Piling on du Toit

I missed this the first (well, only) time through KdT's Unabomber-like manifesto:

There was even a time when a President of the United States threatened to punch a man in the face and kick him in the balls, because the man had the temerity to say bad things about the President's daughter's singing.

Let's see: that would be Harry Truman. His daughter, Margaret, at the adult age of 26, gave a recital in DC in 1950. The music critic of the Washington Post, in a dastardly display of doing his fucking job, gave her a bad review. In return, Harry Truman, President of the United States, sent off a letter threatening criminal assualt. Mind you, he didn't actually go over there and kick his ass; he just used his position as President to make empty threats. (Everyone later forgave each other.) So who's the bigger man: the guy who makes empty threats, knowing he won't have to back them up, or the guy who does his journalistic duty and writes the unpleasant truth about the singing of the beloved daughter of the most powerful man in the world?
- posted by Don Porges @ 11/16/2003 06:05:00 PM |