Truth Teller # 12 Learned Hand

Truth teller #12: Learned Hand (yes, it was his real name)served the country as a federal judge for many years. A man with a Lincolnesque way with words, he was a legal philosopher who gave us our modern concept of free speech and its importance.

 

Truth Teller # 11, Bob Dylan

Truth Teller #11 Bob Dylan. Dylan’s pithy rejection of the idea that the president is above the law seems more on point now than ever. Give that man a Nobel Prize! You can hear him deliver the line here 

Truth Teller # 10 Teddy Roosevelt

Truth Teller #10, Teddy Roosevelt nails it. Historian, naturalist, author, soldier, trust buster, they don’t make ’em like TR any more.

Truth Teller #9 Joeseph Welch

Truth Teller #9, Joseph Welch. In 1954 the US Army accused Sen. Joe McCarthy of improperly pressuring the army into giving special treatment to a former aide. The US Senate convened hearings broadcast nationwide to investigate the matter. McCarthy, riding a wave of demagoguery, impugned the loyalty of a young member of the firm representing the military. The firm’s lead lawyer, Joeseph Welch defended the young attorney with these words “Have you no sense of decency sir? At long last,have you left no sense of decency?” These words became a tipping point for the Wisconsin Senator’s grip on power. The Senator’s wanton destruction of lives and reputations came to an ignoble end shortly after. You can see video of the famous exchange here

Truth Teller #8, James Baldwin

Truth Tellers #8, James Baldwin, critic, novelist, essayist, expatriate who rose from an impoverished childhood to become one of America’s great writers. On being poor, black and homosexual “I thought I’d hit the Jackpot. It was so outrageous , you had to find a way to use it.