When Presidents Lie by Eric Alterman

Never before have I received so much static from the Republicans I know for this book’s cover, unlike What Liberal Media? or Weapons of Mass Deception. When they saw me with this book, they automatically bitched about it being another Bush bashing, which he deserves. They must have been thinking of David Corn’s book.

No, Alterman’s latest foray is about the recent history of presidential whoppers and their consequences. In his introduction he states upfront that he covers only WWII on without Nixon (who he says has been pretty well covered), Clinton (whose lies didn’t result in the deaths of 1800 US soldiers), Ford, Truman, Eisenhower and Carter (they didn’t tell any worthwhile lies of note, although I beg to differ on Ike).

That leaves Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan and Bush the First. What? Isn’t Alterman a Liberal? How could he dedicate three out of four chapters on the Democrats? Because he isn’t a partisan hack and being critical of mistakes shouldn’t be a sign of betrayal or weakness.

So what were their lies and the consequences?

  • FDR doesn’t come clean with what was agreed upon at Yalta. Actually, a big-mouthed southern politician came back from the conference early, blabbed incorrect information but FDR let it go. Withholding the truth is equal to lying in my mind. Then FDR dies 10 weeks after Yalta and only he knew all the details on what was agreed upon with Stalin (that was his style sadly). This cascades into Truman’s presidency being blind to all the facts, the Cold War being nastier and the McCarthy witch hunt.
  • JFK and his people remember the beating the Democrats took on Yalta so he ran on a more hawkish foreign policy than Tricky Dick. When the Soviets start building missile bases in Cuba, Jack has to actually put his money where his mouth is. Although the crisis is averted, the official story of how it happened turns out to be a lie and part of the mythology of JFK. Kruschev never backed down, he compromised and didn’t walk away empty handed, he got missiles in Turkey and Italy removed. Cuba wasn’t that important to the Soviets, they just wanted see if they could push America’s buttons. JFK still came out looking great but it hobbled LBJ later and made Adlai Stevenson even more unwelcome in either administration.
  • LBJ shares Truman’s misfortune in having his predecessor dying with most of the secrets, especially the plan for Vietnam. It wouldn’t have mattered, Vietnam feels like China to Johnson and he remembers how much political mileage the Republicans gained from it. With Goldwater nipping at him in ’64, he has to appear tougher while getting his Great Society and Civil Rights plans through. By exaggerating what happened at the Gulf of Tonkin (lying), Congress stupidly writes him a blank check. We all know the rest of this one. He feared telling the American people that the South Vietnamese government was beyond saving because it could result in his defeat or worse, impeachment.
  • Sadly, Bush the Second locked up much of Reagan’s files but Alterman still pieces together a strong timeline and narrative on how the Gipper, Inc. told lie after lie about covert aid in Central America. The bigger, more distasteful side of these deceptions is how Reagan could back the murderous Right-Wing forces of El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua without flinching. There’s no denying that the Leftists in those conflicts killed and raped too, that’s the ugliness of civil wars. Yet the Right’s killing rate in El Salvador was 100 times higher than the guerrillas’. The underhanded tactics then sidestep into the ongoing Iran-Iraq War and again, we know what happens. Reagan and company succeed in the end since the American people are too jaded by Vietnam and Watergate by now. It does torpedo Bush the First’s re-election later so he pardoned all the crooks from Reagan’s deceptions.

Is there any hope? In the final chapter, Alterman says it’s unlikely in the immediate future but the goal would be to get politicians to suffer more for the short-term gains they have from their disastrous lies. Not likely to happen right now since many of the liars from the Reagan period are working for Bush the Second’s regime. I can only take solace that most of Johnson and Kennedy’s people are dead so they won’t be returning in the next several years.

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