Alex Schaefer/FOR THE POST Seymour Hersh signs autographs and talks with admirers after his lecture at the First United Methodist Church. The Pulitzer Prize winner spoke last night about Kosovo and his career as a journalist as part of the Kennedy Lecture Series.

Americans today cannot expect the truth from their government, said Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh.

Hersh, who gave a public lecture last night at the First United Methodist Church, said situations like the one in Kosovo cannot be taken at face value because of the state of today's presidency.

"What a lousy bargain we have," Hersh said. "We don't have any sense that they (the government) will be straight with us."

Popular for his expose biographies on the Kennedy and Nixon administrations, Hersh continually attacked the Clinton presidency; likening Clinton's personality to that of John Kennedy, who Hersh called "reckless."

"We didn't need the impeachment to know what Clinton was all about," Hersh said.

Hersh compared the numbers of deaths and refugees before the NATO airstrikes to the numbers now.

Based on his information, Hersh concluded that the number of deaths has increased by a factor of three and the number of refugees by a factor of 33.

Hersh joked that Clinton's statement yesterday on the Littleton, Colo., shootings seemed to contradict his foreign policy.

"Clinton said today that we as Americans must learn that violence doesn't solve anything," Hersh said. "I'm really pessimistic about the whole Kosovo situation."

Hersh likened the treaty NATO offered Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to a hypothetical France and Britain telling the United States during the Civil War to let the Confederacy succeed because they were getting cotton at such a good price.

"I thought it was fascinating," said Daniel Riffe, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism interim director. "In this setting we get to focus in context to things. He has a historical perspective that spans over many presidencies."

But freshman Knelly Meixner said his speech was nothing new to her.

"I was a little disappointed," she said. "Me and my roommate did some research before he came and he said, almost word for word, what he has said in past interviews."

Hersh warned that most people don't look at the big picture when it comes to news and that the situation in Kosovo could get worse.

"Bombing alone cannot do it. It didn't do it in World War II and it didn't do it in Vietnam," Hersh said. "I, for one, am terrified."