Nation: The FBI vs. Jean Seberg

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The actress claimed afterward that the shock of reading the false stories had caused her premature labor and led to her baby's death. At the urging of her husband at the time, French Author-Diplomat Romain Gary, she sued the three periodicals, winning a token out-of-court settlement and a public apology. Last week Gary insisted that the child had been his and that the false reports had made "Jean become psychotic. Every year on the anniversary of this stillbirth she has tried to take her own life." He blamed the incident for her psychiatric treatment and, ultimately, her death.

Haber insisted last week that her source for the column was not the FBI but "a journalist" whom she would not name. Said Haber: "I am beginning to wonder who my best friends are. Obviously, if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have printed the item. It's absolutely shocking and appalling. I can now have no trust in anybody."

FBI Director William H. Webster was also contrite. Said he: "The days when the FBI used derogatory information to combat advocates of unpopular causes have long since passed. We are out of that business forever."