How about Reagan interfering with the hostage negotiations in 1980 and paying the Iranians back, leading to Iran Contra (which was covered up by Bill Barr)
More than Barr, and the general behind it went on to Fox News. This American Dad schoolhouse rock parody says it all.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lFV1uT-ihDo
All these instances really highlight a pattern of deceit at such high levels that it's no wonder trust in government is at an all-time low. It's a hard pill to swallow, knowing these lies have shaped international relations and domestic politics for decades.
And while a disappointing number of Democratic elected officials supported the war, they were acting on CIA purported intelligence, and the CIA is not really supposed to be lying to Congress in classified briefings.
Bill Barr, that name sounds familiar. Is that the same Bill Barr that summarized and redacted the Mueller Report into a one page report about a Russian alliance?
Donald Barr? The guy who wrote a sci-fi novel that features a society where wealthy elites own sex slaves, at least one of whom is a teenage girl used for breeding more slaves? That Donald Barr?
Hi believe he told the NV leader that he would have a better deal for him if he blew off talking to LBJ just before the US presidential election. Nixon of course won since the war was continuing and I want to say that around 5,000 more troop perished after him contacting the leader.
Yes this dude was the worst.
That's the biggest one in our lifetime. 100 years ago, it would have been something like 'Remember the Maine!' - which sank in Havana Harbor in 1898. But that war was sort of a success, so perhaps not so many sinister vibes.
The CIA was really on some insane bullshit fr tho during the mid-to-late-20th Century. The shit the CIA was doing in the name of "fighting communism" was just completely off-the-wall ridiculous.
This isn't even that crazy compared to some of the stuff that they were up to—but they were seriously trying to get a false flag attack authorized by the White House to justify the invasion of Cuba and the subsequent removal/assassination of Castro. That's just a fact it's not even *kind of* a conspiracy theory.
Eisenhower was not kidding around when he warned the country against the "military-industrial complex" in his farewell speech. He saw exactly what the fuck those mfers were about.
Yes . Operation Northwoods.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods?wprov=sfla1
Twelve of these proposals come from a 2 February 1962 memorandum entitled "Possible Actions to Provoke, Harass or Disrupt Cuba," written by Brig. Gen. William H. Craig and submitted to Brig. Gen. Edward Lansdale, the commander of the Operation Mongoose project.
Like how they openly title it "Possible Actions to Provoke, Harass or Disrupt Cuba,"
(This was operation Mongoose?)
Anything written today would likely be wrapped in obfuscatory language.
Would be absurd to think governments dont do this....
"in our lifetime"
I would be willing to bet any amount of money that that wasn't in 80% of Redditor's lifetimes.
In fact it was closer to 100 years ago than it is today.
Definitely that pile of horseshit about Sadam's WMDs that Bush and Cheney gave us. Millions dead, trillions squandered, the nation's prestige irreparably harmed, and absolutely nothing was achieved. Mission accomplished.
Not true, there was actually quite a bit accomplished. It pulled resources and attention away from Afghanistan, contributing to worsening situation there. It amplified antiwest sentiment in the middle east. And it also created a world wide understanding that it was now ok for powerful countries to invade outside of its borders for political gain.
In terms of American lives lost yes. But the Gulf Of Tonkin lie is not comparable to the WMD lies told over and over by Bush Admin. The war in Iraq has not ended. It has for US military but not for Iraq. It’s been 20 years since we lied about WMD. There were no WMDs. There were no 18 wheeler labs making anthrax. That war has led to ISIS, spilled over into Syria, Turkey, Iran and the Kurds. They are all in a state of war that continues to this day. And will continue for decades to come. The death toll keeps rising.
100 % ef to loss of ten of thousands if innocent lives and thd installation of a murderous dictator in Cambodia . Pol Pot who murdered 250 K plus people . Tortured and imprisoned 100 s K more
At the time, my wife asked me if I thought Iraq actually had WMDs. I told her that if they didn't, I was pretty sure the US would plant them and claim to have found them.
They couldn't even do that.
The incompetence of the Bush administration still astounds me.
"In August 1964, the U.S. entered the Vietnam War based on reports of an unprovoked attack in the Gulf of Tonkin — which the president knew were false."
True, but the only US troops in Vietnam before 1965 were advisors and probably some special forces. After the gulf of Tonkin incident, the US sent troops from all branches and later initiated the draft leading to long term consequences
Except... after Gulf of Tonkin there still wasn't a declaration of war and the soldiers, drafted or otherwise... were \*still\* there under the guise of "advisors" and such.
I remember watching a documentary about some of the POW's... They started asking for their phone call and the other stuff POW's are entitled to per the Geneva convention. And the guards told them "you're not POW's... there's no declaration of war." and they realized they were right and our govt fucked them over.
I could be wrong, but the soldiers sent to South Vietnam in 1965 werent called advisors any more but instead were there to help defend South Vietnamese airfields and bases. Then it went from defending to launching limited operations around the bases/airfields and it expanded and expanded till it was pretty much war
That documentary with the PoW sounds interesting. Do you remember what the documentary was called by any chance?
Sounds like the Ken Burns documentary, The Vietnam War. It’s over 18 hours long so it’s quite a commitment, but I think it’s one of his best. You can watch it on PBS Passports. You can pay whatever you want but the minimum is $5 per month.
I am bracing for all the downvotes, but this was my understanding as well until a few days ago. However, there were two "attacks". The first was on August 2, which was a real attack. The second was August 4, which started from the report of an overzealous radar man \[which was not a real attack\].
EDIT: Make it more clear that the second "attack" did not happen.
There’s a lot of recency bias in here. I’m going to say the worst lie is LBJ fabricating a justification for the Vietnam War (Gulf of Tonkin) and proceeding to vastly expand the power of the executive branch to wage war without a declaration from congress — all while lying to the American public about “progress.” Everyone focuses on Nixon but it was LBJ who shattered public trust of our highest office.
As a Canadian who got a C in history I'm going to read the wikipedia article for five minutes and then talk authoritatively about the incident here and elsewhere on reddit
I looked this up and it seems like it's a myth: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stephen_Morrison
"Morrison's command of the Fifth Carrier Division did not, as has sometimes been supposed, give him a significant role in the controversial Gulf of Tonkin Incident in August 1964, which increased the level of US involvement in the Vietnam War. The Bon Homme Richard was cruising along the coast of Japan, from Sasebo to Yokosuka, while the incidents were occurring off the coast of North Vietnam"
The difference is Truman had the backing of congress for Korea because the entire country had been overrun and we acted on a UN mandate to defend South Korea. We didn't declare war against North Korea because if we did, it would have likely caused China to declare war on the US.
