“ I cannot imagine a public man with a conscience having a secret that he would keep from the people about their own affairs. ”
Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom (1913). copy citation
| Author | Woodrow Wilson |
|---|---|
| Source | The New Freedom |
| Topic | conscience secret |
| Date | 1913 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14811/14811-h/14811-h.htm |
Context
“we have a right to know all the particulars of that bill's history. There is not any legitimate privacy about matters of government. Government must, if it is to be pure and correct in its processes, be absolutely public in everything that affects it. I cannot imagine a public man with a conscience having a secret that he would keep from the people about their own affairs.
I know how some of these gentlemen reason. They say that the influences to which they are yielding are perfectly legitimate influences, but that if they were disclosed they would not be understood. Well, I am very sorry, but nothing is legitimate that cannot be understood.”
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