Letter: Fact-checking, or the lack thereof

Posted 5/20/16

Rhode Island Rep. Kenneth A. Marshall's (D–District 68) self-serving letter to the editor on page 6 of the May 12, 2016 Phoenix, "Don't give up hope in elected officials," contains an egregious …

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Letter: Fact-checking, or the lack thereof

Posted

Rhode Island Rep. Kenneth A. Marshall's (D–District 68) self-serving letter to the editor on page 6 of the May 12, 2016 Phoenix, "Don't give up hope in elected officials," contains an egregious factual error that could have been avoided if he had checked his facts.

Rep. Marshall attributes to John F. Kennedy (JFK) the quote, "Fear is the enemy of logic. There is nothing more debilitating, crushing, self-defeating, sickening thing in the world—to an individual or to a nation." A simple Web search retrieves multiple items from multiple sources attributing the quote to Frank Sinatra.

Because the quote lacks President Kennedy's linguistic style and elegance, those familiar with his writings and speeches would doubt the quote was one of his statements upon reading it. The JFK Library research staff confirms that the quote "is indeed from Frank Sinatra, rather than President Kennedy. The quote comes from a magazine interview that Sinatra gave, and was in response to questions about the state of the Cold War and US-Soviet relations."

Playing fast and loose with facts is both bad writing form and bad politics.

Thomas C. Brown, Jr.

Alexandria, VA

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