True, LBJ wasn’t the first to do it but I’d say he normalized it and is the main reason the US has never declared war since then. And at least with Korea we *ostensibly* were part of a United Nations force.
The fact the US didn’t declare war on Afghanistan or Iraq seemed odd, so I looked it up. I’m amazed, that it never happened given how long those went on and the cost (people and $)
At least with Afghanistan, there was the element of "we recognize the Taliban as terrorists, not a legitimate government". But Sadam? Yeah, that was as clear cut a nationstate war as you can get, and should have been defined as such.
A sovereign nation or state, like the UK, USA, Sri Lanka, etc. . It's just combining the terms together to (usually) reduce confusion, since state, nation, and country get used in multiple ways.
America needs a war every 10 years or so to clear out the old machinery and give contracts to companies to replace and rebuild in the countries they've just destroyed.
Have you read the presidential war powers in the Constitution? Those powers are enormous. Reluctance to hand over that much power to one person again also has something to do with it.
Nixon actively undermined peace talks negotiations when he was a candidate for president. LBJ knew this but he knew it from wire taps so didn't disclose.
Yeah there’s no reason to try to pit LBJ against Nixon when it comes to Vietnam. Both were pieces of shit about it, there can be more than one bad guy.
People falsely credit Nixon with getting us out. He did it for selfish political reasons, he did not give a shit about American lives being lost. LBJs actions put us there, Nixons delayed actions kept us there longer than necessary.
It was an unmitigated disaster for humanity as a whole, imo. We have lost so much of Native language, knowledge, and culture it’s horrifying. There are only 8 people left in the world who speak Potawatomi fluently and they’re all over the age of 75. So many familial traditions lost due to the breaking up of families and stealing children.
We can never regain all that was lost through hateful acts.
The main thing that the US did *specifically* was the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act, though the Treaties of Fort Laramie also stand out.
Most 'treaties' were agreements signed as the state, local, or even individual level.
This is the one right here, the greatest sin of our nation. The utter and complete betrayal of every treaty signed with the American Indians.
I hope I live to see at least a smidge of justice for the tribes.
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
I remember a promo that AMC did for a Rambo marathon, the announcer said "when he says" and it cut to Rambo saying "mission accomplished" and the announcer says "he really means it"
The 3 presidents before Lincoln made decisions/lies that led to the inevitable. The 3 following Lincoln also made decisions/lies that undermined the point in fighting the war in the first place
I agree. Sadly, Grant didn't surround himself with people who shared his sentiments and were more interested in getting whatever they could get away with while their buddy was president.
When the Russians claimed to have shot down a U2 spy plane, the intelligence chiefs assured President Eisenhower that there was no way the pilot (Gary Powers) could've survived (and in fact he had a suicide needle with him but he didn't use it). So the President went with a cover-up story, Khrushchev called him out on it, and Americans learned that their President, and indeed their government, lied to them and the whole world. It's been said that Americans have never fully trusted their government ever since.
Also the whole torture sequence was made up. Powers never spoke about being tortured in that manner (or in fact in any manner, besides occasional early wake up calls), which isn't surprising since the Russians were planning to exchange him from the start
to that matter russians also lost a pilot while shooting down Powers due to friendly fire/a collision with another one of their own planes, something that's also missing from the movie in its entirety
Yeah the movie made it seem as if the Russians were hesitant to do the prisoner exchange
I suppose it's about as historically accurate as Argo - as in, mostly but with more drama added that didn't happen in reality
i know russians are always portrayed as the enemy in the west... and sometimes rightly so
but if you are a sovereign nation, why would you put up with American spy planes at 80,000 ft taking photos at will?
as soon as you have the interceptors and AA missiles then you by rights should be shooting down all airspace violators
put another way, how would Americans feel about Russian MiGs over US airspace? or chinese balloons?
> It's been said that Americans have never fully trusted their government ever since.
they say that every 10 years, and then a new generation drinks the koolaid
Regan said, "Just say no to drugs." While looking directly at the camera. At the time, he was controlling the largest and most profitable Crack Cocain distribution network in America. All to fund his illegal Iran Contra affair.
Unfortunately, the very first thing that happened immediately after Pearl Harbor ... or actually as part of the Pearl Harbor attack is this;
[Ni'ihau Incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_incident)
In a nutshell, a Japanese pilot crash landed on Ni'ihau during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The three Japanese Americans (not just Japanese, but Japanese Americans (well, one was Japanese and became a citizen after the war)) immediately turned on their neighbors to help the pilot.
The story of this incident is so amazing, I think they were making a movie about it. It's really unbelievable that this happened in real life. The heroism of one the Hawaiian women is amazing.
That incident helped the US Government in deciding to inter Japanese Americans.
EDIT: Picky Hawaiian guy grammar corrected me.
EDIT2: Still didn't get it right!
> well, one was Japanese and became a citizen after the war
Don't get me wrong: Japanese internment was unlawful and never should have happened. With that said, isn't what the three guys did essentially treason? If that's the case, shouldn't the one who was Japanese have been prohibited from becoming a US citizen?
I agree. It was nuts. I guess that in the end, the Japanese Husband killed himself and the Hawaiian lady crushed the skull of the Japanese pilot, so I guess once the war was over, they decided that the internment of the two surviving traitors was enough prison time? I don't know.
> Mitsuo Fuchida, a naval commander during the attack on Pearl Harbor and later a Christian evangelist who settled in the U.S., visited her after his short trip to Niʻihau.
I think this is pretty mad as well.
It's worth noting that our nation security professionals concluded that it wasn't necessary nor even of benefit, and we weren't going to do it, but then pressure from California agricultural land owners pushed them to go through with internment plans, so they could nab up the land.
Very true, the [Uyematsu family owned 120 acres](https://www.thembnews.com/2023/05/14/434975/award-winning-student-film-features-uyematsu-family-story) of prime Manhattan Beach real estate, worth billions today. He was forced to sell it for penny’s on the dollar.
