Book burning is all the rage again on the right. We’ve been here many times before. I try to keep my position consistent: censorship in the name of political or moral correctness (however you individually perceive it) is a mistake.
As he stood before the small group of (almost entirely male) students at his alma mater, the victorious General and President Dwight D Eisenhower (who knew something about what it meant to fight for our freedom) unexpectedly leaned into the controversy of the day.
“Don’t join the book burners,” he said. “Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as any document does not offend our own ideas of decency. That should be the only censorship.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1958 Dartmouth Speech
About Author
Bill Thompson, Jr. is a trial lawyer with extensive experience seeking compensation for serious harm caused by, among others, Hospitals, Physicians and other healthcare providers (Federal and State), Manufacturers of dangerous products and drugs (Ford, General Motors, Michelin, and pharmaceutical companies), Common Carriers (US Airways, Carnival Cruise Lines), Class Actions involving Data Breaches, product liability, Airline Crashes, and any other negligent act leading to harm for many. We have nationwide experience in State and Federal courts, traveling wherever significant cases merit. We are often asked to appear in cases by motion with local partners in places as varied as Michigan, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and every jurisdiction in Florida.
