“I've never read a better explanation of why presidents lie.”—John W. Dean, former counsel to President Nixon, The Washington Monthly By the end of the twentieth century, after decades of demoralizing revelations about the mendacity of their elected officials, most Americans had come to accept the fact that deception was not only an accepted practice in government but also pervasive. Whatever the reasons proposed to justify falsehoods—practicality, expediency, extraordinary conditions of wartime—the ability to lie convincingly had come to be regarded as almost being a qualification for holding public office. Although such behavior has come to be tolerated, little accounting has been taken of the effects of this institutionalized dishonesty in our political culture. When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences addresses its subject not from a moral perspective, but from a pragmatic one, and discovers that in the end, honesty in government is, in fact, the best policy. Journalist and historian Eric Alterman's meticulous research is drawn from primary-source materials, both government documents and the media reactions to the unfolding dramas, and demonstrates how these lies returned to haunt their tellers, or their successors, destroying the very policy the lie had been intended to support. Without exception, each of the presidents paid a high price for deception. So, too, did the nation. This is history at its most compelling, a balanced, eloquent, and revelatory chronicle of presidential dishonesty and its incalculable costs. In the fundamental questions it raises about leadership, accountability, and democracy, it is required reading for anyone who is concerned about America's past—or her future.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Kathryn Harrison

Alterman, Eric

Barbara Singleton Wheeler

Viking Children's Books

Viking Adult; Viking

New York: Viking

Lipper/Viking

Viking Press

Puffin Books

United States, United States of America

Penguin lives series, New York, 2003

1st edition, September 23, 2004

Hardback., New York, 2004

New York, ©2005

1st, 2022

Set Scanfee to 100 on all Pre-June IA Sponsored Books as per Robert

[curator]venus@archive.org[/curator][date]20111004134123[/date][state]approved[/state]

"In When Presidents Lie journalist and historian Eric Alterman examines four key lies told by presidents of the postwar period, all of them regarding a crucial question of war and peace. The Yalta conference, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the Central American wars of the 1980's have turned out to be unhappy turning points in American history, and the misrepresentations made about them to the public would have both domestic and international repercussions for years to come. FDR's refusal to reveal the concessions made to Stalin at Yalta generated a poisonous political reaction that set the stage for forty years of Cold War and the abuses of McCarthyism. John F. Kennedy's cover-up of the deal he and his brother secretly negotiated to end the Cuban Missile Crisis helped pave the way for Vietnam. LBJ's false representations about an attack on U.S. forces in the Gulf of Tonkin poisoned the conduct of the war and destroyed Johnson's dreams of social progress at home. Finally, Ronald Reagan's myriad deceptions regarding U.S. involvement in the Central American wars led to the ignominy of the Iran-Contra scandal and helped set the stage for George W. Bush's "post-truth" presidency." "When Presidents Lie addresses its subject not from a moral perspective, but from a pragmatic one, and discovers that in the end, honesty in government is, in fact, the best policy. Over and over, the short-term political benefits of falsehoods are ultimately undone by their unanticipated consequences, which are nearly always destructive, not only to the nation and the world, but also to the politicians who undertook to mislead in the first place. Alterman's meticulous research is drawn from primary-source materials, both government documents and the media reactions to the unfolding dramas, and demonstrates how, in each case, the lies returned to haunt their tellers, or their successors, destroying the very policy the lie had been intended to support. Without exception, each of the presidents - or in the case of his death, his handpicked successor - paid a high price for his deception. So, too, did the nation to whose leadership he was entrusted."--BOOK JACKET.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, largely unknown when she died in a Carmelite convent at the age of twenty-four, became-through her posthumously published autobiography-one of the world's most influential religious figures. In Saint Thérèse of Lisieux Kathryn Harrison reveals the hopes and fears of the young girl behind the religious icon. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux shows us the pampered daughter of successful and deeply religious tradespeople who-through a personal appeal to the pope-entered a convent at the early age of fifteen. There, Thérèse embraced sacrifice and self-renunciation in a single-minded pursuit of the "nothingness" she felt would bring her closer to God. With feeling, Harrison shows us the sensitive four-year-old whose mother's death haunted her forever and contributed to the ascetic spirituality that strengthened her to embrace even the deadly throes of tuberculosis. Tellingly placed in the context of late-nineteenth-century French social and religious practices, this is a powerful story of a life lived with enormous passion and a searing, triumphant voyage of the spirit

Includes bibliographical references (p. [407]-432) and index
On lies, personal and presidential -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and the Yalta conference -- John F. Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis -- Lyndon B. Johnson and the Gulf of Tonkin incidents -- Ronald W. Reagan, Central America, and the Iran-Contra scandal -- George W. Bush and the post-truth presidency
This is a "historical examination of four specific post-World War II presidential lies whose consequences were greater than could ever have been predicted"--from publisher description

During the final days of the Clinton presidency, Tracfone, a prepaid cellular phone service, began running a TV ad with some familiar footage of recent American presidents.

2023-06-28