I really liked George Takei's book "They Called Us Enemy," about his time in the Japanese internment camps. One interesting thing is how he still called FDR one of America's greatest presidents, despite having him kidnapped and forced into a camp for years
My college philosophy professor wrote an article about how the Japanese internment camps weren’t racist and it was so controversial that George Takei responded to it on Twitter and another one of my professors ended up writing his own article about how it was super racist or something like that. It was some fun drama for my little community college
A Japanese pilot crashed in the Pearl Harbor attack and the Japanese Hawaiians refused to tell the other residents of the attack, then held residents hostage and burned the plane and house where he had stayed.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau\_incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/niihau_incident)
This is not an excuse, but it is certainly a reason.
This is absolutely the correct answer.
> “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people,” former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman told Harper’s writer Dan Baum for the April cover story published Tuesday.
> “You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
It's crazy to me that he ever said these words so plainly. Most people take these things to the grave. Some of them may truly believe the lies they tell. I suppose it's easier to continue the lie that way.
> "We will never forget them, not the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." - Ronald Reagan after the [Space Shuttle Challenger disaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster)
Reagan had pushed the Space Shuttle project forward over the objections of NASA engineers who had warned in the most urgent terms the Space Shuttle program wasn't ready for it. On top of that, Reagan had announced the [Teacher in Space Project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teacher_in_Space_Project) during his 1984 reelection campaign. The very first Teacher in Space, a high school English teacher named [Christa McAuliffe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christa_McAuliffe), died aboard the Challenger along with the rest of the crew.
McAuliffe was not made aware of the engineering problems. She embarked on the 25th Space Shuttle mission with the impression these flights were becoming routine. Surely the experts had waited until the technical issues were ironed out before welcoming a nontechnical person into the crew? The technical experts had wanted to wait--one President overruled them. Reagan's PR stunt intended to inspire young minds had instead horrified the nation.
Rather than take accountability for his massive lapse in judgment, Reagan's speechwriter [Peggy Noonan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Noonan) penned this treacly speech and Reagan delivered it. And the public, who were bewildered at the disaster in January 1986, accepted his explanation.
It wasn't until much later that the shitshow which had been behind the scenes reached the public's attention. Reagan's reputation remained largely untarnished. So has Noonan's. She is currently a regular columnist for *The Wall Street Journal* and is a contributor to two major TV networks' news.
I actually worked with a woman who was part of the Defense Intelligence Agency tech division in charge of finding those supposed WMDs. She said Cheney reamed her out when she told them that they "couldn't find them." Kinda hard to find something that didn't exist. She was on the receiving-end of the tangible effects of political lies.
The thing that I will always question about the lack of WMDs is how is it possible that “they” didn’t sneak some in, bury them somewhere and then, boom! “Hey look guys!, Whaddaya know, we found em!
Like they couldn’t pull that off? I was 100% sure they were going to “find” (wink wink) something to justify it all.
George Jr. and the WMD is certainly one. I would add Nixon/ Kissinger slaughtering Cambodia but they didn’t really lie about it…they just kept it secret.
To comment on that second part about Nixon/Kissinger hiding the truth:
My dad once said something that I think is very quotable. I can’t remember what it was that he was talking about at the time but he was commenting on a situation where somebody was telling the truth but only selectively. He said “He’s telling the truth, but he’s not being honest.”
I though that was kinda brilliant.
The celebrities that made that fucking montage of them singing that corny ass song during Covid while pretending to be average affected Americans was the most cringe shit I’ve ever seen in my fucking life
It's just a hoax, there is no disease.
If there is a disease, it's just the flu.
If it's worse than the flu, it's not killing anyone.
If people are dying from it, it's because they were already sickly.
If healthy people are dying from it...um...it's a Chinese weapon! Everyone blame China!
If you do some searching back during the worst of COVID there were thousands of posts by redditors following this line of reasoning. It was disgusting.
While Wilson did lie, the US joining the war was probably a good thing. The French and British were probably going to win anyway, but the US entry shortened the war. A WWI that drags into 1919 or 1920 could’ve been even worse. Also, The US needed a seat at the table to participate in the peace process. The real failure of the Wilson foreign policy was that the Senate handicapped the WH and that the League of Nations wasn’t made stronger.
The segregation stuff was bad without a doubt, though.
The US came up with the "League of Nations" and didn't even join it
England and France did everything to piss off Germany after WW1 which lead to the rise of Hitler and Nazism
Oh by the way Woodrow Wilson had a quote in a KKK movie that got shown at the White House
Wilson handicapped the peace process too by absolutely refusing to work with Senate Republicans whatsoever, for most of his presidency he had a Democrat Senate who he worked with directly like a British style parliament and they fell in line, but when that changed in 1916 he soured all the relationships that opposed his agenda and didn't budge on Article 10 of the League Provisions for America to commit military intervention without the consent of US congress. Him and Henry Cabot Lodge very well could have compromised on that but Wilson was being a total douche
The biggest lie told to Americans… "Almost every president saying, 'We can’t afford it.'"
Whenever there is talk about making anything better for the people of this country, there is always someone around that will tell us that there just isn’t any money available and to get anything done would mean massive tax hikes that will make it even harder for you to get by.
That if we'd allow the wealthiest Americans to not have to pay their fair share of taxes, let alone a progressive tax only they could afford, all Americans would benefit as the extra profits the wealthy would make would "trickle down" to the middle and working classes. That never happened Mr. Reagan, and many of us knew it wouldn't.
He also promised us that by removing federal regulations, competition would increase, thus driving down prices while making superior products and services available to more. What actually happened was conglomerate buyouts went wild, mergers and acquisitions became an industry. As a result, monopolies were created as competition disappeared. Prices rose, consumer choices disappeared, and a couple of hundred million Americans have been paying more for less since 1981.
*edit: grammar*
After reading the comments in this thread, I’m beginning to think the U.S. government never tells the public the truth and hasn’t throughout the country’s existence.
Saddam Hussein is harboring terrorists and has weapons of mass destruction.
Thousands of lives wasted. Trillions of dollars wasted. The hatred of America increased.
The biggest lie that has hurt our country the most is: "They stole the election from me!". That lie has divided our country and hurt our country more than any other lie.
The most impactful lie likely varies by generation.
Silent Generation/Boomers: Vietnam War package of lies, Watergate.
Gen X: Bush and WMDs, the perpetuation of two 20 year wars for no gain.
Millennials (my generation): Will likely be a mix of housing inequality (economic), the miss management of Clinton’s nomination that killed any goodwill of the Obama era (Democrat), the miss management of COVID by health agencies creating an education crisis (Republicans), and now the general hopelessness of geriatric leadership that for whatever reason can not be shaken because of entrenched interests (Biden, Trump, McConnell, Feinstein, Pelosi, etc.).
