Of course presidents --- and presidential candidates --- should tell the truth. At the same time, there’s a certain amount of spin and exaggeration which takes place not just in politics but in real life that I suspect most people tolerate. On fundamental issues, however, truthfulness is crucial.
Consider the late President Nixon.
Barry Goldwater, the Republican senator who was the barometer that would determine whether Nixon would stay in office in 1974 said, “There were too many lies, too many crimes.” The Watergate cover-up and the abuses of power documented in multiple investigations and on Nixon’s own tapes were too much for Goldwater.
On August 7, 1974, the night before Nixon announced that he was going to resign, Senator Goldwater, Senator Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania and Representative John Rhodes of Arizona went to see Nixon.
The three Republicans met first with Alexander M. Haig, Nixon’s chief of staff.
Haig said to them, “He needs to hear it from you.”
Goldwater said, “He’ll get the truth. That’s what he wants?” Goldwater was disbelieving, since Nixon so rarely wanted the truth.
“Yes,” Haig said.
When the three lawmakers met with Nixon, the president estimated how many votes he might have in a trial in the Senate. “How many would you say would be with me, a half-dozen?” Nixon asked.
“More than that, maybe 16 to 18,” Goldwater said Nixon would need 34 votes, two-thirds of the Senate, to avoid a conviction and removal from office.
After Nixon acknowledged things were pretty grim, Goldwater decided to ram the point home. He told the president he had done a nose count and, “I couldn’t find more than four very firm votes, and those would be from old Southerners.” Nixon knew he would be finished if he decided to fight the Watergate charges in the House and the Senate.
Afterwards, while speaking with reporters, Goldwater lied. It was the kind of lie that is probably acceptable in politics and under the tactical circumstances of the moment, he deemed it necessary.
Asked by the reporters what they had told Nixon the situation was in the House and Senate, Goldwater said, “I have no way of knowing, and we have no way of making nose counts. I myself have not made up my mind. And I think I can speak for most of the senators that they haven’t made up their minds.”
Goldwater felt his lie was necessary to keep Nixon on track as decision-maker and avoid the appearance that the legislators had gone to him to conduct a pre-impeachment coup d'état. The lies about fundamental issues that so characterized the Nixon presidency are unacceptable. Perhaps the tactical lies of the moment that Goldwater employed are the kind that can be tolerated.
Bob Woodward has worked for The Washington Post since 1971.
