Essay: PUBLIC FIGURES AND THEIR PRIVATE LIVES

LESS well remembered than Lord Acton's celebrated aphorism about the corrupting effects of power is his dictum that "Everything secret degenerates; nothing is safe that does not show it can bear discussion and publicity." Carl Jung agreed that "all personal secrets have the effect of sin or guilt." These statements aptly define the attitude of a democratic society—particularly the U.S.—toward its leaders. The man in public life has a private life that is not exclusively his own. It is assumed that the people's right to know includes the right to know all, or...