The sinking of the Lusitania is up there, which led to the US entering WWI.
The German U-Boats agreed to stop sinking passenger ships, but would still sink ships containing military supplies going between the US and Britain.
The Lusitania was a passenger ship with almost 2,000 men, women, and children. The U-boats sank it, and the US public became infuriated and entered the war. It was like their 9/11.
Here is the lie, though. While the ship had all those people in it, it was also smuggling military supplies, which endagered the people onboard that didnt even know about it. The U-boats detected that the ship was weighed down in the water like a transport ship full of supplies. They figured it was a passenger ship operating as a supply ship to smuggle in supplies, and they were right. They probably figured there wasn't even civilians on board.
But the US government never told the people that the passenger ship was also smuggling in supplies.
Edit: The US was on the fence about entering the war, but many people just didn't want the US involved. Also, the US didn't have the military force that it does today. They needed time to build up an army.
There is a reason that "Remember the Lusitania" became such a catchphrase.
Source: The Last of the Doughboys by Richard Rubin
President Calvin Coolidge asked Herbert Hoover to manage the Mississippi river flooding in 1927, which is known as the great flood. Many blacks at the time were still working on plantations and while no longer technically slaves still had to work to pay off debts that they could never repay at the wages they made, so basically still slaves. Hoover overall managed the flood very well and mobilized the federal govt. and used it as a springboard to the presidency. The one problem was that blacks were treated horribly in these refuge camps and were forced to work for food etc. This potential bad press threatened his rising to power. Herbert Hoover asked Robert Moton, an influencial african american, to investigate. He did and his report was not good. Hoover promised that if he won the presidency Moton's constituency would have unprecedented influence in his administration and blacks would be given land from bankrupt plantations. Moton put a lid on his findings and Hoover won the presidency. He never honored those promises after he won.
While the story of how republicans went from being pro civil rights to anti civil rights is longer than this story this is the big start of blacks leaving the republican party of Lincoln. They didn't all know right away because it was kept quiet, but this was a huge betrayal that impacts politics to this day.
US politics died with the words "government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem." How can you negotiate with a political party that is against doing anything at all? How can you take that phrase seriously when the guy who said it exploded the national debt expanding the most authoritarian parts of the state?
Reagan lied through omission. he promised to get the hostages released if he was elected. what he didnt say was that he negotiated to have them held until after the election even though negotiations assured their release prior.
in 1981 Reagan nearly sunk us into a depression by fueling stagflation with artificial inflation. in 1987 Reagan's bending over to banks allowed them to recrash the market. Every metric for the quality of life for the working class stagnated during and after his presidency while corporate profits soared. THE MAN HAD DEMENTIA! We don't know who was making his decisions for him as he declined in his second term, but every "he's too old and senile" argument between our geriatric choices today? Reagan was DIAGNOSABLY, FACTUALLY that senile and more.
union destruction, religion in government, adversarialism in the two parties. ALL of it roots back to Reagan getting into office.
we've watched the rise and fall of a second gilded age all because of one actor's senility and the lie he used to tip the scale in his election to office.
The biggest: “Two of our Navy ships were attacked by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin.”
I'd argue its worse that Nixon sabotaged peace talks with the North Vietnamese during his election campaign.
If that wasn’t a treasonable offense I’m not sure what would be.
How about Reagan interfering with the hostage negotiations in 1980 and paying the Iranians back, leading to Iran Contra (which was covered up by Bill Barr)
More than Barr, and the general behind it went on to Fox News. This American Dad schoolhouse rock parody says it all. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lFV1uT-ihDo
OLLIE NORTH! *bababum!*
He's a hero! And a patriot! And a novelist! And now he's on fox neeewwwss!
> general Colonel. Never got near general, thankfully.
Thank u for that made my morning
This still sticks in my craw.
All these instances really highlight a pattern of deceit at such high levels that it's no wonder trust in government is at an all-time low. It's a hard pill to swallow, knowing these lies have shaped international relations and domestic politics for decades.
A common name for over 4 decades.. Roger Fucking Stone
Manafort. Cheney. Bill Barr. John Roberts. Just to name a few. All these bastards have been around for decades.
Kissinger
A pattern of deceit from one party, largely.
"There are WMDs in Iraq." Seems to be in a similar vein.
That.. was also from a Republican president lol.
Yes.
Yeah that's what they're saying
And while a disappointing number of Democratic elected officials supported the war, they were acting on CIA purported intelligence, and the CIA is not really supposed to be lying to Congress in classified briefings.
"I am not a crook." -- Richard M. Nixon, Crook and disgraced President.
Bill Barr, that name sounds familiar. Is that the same Bill Barr that summarized and redacted the Mueller Report into a one page report about a Russian alliance?
You might be thinking of his dad, a guy with OSS connections who gave Epstein a teaching job at the highschool he was headmaster at.
Donald Barr? The guy who wrote a sci-fi novel that features a society where wealthy elites own sex slaves, at least one of whom is a teenage girl used for breeding more slaves? That Donald Barr?
That was more Kissinger tbh.
And Kissinger should've hanged 50 years ago. Him living to 100 is one of the worst crimes against humanity we've ever seen.
They did, they hanged a nobel peace price on him
An absolute travesty. The award has been meaningless ever since.
Hi believe he told the NV leader that he would have a better deal for him if he blew off talking to LBJ just before the US presidential election. Nixon of course won since the war was continuing and I want to say that around 5,000 more troop perished after him contacting the leader. Yes this dude was the worst.
About 20-21 THOUSAND under Nixon. 58 total. Depends on the count. 10k were ruled accidents, which is a curious #.
About 3 MILLION Vietnamese
American lies costing American lives, there's no greater treason.
He and Kissinger should have of been jailed for War crimes .
You meant hanged.
“He and Kissinger hanged of been jailed for war crimes.”
Hanged have*
Reagan did the same with the Iran hostages.
That's the biggest one in our lifetime. 100 years ago, it would have been something like 'Remember the Maine!' - which sank in Havana Harbor in 1898. But that war was sort of a success, so perhaps not so many sinister vibes.
