Claim: Teddy Roosevelt said that "to anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth."
Example: [Collected via e-mail, May 2016]
Origin:A quote that's commonly credited to Theodore Roosevelt on the difference between conservatives and liberals is often shared in meme form (like many unproven or out of context quotes) to bolster specific political opinions on social media. The quote, usually accompanied by a photograph of the former president looking into the middle distance, reads:
To anger a conservative, lie to him.
To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.
However, although dozens of sites have attributed the phrase to the former president, none have been able to provide any information about where and when Roosevelt supposedly made this remark. The quote displayed above has been in circulation since at least 2004, when it was shared in the signature of someone (not Roosevelt) posting on an online forum.
The phrase may also stem from a lengthy chain e-mail that circulated via "Airmail" in 1999:
Annoy a liberal: Ask them to tell the truth!
Annoy a liberal: Embrace the idea of private property.
Annoy Liberals: Show them the truth! Tell them the truth! Live the truth!
Annoy Liberals: Tell them it is better to cut than tax.
Annoy the liberal media: think for yourself.
Annoy the liberals: listen to Rush!
It seems in this case that — as with other quotes — someone took a pithy saying from a chain e-mail and attatched a famous name and photograph to it to lend it more credence.
Honest Abe warned us this would happen:
Last updated: 18 July 2016
Originally published: 03 June 2016
Featured Image: Wikipedia
Dan Evon is a Chicago-based writer and longtime truth enthusiast. His work has appeared somewhere, and he earned a degree at the University of His Choosing. His exploration of Internet truth has been supported by grants from the Facebook Drug Task Force.