A non-denial denial is a statement that, at first hearing, seems to be a direct, clearcut and unambiguous denial of some allegation or accusation, but after being parsed carefully turns out not to be a denial at all, and is thus not explicitly untruthful if the allegation is in fact correct. It is a case in which words that are literally true are used to convey a false impression; analysis of whether or when such behavior constitutes lying is a long-standing issue in ethics. British newspaper The Sunday Times has defined it as "an on-the-record statement, usually made by a politician, repudiating a journalist's story, but in such a way as to leave open the possibility that it is actually true". [1]
The Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee "is credited with coining the phrase non-denial denial to characterize the evasive Oval Office answers to questions." [2]
The phrase was popularized during the Watergate scandal by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in their 1974 book All the President's Men , in reference to evasive statements and equivocal denials by then-Attorney General John N. Mitchell. [3]
William Goldman's screenplay for the 1976 film adaptation put the phrase into the mouth of Ben Bradlee and used it for dramatic purpose. The Bradlee character looks at some White House releases and comments "All non-denial denials. We're dirty, guys, and they doubt we were ever virgins, but they don't say the story is inaccurate." Later, Bradlee worries about the accuracy of a story and asks the reporters "That didn't sound to me like a non-denial denial. Could you have been wrong?" But when other editors suggest that the paper needs to back down, Bradlee writes a note that says "We stand by our story," which he calls "My non-denial denial"; then he adds, "Fuck it, we'll stand by the boys."
A 1976 newspaper article called an Olympic official's statement on blood doping "a non-denial denial, a Watergate denial", [4] while a 2003 assessment of Ron Ziegler's career dubbed him "the non-denial denier" and placed his tenure as White House Press Secretary in "the Alice-in-Wonderland era that spawned the form of official evasion that came to be known as the non-denial denial". [5]
Another example, characterized by the BBC as a "non-denial denial", was provided by Tony Blair, who was interviewed in 1997, just before the general election, by the British newspaper Evening Standard . The question was: "Will Labour introduce tuition fees for higher education?" Blair's answer was: "Labour has no plans to introduce tuition fees for higher education." No plans does not mean no tuition fees, nor even that there was no intention to introduce them, perhaps only that the plan for this was not finalized. The Labour Party used the same ambiguous wording in its manifesto for the election in 2001, writing: "We will not introduce 'top-up' fees and have legislated to prevent them." The increase of university fees up to £3000 was voted for before the next election in 2005, but implemented in 2006. Therefore, the British government explained that the manifesto in 2001 was only valid for the period up to the election in 2005. [6]
Investigative journalists Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada used the phrase in their 2006 book Game of Shadows to characterize an ambiguous response by retired major league baseball star Mark McGwire during a congressional hearing on steroids in baseball:
McGwire turned evasive. He had nothing to say about anything. Pressed about whether he had used performance-enhancing drugs, he responded over and over again, "I'm not here to talk about the past." The refrain became so pathetic and predictable that McGwire was mocked by some of the politicians, while the audience chuckled each time he uttered his non-denial denial. [7]
Statements allegedly made in 2008 by the US biodefence researcher Bruce Edwards Ivins have been characterized by the FBI as "non-denial denials". [8] Ivins was the chief suspect in the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks on US media outlets and senators. In 2008, he was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital, where the FBI later said his statements included the following. [9]
The FBI said these alleged remarks suggested that Ivins, who they said had suffered from long-term mental health problems, had been the perpetrator of the attacks. However, he died before charges were brought against him (a suicide, according to the FBI). [10]
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, also known as GEB, is a 1979 book by Douglas Hofstadter.
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon which ultimately led to Nixon's resignation. It revolved around members of a fundraising organization associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters located in the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1972, and Nixon's subsequent attempts to conceal his administration's involvement.
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist. He started working for The Washington Post as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the honorific title of associate editor though the Post no longer employs him.
Charles Wendell Colson, generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as President Nixon's "hatchet man", Colson gained notoriety at the height of the Watergate scandal, for being named as one of the Watergate Seven and also for pleading guilty to obstruction of justice for attempting to defame Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg. In 1974, Colson served seven months in the federal Maxwell Prison in Alabama, as the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges.
Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee was an American journalist who served as managing editor and later as executive editor of The Washington Post, from 1965 to 1991. He became a public figure when the Post joined The New York Times in publishing the Pentagon Papers and gave the go-ahead for the paper's extensive coverage of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. He was also criticized for editorial lapses when the Post had to return a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 after it discovered that its award-winning story was false.
Louis Patrick Gray III was acting director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from May 3, 1972, to April 27, 1973. During this time, the FBI was in charge of the initial investigation into the burglaries that sparked the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Nixon. Gray was nominated as permanent Director by Nixon on February 15, 1973, but failed to win Senate confirmation. He resigned as Acting FBI director on April 27, 1973, after he admitted to destroying documents that had come from convicted Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt's safe—documents received on June 28, 1972, 11 days after the Watergate burglary, and given to Gray by White House counsel John Dean.
Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information in 1972 to Bob Woodward, who shared it with Carl Bernstein. Woodward and Bernstein were reporters for The Washington Post, and Deep Throat provided key details about the involvement of U.S. president Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal. In 2005, 31 years after Nixon's resignation and 11 years after Nixon's death, a family attorney stated that former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Associate Director Mark Felt was Deep Throat. By then, Felt was suffering from dementia and had previously denied being Deep Throat, but Woodward and Bernstein then confirmed the attorney's claim.
John Wesley Dean III is a disbarred American attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal and his subsequent testimony to Congress as a witness. His guilty plea to a single felony in exchange for becoming a key witness for the prosecution ultimately resulted in a reduced sentence, which he served at Fort Holabird outside Baltimore, Maryland. After his plea, he was disbarred.
Steven Jay Hatfill is an American pathologist and biological weapons expert. He became the subject of extensive media coverage beginning in mid-2002, when he was a suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks. His home was repeatedly raided by the FBI, his phone was tapped, and he was extensively surveilled for more than two years; he was also terminated from his job at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). At a news conference in August 2002, Hatfill denied that he had anything to do with the anthrax letters and said "irresponsible news media coverage based on government leaks" had "destroyed his reputation". He filed a lawsuit in 2003, accusing the FBI agents and Justice Department officials who led the criminal investigation of leaking information about him to the press in violation of the Privacy Act.
Herbert L. "Bart" Porter is an American man who served as a campaign aide to Richard Nixon. He became involved in the Watergate scandal after the FBI questioned him about a money transfer he had made; Porter later testified before the Senate Watergate Committee and admitted that he had lied to the FBI during that questioning. Porter was convicted of making false statements in 1974 and served 30 days in prison.
William Mark Felt Sr. was an American law enforcement officer who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1942 to 1973 and was known for his role in the Watergate scandal. Felt was an FBI special agent who eventually rose to the position of Deputy Director, the Bureau's second-highest-ranking post. Felt worked in several FBI field offices prior to his promotion to the Bureau's headquarters. In 1980, he was convicted of having violated the civil rights of people thought to be associated with members of the Weather Underground, by ordering FBI agents to break into their homes and search the premises as part of an attempt to prevent bombings. He was ordered to pay a fine, but was pardoned by President Ronald Reagan during his appeal.
All the President's Men is a 1976 American biographical political thriller film about the Watergate scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, with a screenplay by William Goldman, it is based on the 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the two journalists investigating the scandal for The Washington Post.
Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports is a non-fiction book published on March 23, 2006, and written by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle. When Sports Illustrated released excerpts from the book on March 7, it generated considerable publicity because the book chronicles alleged extensive use of performance-enhancing drugs, including several different types of steroids and growth hormones, by San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds.
Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada co-authored the book Game of Shadows while they were reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle. For their investigative work in the field of steroids, Williams and Fainaru-Wada were given the 2004 George Polk Award.
The Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (AVIP), is the name of the policy set forth by the U.S. federal government to immunize its military and certain civilian personnel with BioThrax, an anthrax vaccine manufactured by Emergent BioSolutions Inc. It was set up by the Clinton administration.
"Mistakes were made" is an expression that is commonly used as a rhetorical device, whereby a speaker acknowledges that a situation was handled poorly or inappropriately but seeks to evade any direct admission or accusation of responsibility by not specifying the person who made the mistakes, nor any specific act that was a mistake. The acknowledgement of "mistakes" is framed in an abstract sense, with no direct reference to who made the mistakes, or the nature and extent of the mistakes. A less evasive construction might be along the lines of "I made mistakes" or "John Doe made mistakes"; a similar active existential construction might be "mistakes happened". The speaker neither accepts personal responsibility nor accuses anyone else. The word "mistakes" also does not imply intent.
The BALCO scandal was a scandal involving the use of banned performance-enhancing substances by professional athletes.
Bruce Edwards Ivins was an American microbiologist, vaccinologist, senior biodefense researcher at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick, Maryland, and the person suspected by the FBI of the 2001 anthrax attacks. Ivins died on July 29, 2008, of an overdose of acetaminophen (Tylenol/paracetamol) in a suicide after learning that criminal charges were likely to be filed against him by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for an alleged criminal connection to the attacks.
The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax, occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, killing five people and infecting 17 others. Capitol Police Officers and staffers working for Senator Russ Feingold were exposed as well. According to the FBI, the ensuing investigation became "one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement".
Summer of '98: When Homers Flew, Records Fell, and Baseball Reclaimed America is a 1999 book written by Mike Lupica, a sports columnist for the New York Daily News and an ESPN analyst. The book follows the 1998 baseball season that featured Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chasing Roger Maris's home run record. Lupica's book approaches the subject in a three generational context where his father, himself, and his son are all passionate baseball fans following the home run competition.