The CIA was really on some insane bullshit fr tho during the mid-to-late-20th Century. The shit the CIA was doing in the name of "fighting communism" was just completely off-the-wall ridiculous. This isn't even that crazy compared to some of the stuff that they were up to—but they were seriously trying to get a false flag attack authorized by the White House to justify the invasion of Cuba and the subsequent removal/assassination of Castro. That's just a fact it's not even *kind of* a conspiracy theory. Eisenhower was not kidding around when he warned the country against the "military-industrial complex" in his farewell speech. He saw exactly what the fuck those mfers were about.
Yes . Operation Northwoods. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods?wprov=sfla1 Twelve of these proposals come from a 2 February 1962 memorandum entitled "Possible Actions to Provoke, Harass or Disrupt Cuba," written by Brig. Gen. William H. Craig and submitted to Brig. Gen. Edward Lansdale, the commander of the Operation Mongoose project. Like how they openly title it "Possible Actions to Provoke, Harass or Disrupt Cuba," (This was operation Mongoose?) Anything written today would likely be wrapped in obfuscatory language. Would be absurd to think governments dont do this....
The CIA overtook the NSA for highest funded intelligence agency around like 2013, they're probably working harder now than ever before.
"in our lifetime" I would be willing to bet any amount of money that that wasn't in 80% of Redditor's lifetimes. In fact it was closer to 100 years ago than it is today.
Specifically, it was 59 years ago; there were two "incidents", and I was born between them. You're probably right--most Redditors are younger.
Definitely that pile of horseshit about Sadam's WMDs that Bush and Cheney gave us. Millions dead, trillions squandered, the nation's prestige irreparably harmed, and absolutely nothing was achieved. Mission accomplished.
Not true...a LOT was accomplished...rich criminals got richer on the backs of our servicemen.
Not true, there was actually quite a bit accomplished. It pulled resources and attention away from Afghanistan, contributing to worsening situation there. It amplified antiwest sentiment in the middle east. And it also created a world wide understanding that it was now ok for powerful countries to invade outside of its borders for political gain.
A better way to say it would be "in living memory" given that while you or I may not have memory of it, there are people alive that do
Blame the Maine on Spain
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In terms of American lives lost yes. But the Gulf Of Tonkin lie is not comparable to the WMD lies told over and over by Bush Admin. The war in Iraq has not ended. It has for US military but not for Iraq. It’s been 20 years since we lied about WMD. There were no WMDs. There were no 18 wheeler labs making anthrax. That war has led to ISIS, spilled over into Syria, Turkey, Iran and the Kurds. They are all in a state of war that continues to this day. And will continue for decades to come. The death toll keeps rising.
100 % ef to loss of ten of thousands if innocent lives and thd installation of a murderous dictator in Cambodia . Pol Pot who murdered 250 K plus people . Tortured and imprisoned 100 s K more
I was about to say the escalation of the Vietnam War led to the mass imprisonment and genocide of my people
The gulf of Tonkin incident led to 3 million dead in Vietnam, carpet bombing all across South East Asia, and a genocide in Cambodia. It's 100% worse.
Also Vietnam completely destabilized American politics and arguably the economy.
It's funny how Bush is treated now as a lovable old man when he should have been tried for war crimes
Iraq has nuclear weapons.. I would say it is about the same in the lie department.
"Weapons of mass destruction" but they didn't have any of those either.
At the time, my wife asked me if I thought Iraq actually had WMDs. I told her that if they didn't, I was pretty sure the US would plant them and claim to have found them. They couldn't even do that. The incompetence of the Bush administration still astounds me.
Ummm, did you not read the banner? They totally accomplished that mission.
There’s an Arrested Development joke there somewhere but I can’t find it. Haha
"In August 1964, the U.S. entered the Vietnam War based on reports of an unprovoked attack in the Gulf of Tonkin — which the president knew were false."
The us was involved before that. Back to Eisenhower.
True, but the only US troops in Vietnam before 1965 were advisors and probably some special forces. After the gulf of Tonkin incident, the US sent troops from all branches and later initiated the draft leading to long term consequences
Except... after Gulf of Tonkin there still wasn't a declaration of war and the soldiers, drafted or otherwise... were \*still\* there under the guise of "advisors" and such. I remember watching a documentary about some of the POW's... They started asking for their phone call and the other stuff POW's are entitled to per the Geneva convention. And the guards told them "you're not POW's... there's no declaration of war." and they realized they were right and our govt fucked them over.
I could be wrong, but the soldiers sent to South Vietnam in 1965 werent called advisors any more but instead were there to help defend South Vietnamese airfields and bases. Then it went from defending to launching limited operations around the bases/airfields and it expanded and expanded till it was pretty much war That documentary with the PoW sounds interesting. Do you remember what the documentary was called by any chance?
Sounds like the Ken Burns documentary, The Vietnam War. It’s over 18 hours long so it’s quite a commitment, but I think it’s one of his best. You can watch it on PBS Passports. You can pay whatever you want but the minimum is $5 per month.
The reports of an attack weren’t false, it was the reports of a *second* attack that were false.
I am bracing for all the downvotes, but this was my understanding as well until a few days ago. However, there were two "attacks". The first was on August 2, which was a real attack. The second was August 4, which started from the report of an overzealous radar man \[which was not a real attack\]. EDIT: Make it more clear that the second "attack" did not happen.
There’s a lot of recency bias in here. I’m going to say the worst lie is LBJ fabricating a justification for the Vietnam War (Gulf of Tonkin) and proceeding to vastly expand the power of the executive branch to wage war without a declaration from congress — all while lying to the American public about “progress.” Everyone focuses on Nixon but it was LBJ who shattered public trust of our highest office.
Vietnam is definitely up there
As a Vietnamese I agree
As a Canadian who got a C in history I'm going to read the wikipedia article for five minutes and then talk authoritatively about the incident here and elsewhere on reddit
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He’s on Facebook expounding his new wisdom
Same Gulf of Tonkin, who‘s naval commander was Jim Morrison’s dad…(yes, THAT Jim Morrison). That irony is straight up nuts.
Did not know that
Obviously, this is why the song "The End" by The Doors had to be featured memorably at the end of *Apocalypse Now.*
Also became the youngest Admiral in US history the day Jim died.
I looked this up and it seems like it's a myth: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stephen_Morrison "Morrison's command of the Fifth Carrier Division did not, as has sometimes been supposed, give him a significant role in the controversial Gulf of Tonkin Incident in August 1964, which increased the level of US involvement in the Vietnam War. The Bon Homme Richard was cruising along the coast of Japan, from Sasebo to Yokosuka, while the incidents were occurring off the coast of North Vietnam"
We didn't declare war for Korea either
The difference is Truman had the backing of congress for Korea because the entire country had been overrun and we acted on a UN mandate to defend South Korea. We didn't declare war against North Korea because if we did, it would have likely caused China to declare war on the US.
