Politics & Power Quote by Larry Speakes

“I would dodge, not lie, in the national interest” is the kind of sentence that tries to launder a moral compromise through a patriotic rinse cycle. Speakes, as Reagan’s press secretary, is naming a distinction that every communications shop lives on: deception with better branding. “Lie” is a personal vice; “dodge” is presented as a professional technique. The phrase doesn’t deny manipulation, it reframes it as disciplined restraint, a refusal to hand over information on demand.

The intent is defensive and strategic. Speakes isn’t confessing to dishonesty so much as staking out a job description: protecting the administration’s agenda by controlling the flow of facts. The pivot phrase “in the national interest” is the master key. It moves the conversation from ethics (Did you mislead?) to allegiance (Are you against the country?). That’s the subtextual flex: if you object, you’re not just nitpicking a spokesperson, you’re jeopardizing “interest,” a term so elastic it can cover embarrassment, security, and political convenience all at once.

Context matters because the 1980s were an era when televised politics and message discipline became governing tools, not just campaign tactics. After Watergate, the public had a sharpened ear for outright lying; “dodge” offers plausible deniability without the stain of perjury. It’s also an accidental admission of how power talks: truth isn’t abandoned, it’s managed, delayed, rationed. Speakes’ candor reveals the real bargain behind official communication: you get access; the state keeps discretion; everyone pretends the line between the two is bright.