Lies Beget Lies

Finished reading "When Presidents Lie" this weekend. I remember as a child learning how lies beget lies; how sometimes, if you tell a lie, you have to tell another to cover it up, and then more, and pretty soon the truth is consumed by the lies. I also remember the punishment was much harsher if I lied, than if I told the truth. I wonder if many of our 20th century presidents were ever taught that lesson, or if they chose to ignore it. It is difficult to imagine men we hold in such high esteem propagating not only their own lies, but those of previous presidents, sometimes from two or three terms before theirs. I try to imagine how different our country would have been if Truman had not covered up for FDR, or if Kennedy had told Johnson the truth about the Cuban Missile Crisis, so he would not have been trying to carry on the Kennedy myth.