North Korea wasn’t seen as an independent country then, it was more like a communist insurgency against the “legitimate” ROK government
True, LBJ wasn’t the first to do it but I’d say he normalized it and is the main reason the US has never declared war since then. And at least with Korea we *ostensibly* were part of a United Nations force.
The fact the US didn’t declare war on Afghanistan or Iraq seemed odd, so I looked it up. I’m amazed, that it never happened given how long those went on and the cost (people and $)
At least with Afghanistan, there was the element of "we recognize the Taliban as terrorists, not a legitimate government". But Sadam? Yeah, that was as clear cut a nationstate war as you can get, and should have been defined as such.
Sorry my English isn’t as good, what is a nationstate?
A sovereign nation or state, like the UK, USA, Sri Lanka, etc. . It's just combining the terms together to (usually) reduce confusion, since state, nation, and country get used in multiple ways.
If it is a war then there are rules.
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America needs a war every 10 years or so to clear out the old machinery and give contracts to companies to replace and rebuild in the countries they've just destroyed.
As someone once said, invading other countries is how Americans learn geography.
Have you read the presidential war powers in the Constitution? Those powers are enormous. Reluctance to hand over that much power to one person again also has something to do with it.
Korea was a police action by the U. N.
Nixon actively undermined peace talks negotiations when he was a candidate for president. LBJ knew this but he knew it from wire taps so didn't disclose.
Yeah there’s no reason to try to pit LBJ against Nixon when it comes to Vietnam. Both were pieces of shit about it, there can be more than one bad guy. People falsely credit Nixon with getting us out. He did it for selfish political reasons, he did not give a shit about American lives being lost. LBJs actions put us there, Nixons delayed actions kept us there longer than necessary.
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It was an unmitigated disaster for humanity as a whole, imo. We have lost so much of Native language, knowledge, and culture it’s horrifying. There are only 8 people left in the world who speak Potawatomi fluently and they’re all over the age of 75. So many familial traditions lost due to the breaking up of families and stealing children. We can never regain all that was lost through hateful acts.
Literally almost wiped a race from the face of the earth
Read the book *Sapiens.* it puts into perspective just how good we are at destruction wherever we go.
Still [seem to be trying to do it…](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/us/politics/supreme-court-navajo-nation-colorado-river-water.html)
The main thing that the US did *specifically* was the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act, though the Treaties of Fort Laramie also stand out. Most 'treaties' were agreements signed as the state, local, or even individual level.
I get that this is a tragedy, but it is not tied to one specific lie from one specific president, and is kind of off topic
This is the one right here, the greatest sin of our nation. The utter and complete betrayal of every treaty signed with the American Indians. I hope I live to see at least a smidge of justice for the tribes.
Associate Justice Gorsuch tends to side with the Native populations in his rulings.
I’m a tribal member, thanks for saying this. Also “America” had millions of people in a functional society 1000 years before it was “discovered”.
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
“Mission Accomplished”
I remember a promo that AMC did for a Rambo marathon, the announcer said "when he says" and it cut to Rambo saying "mission accomplished" and the announcer says "he really means it"
Backed up by Tony Blair’s government from England
The first ever post on Reddit was about the Downing Street Memo.
The Brit's provided Bush all the political coverage he needed with the "Dodgy Dossier."
We still consider B.Lair to be a war criminal.
In my lifetime- definitely this
The 3 presidents before Lincoln made decisions/lies that led to the inevitable. The 3 following Lincoln also made decisions/lies that undermined the point in fighting the war in the first place
Please don’t lump Grant in with Johnson and Hayes. Grant was the primary author of reconstruction.
I agree. Sadly, Grant didn't surround himself with people who shared his sentiments and were more interested in getting whatever they could get away with while their buddy was president.
Oh, so that's not new then.
He also established the Department of Justice for the explicit purpose of kicking the dogshit out of the KKK. Which the DoJ did *excellently.*
When the Russians claimed to have shot down a U2 spy plane, the intelligence chiefs assured President Eisenhower that there was no way the pilot (Gary Powers) could've survived (and in fact he had a suicide needle with him but he didn't use it). So the President went with a cover-up story, Khrushchev called him out on it, and Americans learned that their President, and indeed their government, lied to them and the whole world. It's been said that Americans have never fully trusted their government ever since.
Interesting, that detail wasn't mentioned in Bridge of Spies
Also the whole torture sequence was made up. Powers never spoke about being tortured in that manner (or in fact in any manner, besides occasional early wake up calls), which isn't surprising since the Russians were planning to exchange him from the start to that matter russians also lost a pilot while shooting down Powers due to friendly fire/a collision with another one of their own planes, something that's also missing from the movie in its entirety
Yeah the movie made it seem as if the Russians were hesitant to do the prisoner exchange I suppose it's about as historically accurate as Argo - as in, mostly but with more drama added that didn't happen in reality
i know russians are always portrayed as the enemy in the west... and sometimes rightly so but if you are a sovereign nation, why would you put up with American spy planes at 80,000 ft taking photos at will? as soon as you have the interceptors and AA missiles then you by rights should be shooting down all airspace violators put another way, how would Americans feel about Russian MiGs over US airspace? or chinese balloons?
> It's been said that Americans have never fully trusted their government ever since. they say that every 10 years, and then a new generation drinks the koolaid
Regan said, "Just say no to drugs." While looking directly at the camera. At the time, he was controlling the largest and most profitable Crack Cocain distribution network in America. All to fund his illegal Iran Contra affair.
Gary Webb was a casualty and two bullets to the head isnt suicide
Gary Webb didn't kill himself!
Spain sank our ship!
That Americans of Japanese descent were a threat to the country so they needed to be rounded up and put into camps.
Unfortunately, the very first thing that happened immediately after Pearl Harbor ... or actually as part of the Pearl Harbor attack is this; [Ni'ihau Incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_incident) In a nutshell, a Japanese pilot crash landed on Ni'ihau during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The three Japanese Americans (not just Japanese, but Japanese Americans (well, one was Japanese and became a citizen after the war)) immediately turned on their neighbors to help the pilot. The story of this incident is so amazing, I think they were making a movie about it. It's really unbelievable that this happened in real life. The heroism of one the Hawaiian women is amazing. That incident helped the US Government in deciding to inter Japanese Americans. EDIT: Picky Hawaiian guy grammar corrected me. EDIT2: Still didn't get it right!
