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While @POTUS calls the press "fake news" and "the enemy of the American people," it's worth recalling on this Presidents" Day that some of his predecessors expressed their appreciation for the role of a free press in a democracy. Here are a few examples (please share others):
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged."
George W. Bush: "I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy ... That we need the media to hold people like me to account. I mean, power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive and it's important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power..."
Ronald Reagan upon signing a proclamation declaring "Freedom of the Press Day" on Aug. 4, 1985: "Today, our tradition of a free press as a vital part of our democracy is as important as ever ... The flow of information helps make possible an informed electorate..."
Thomas Jefferson: "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the later." Also, "Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe."
John Quincy Adams: "The freedom of the press should be inviolate."
