"Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth to see it like it is, and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth"
About this Quote
An appeal begins with a collective summons: let us begin. The speaker invites a shared moral project built on truth, not as a single act but as a progression. First comes perception, to see it like it is; then expression, to tell it like it is; then pursuit, to find the truth; then proclamation, to speak the truth; and finally a way of life, to live the truth. The repetition of truth and the climbing sequence of verbs turn the abstract into a concrete ethic. It is not enough to know or to say; integrity culminates in action.
Delivered by Richard Nixon as he accepted the Republican nomination in 1968, the line sought credibility in a year of ruptures. The United States was roiled by the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, urban uprisings, and a crisis of faith in institutions. Promising to see and tell it like it is signaled a break with euphemism and wishful thinking. The plain-spoken phrase like it is implied an end to official fog, the straight talk of a candidate who claimed he would name hard realities and face them.
The context gives the words a double edge. As a campaign ethos, the call to truth built Nixon’s authority and aligned with his themes of order and responsibility. As history unfolded, Watergate transformed the sentence into an emblem of irony. A vow to live the truth became a measure by which his presidency was judged and found wanting, intensifying public cynicism and prompting post-Watergate reforms that tried to bind power to transparency.
Yet the formulation retains force because it sketches a hierarchy of honesty that applies beyond politics. Seeing and telling address clarity; finding and speaking demand courage; living the truth requires consistency between words and deeds. The aspiration remains a standard for leaders and citizens alike, and a reminder that truth is less a posture than a disciplined practice.
Delivered by Richard Nixon as he accepted the Republican nomination in 1968, the line sought credibility in a year of ruptures. The United States was roiled by the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, urban uprisings, and a crisis of faith in institutions. Promising to see and tell it like it is signaled a break with euphemism and wishful thinking. The plain-spoken phrase like it is implied an end to official fog, the straight talk of a candidate who claimed he would name hard realities and face them.
The context gives the words a double edge. As a campaign ethos, the call to truth built Nixon’s authority and aligned with his themes of order and responsibility. As history unfolded, Watergate transformed the sentence into an emblem of irony. A vow to live the truth became a measure by which his presidency was judged and found wanting, intensifying public cynicism and prompting post-Watergate reforms that tried to bind power to transparency.
Yet the formulation retains force because it sketches a hierarchy of honesty that applies beyond politics. Seeing and telling address clarity; finding and speaking demand courage; living the truth requires consistency between words and deeds. The aspiration remains a standard for leaders and citizens alike, and a reminder that truth is less a posture than a disciplined practice.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
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