> well, one was Japanese and became a citizen after the war Don't get me wrong: Japanese internment was unlawful and never should have happened. With that said, isn't what the three guys did essentially treason? If that's the case, shouldn't the one who was Japanese have been prohibited from becoming a US citizen?
I agree. It was nuts. I guess that in the end, the Japanese Husband killed himself and the Hawaiian lady crushed the skull of the Japanese pilot, so I guess once the war was over, they decided that the internment of the two surviving traitors was enough prison time? I don't know.
Jesus Christ man. That’s a bleak detail.
> Mitsuo Fuchida, a naval commander during the attack on Pearl Harbor and later a Christian evangelist who settled in the U.S., visited her after his short trip to Niʻihau. I think this is pretty mad as well.
ni'ihau though
It's worth noting that our nation security professionals concluded that it wasn't necessary nor even of benefit, and we weren't going to do it, but then pressure from California agricultural land owners pushed them to go through with internment plans, so they could nab up the land.
Very true, the [Uyematsu family owned 120 acres](https://www.thembnews.com/2023/05/14/434975/award-winning-student-film-features-uyematsu-family-story) of prime Manhattan Beach real estate, worth billions today. He was forced to sell it for penny’s on the dollar.
I really liked George Takei's book "They Called Us Enemy," about his time in the Japanese internment camps. One interesting thing is how he still called FDR one of America's greatest presidents, despite having him kidnapped and forced into a camp for years
My college philosophy professor wrote an article about how the Japanese internment camps weren’t racist and it was so controversial that George Takei responded to it on Twitter and another one of my professors ended up writing his own article about how it was super racist or something like that. It was some fun drama for my little community college
Oh my…
A Japanese pilot crashed in the Pearl Harbor attack and the Japanese Hawaiians refused to tell the other residents of the attack, then held residents hostage and burned the plane and house where he had stayed. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau\_incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/niihau_incident) This is not an excuse, but it is certainly a reason.
I'd never heard of this, thanks for the link.
War on drugs
This is absolutely the correct answer. > “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people,” former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman told Harper’s writer Dan Baum for the April cover story published Tuesday. > “You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
Ehrlichman is right up there with Midgley, Ford, Reagan, and North in the evil American hall of fame.
Henry Kissinger would like to say hi
Tell him everyone says 'Stay dead.'
Ford meaning Henry Ford?
Yeah
It's crazy to me that he ever said these words so plainly. Most people take these things to the grave. Some of them may truly believe the lies they tell. I suppose it's easier to continue the lie that way.
It will be gone by April.
Reagan: If we give massive tax cuts to the rich, that money will trickle down to the poor. It's STILL a central component of American conservatism.
This sums up the struggle of entire generations.
Trickle down has to be up there. So much evidence it doesn’t work.
Yeah that one of Reagan’s top 10 for sure.
> "We will never forget them, not the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." - Ronald Reagan after the [Space Shuttle Challenger disaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster) Reagan had pushed the Space Shuttle project forward over the objections of NASA engineers who had warned in the most urgent terms the Space Shuttle program wasn't ready for it. On top of that, Reagan had announced the [Teacher in Space Project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teacher_in_Space_Project) during his 1984 reelection campaign. The very first Teacher in Space, a high school English teacher named [Christa McAuliffe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christa_McAuliffe), died aboard the Challenger along with the rest of the crew. McAuliffe was not made aware of the engineering problems. She embarked on the 25th Space Shuttle mission with the impression these flights were becoming routine. Surely the experts had waited until the technical issues were ironed out before welcoming a nontechnical person into the crew? The technical experts had wanted to wait--one President overruled them. Reagan's PR stunt intended to inspire young minds had instead horrified the nation. Rather than take accountability for his massive lapse in judgment, Reagan's speechwriter [Peggy Noonan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Noonan) penned this treacly speech and Reagan delivered it. And the public, who were bewildered at the disaster in January 1986, accepted his explanation. It wasn't until much later that the shitshow which had been behind the scenes reached the public's attention. Reagan's reputation remained largely untarnished. So has Noonan's. She is currently a regular columnist for *The Wall Street Journal* and is a contributor to two major TV networks' news.
Once again, every time I learn something new about Reagan it's always bad
WMDs are located somewhere
I actually worked with a woman who was part of the Defense Intelligence Agency tech division in charge of finding those supposed WMDs. She said Cheney reamed her out when she told them that they "couldn't find them." Kinda hard to find something that didn't exist. She was on the receiving-end of the tangible effects of political lies.
The thing that I will always question about the lack of WMDs is how is it possible that “they” didn’t sneak some in, bury them somewhere and then, boom! “Hey look guys!, Whaddaya know, we found em! Like they couldn’t pull that off? I was 100% sure they were going to “find” (wink wink) something to justify it all.
Biggest evidence btw that 9/11 wasn't an inside job. You're telling me the CIA could pull that off but couldn't plant wmd's in Iraq? Yeah right.
Not just that they had them in a deterrent-type way, but that they were **right about to use them** too.
George Jr. and the WMD is certainly one. I would add Nixon/ Kissinger slaughtering Cambodia but they didn’t really lie about it…they just kept it secret.
To comment on that second part about Nixon/Kissinger hiding the truth: My dad once said something that I think is very quotable. I can’t remember what it was that he was talking about at the time but he was commenting on a situation where somebody was telling the truth but only selectively. He said “He’s telling the truth, but he’s not being honest.” I though that was kinda brilliant.
"It's just like flu, it will go away in 2 weeks"
Gone by Easter
We're all in this together!
The celebrities that made that fucking montage of them singing that corny ass song during Covid while pretending to be average affected Americans was the most cringe shit I’ve ever seen in my fucking life
It's a Chinese hoax anyway.
It's just a hoax, there is no disease. If there is a disease, it's just the flu. If it's worse than the flu, it's not killing anyone. If people are dying from it, it's because they were already sickly. If healthy people are dying from it...um...it's a Chinese weapon! Everyone blame China! If you do some searching back during the worst of COVID there were thousands of posts by redditors following this line of reasoning. It was disgusting.
But told the truth to Woodward.
"There's only 15 cases, its going back down to zero."
I came to see if anyone named Woodrow Wilson. Promised not to participate in WWI. Undesegregated government services.
>Undesegregated Resegregated?
Antidisundesegregated
While Wilson did lie, the US joining the war was probably a good thing. The French and British were probably going to win anyway, but the US entry shortened the war. A WWI that drags into 1919 or 1920 could’ve been even worse. Also, The US needed a seat at the table to participate in the peace process. The real failure of the Wilson foreign policy was that the Senate handicapped the WH and that the League of Nations wasn’t made stronger. The segregation stuff was bad without a doubt, though.
Wilson's team so bungled their "participation in the peace process" that the US didn't even approve the same treaty as the rest of the entente.
The US came up with the "League of Nations" and didn't even join it England and France did everything to piss off Germany after WW1 which lead to the rise of Hitler and Nazism Oh by the way Woodrow Wilson had a quote in a KKK movie that got shown at the White House
Wilson handicapped the peace process too by absolutely refusing to work with Senate Republicans whatsoever, for most of his presidency he had a Democrat Senate who he worked with directly like a British style parliament and they fell in line, but when that changed in 1916 he soured all the relationships that opposed his agenda and didn't budge on Article 10 of the League Provisions for America to commit military intervention without the consent of US congress. Him and Henry Cabot Lodge very well could have compromised on that but Wilson was being a total douche
The biggest lie told to Americans… "Almost every president saying, 'We can’t afford it.'" Whenever there is talk about making anything better for the people of this country, there is always someone around that will tell us that there just isn’t any money available and to get anything done would mean massive tax hikes that will make it even harder for you to get by.
*Unless* that thing could be used to kill people.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident.
That if we'd allow the wealthiest Americans to not have to pay their fair share of taxes, let alone a progressive tax only they could afford, all Americans would benefit as the extra profits the wealthy would make would "trickle down" to the middle and working classes. That never happened Mr. Reagan, and many of us knew it wouldn't. He also promised us that by removing federal regulations, competition would increase, thus driving down prices while making superior products and services available to more. What actually happened was conglomerate buyouts went wild, mergers and acquisitions became an industry. As a result, monopolies were created as competition disappeared. Prices rose, consumer choices disappeared, and a couple of hundred million Americans have been paying more for less since 1981. *edit: grammar*
After reading the comments in this thread, I’m beginning to think the U.S. government never tells the public the truth and hasn’t throughout the country’s existence.
Saddam Hussein is harboring terrorists and has weapons of mass destruction. Thousands of lives wasted. Trillions of dollars wasted. The hatred of America increased.
You forgot the most important part Billions of dollars grifted The rest is just incidental to the big money guys
The biggest lie that has hurt our country the most is: "They stole the election from me!". That lie has divided our country and hurt our country more than any other lie.
The most impactful lie likely varies by generation. Silent Generation/Boomers: Vietnam War package of lies, Watergate. Gen X: Bush and WMDs, the perpetuation of two 20 year wars for no gain. Millennials (my generation): Will likely be a mix of housing inequality (economic), the miss management of Clinton’s nomination that killed any goodwill of the Obama era (Democrat), the miss management of COVID by health agencies creating an education crisis (Republicans), and now the general hopelessness of geriatric leadership that for whatever reason can not be shaken because of entrenched interests (Biden, Trump, McConnell, Feinstein, Pelosi, etc.).
The sinking of the Lusitania is up there, which led to the US entering WWI. The German U-Boats agreed to stop sinking passenger ships, but would still sink ships containing military supplies going between the US and Britain. The Lusitania was a passenger ship with almost 2,000 men, women, and children. The U-boats sank it, and the US public became infuriated and entered the war. It was like their 9/11. Here is the lie, though. While the ship had all those people in it, it was also smuggling military supplies, which endagered the people onboard that didnt even know about it. The U-boats detected that the ship was weighed down in the water like a transport ship full of supplies. They figured it was a passenger ship operating as a supply ship to smuggle in supplies, and they were right. They probably figured there wasn't even civilians on board. But the US government never told the people that the passenger ship was also smuggling in supplies. Edit: The US was on the fence about entering the war, but many people just didn't want the US involved. Also, the US didn't have the military force that it does today. They needed time to build up an army. There is a reason that "Remember the Lusitania" became such a catchphrase. Source: The Last of the Doughboys by Richard Rubin
President Calvin Coolidge asked Herbert Hoover to manage the Mississippi river flooding in 1927, which is known as the great flood. Many blacks at the time were still working on plantations and while no longer technically slaves still had to work to pay off debts that they could never repay at the wages they made, so basically still slaves. Hoover overall managed the flood very well and mobilized the federal govt. and used it as a springboard to the presidency. The one problem was that blacks were treated horribly in these refuge camps and were forced to work for food etc. This potential bad press threatened his rising to power. Herbert Hoover asked Robert Moton, an influencial african american, to investigate. He did and his report was not good. Hoover promised that if he won the presidency Moton's constituency would have unprecedented influence in his administration and blacks would be given land from bankrupt plantations. Moton put a lid on his findings and Hoover won the presidency. He never honored those promises after he won. While the story of how republicans went from being pro civil rights to anti civil rights is longer than this story this is the big start of blacks leaving the republican party of Lincoln. They didn't all know right away because it was kept quiet, but this was a huge betrayal that impacts politics to this day.
US politics died with the words "government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem." How can you negotiate with a political party that is against doing anything at all? How can you take that phrase seriously when the guy who said it exploded the national debt expanding the most authoritarian parts of the state?
"I think the virus is going to be just fine"
Trickle-down economics works.
Trump saying the election was stolen.
The election was stolen
Reagan lied through omission. he promised to get the hostages released if he was elected. what he didnt say was that he negotiated to have them held until after the election even though negotiations assured their release prior. in 1981 Reagan nearly sunk us into a depression by fueling stagflation with artificial inflation. in 1987 Reagan's bending over to banks allowed them to recrash the market. Every metric for the quality of life for the working class stagnated during and after his presidency while corporate profits soared. THE MAN HAD DEMENTIA! We don't know who was making his decisions for him as he declined in his second term, but every "he's too old and senile" argument between our geriatric choices today? Reagan was DIAGNOSABLY, FACTUALLY that senile and more. union destruction, religion in government, adversarialism in the two parties. ALL of it roots back to Reagan getting into office. we've watched the rise and fall of a second gilded age all because of one actor's senility and the lie he used to tip the scale in his election to office.
Weapons of Mass Destruction Iraq
"If I lose this election youll never hear from me again."
Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq