Rathom invented sources and went on the lecture circuit to say that the Journal had infiltrated German embassies and consulates. That was not true because we know he got his information from British spies and the organization we now call the FBI.

For the most part, his journalism was generally built around a kernel of truth but his journalistic standards were definitely not up to today. However, it shot him to national super-stardom and people, including Roosevelt, began to listen to him.

Let’s talk about how you picked up this thread of his lies and unraveled it.

The Journal team knew he was probably not who he said he was. There was just no record of anyone by that name being born in Australia. Being an imposter is one thing but it is dangerous if an imposter influences world events. So the two points of my book are Rathom’s identity and the influence he wielded in his time. He was a confidante of Woodrow Wilson and trusted by the nation but there’s no evidence he ever spoke his real name on this continent.

I followed the stories that went national, traced their history and found out if they were truthful. Declassified FBI files and research by FDR were valuable. Rathom, shortly before his death in 1923, got into a nasty public spat with FDR, who sued him for libel and though it never came to trial because FDR contracted polio, he unearthed some facts about his past. The information can be found in FDR’s presidential library so I went to Hyde Park in February 2020, and just days after I went there, the entire world shut down. If I hadn’t gone when I did, I might still be working on this book.

What was found out about him in his own time?

When he was on his speaking tour in 1917-1918, he took credit for the spy work done by government agencies. The DOJ very quietly decided to shut Rathom up so the attorney general of the U.S. made a deal — that Rathom would sign a confession admitting to everything he lied about and the AG would keep it secret, as long as Rathom behaved himself. Unfortunately, Rathom couldn’t bear to be out of the limelight for too long and when he clashed with FDR, the AG released the confession, exposing Rathom as a liar. His credibility was ruined. Even if his journalism was largely true, his lies on the lecture circuit brought him down.

What are some lessons to take away from this?

There used to be a high price for lying to the public but we don’t really demand that price from public figures anymore, leading to trust issues. There are parallels to the techniques that the Germans used then and the Russians are still doing now — same techniques but different technology. You can have people clicking away in Moscow pretending to be people online, the Germans had to sail people all the way here. The concept of gray propaganda, things formatted to look like news stories without sourcing, people share those on Facebook all the time now. As a reader you don’t have enough knowledge to vet anything.

Did you ever find out Rathom’s real name?

Yes, I did. It’s in the book. If this were a crime fiction book, I wouldn’t want to share whodunnit. He left clues, unintentionally because it’s hard to keep lies straight for your entire life. Certain documents, marriage licenses and passports, each one slightly different but enough breadcrumbs to piece together his real name. And once I did that, I was able to put together my own theory. The work done in the ‘70s was helpful so I had a head start.

What was the biggest challenge in writing this?

The pandemic. Since research institutions were just not available, I had to work around that. I got great help from librarians and researchers but I desperately needed a newspaper issue from Chicago so I reached out to a librarian at the Chicago Public Library. I was lucky to find people who are passionate about helping authors dig up obscure facts and I was able to hire someone in Toronto to do a little investigative work for me there, because I couldn’t cross the border.

Mark Arsenault is the author of “The Imposter’s War.” JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF