In When Presidents Lie journalist and historian Eric Alterman examines four key lies told by presidents of the postwar period, all of them regarding a crucial question of war and peace. The Yalta conference, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the Central American wars of the 1980's have turned out to be unhappy turning points in American history, and the misrepresentations made about them to the public would have both domestic and international repercussions for years to come. FDR's refusal to reveal the concessions made to Stalin at Yalta generated a poisonous political reaction that set the stage for forty years of Cold War and the abuses of McCarthyism. John F. Kennedy's cover-up of the deal he and his brother secretly negotiated to end the Cuban Missile Crisis helped pave the way for Vietnam. LBJ's false representations about an attack on U.S. forces in the Gulf of Tonkin poisoned the conduct of the war and destroyed Johnson's dreams of social progress at home. Finally, Ronald Reagan's myriad deceptions regarding U.S. involvement in the Central American wars led to the ignominy of the Iran-Contra scandal and helped set the stage for George W. Bush's "post-truth" presidency. Read Less