“In war, truth is the first casualty”

This quote seemed appropriate. Once the word “war” is volleyed and the Charlie Chaplin mustaches come out it gets hard to take anything seriously. But, this got my attention, I’ll admit.

It’s NOT a quote from Æschylus as many believe.

It’s often attributed to US Senator Hiram Johnson, but does not appear anywhere in his speeches.

Arthur Ponsonby’s Falsehood in Wartime (1928) quoted: “When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty”, but the first recorded use seems to be by Philip Snowden in his introduction to Truth and the War, by E. D. Morel. London, July 1916: “Truth, it has been said, is the first casualty of war.”

Samuel Johnson’s The Idler (1758-1760) expressed a similar idea: “Among the calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.”

(info cut & pasted more or less from here. Photo by beejweir, SF, CA, 7/6/12)