Quote by California Senator Hiram Warren Johnson in a speech to the US Senate on February 3, 1917.

Johnson was a staunch isolationist, and opposed the entry of the US into World War I. He argued that the US could not distinguish which side of the conflict was in the right, since propaganda had drowned out the truth of the events leading up to it. On February 24, 1917, the US received unambiguous evidence that its side in the war had been chosen for it, in the form of the Zimmermann telegram.

Although Johnson was a prominent politician at the time, his sole legacy in modern times seems to be this quote. It has been cited in diverse circumstances, including:

• Holocast denial after World War II
• US government drugs information and the "war on drugs"
• the propaganda surrounding the conflict in the former Yugoslavia (where it was usually misquoted as "truth is the first casualty of war")

I suspect that the Internet, as a cheap means to spread unsubstantiated information, will prove Johnson ever more relevant as time goes by.

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I was going to make this a nodeshell, but then I got interested.

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September 11, 2001: The immediate reaction to the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks is a textbook example of Senator Johnson's point.