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Teddy Roosevelt on truth
Nearly 100 years later, Roosevelt's words are equally apropos today:
"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole.
Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile.
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about anyone else."
— Theodore Roosevelt, op-ed in The Kansas City Star, 18 May 1918
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Last edited Mon Feb 27, 2017, 02:57 PM - Edit history (1)
Please note my signature line!
I've enjoyed him for years and have a complete set of his books -- 16 volumes I believe it is.
He was a wise yet sometimes very controversial man. He was the subject of my senior thesis in my American history class as an undergrad. Couldn't have picked a better man and this was in ... 1990!
Who woulda thunk? 
