As you know, Following the Front (the Substack column and the Book) is dedicated to the war reporting of Sidney A. Olson. Sid’s son, John E. Olson, died recently. He was my mother’s younger brother. Like his father, John had absolute integrity. He believed in reporting what was true. In doing so, he went up against Enron. He was vilified by some but held his ground; in the end, and after much suffering, he came to be seen as a hero: a man who spoke truth to power. Please read the obituaries in Wall Street Journal and New York Times for the full, dramatic story.

As a war correspondent, Sid Olson searched for his stories. He needed to confirm the facts. He needed to omit personal opinions. He needed to be wary of subtle biases. “I am, as far as possible, trying to see things plain, without preconceived notions,” he wrote from London in January 1945.

He had not yet seen any fighting and was gearing up to head to the battlefront in Holland. “I am very conscious of the psychological truth that you tend to see what you expect to see, and that the mind unconsciously rejects or forgets those things which do not fit the preconceived notions.”

By the end of the war in Europe, Olson had seen the worst that mankind had to offer and his personal beliefs had been tested. He now maintained very definite “notions” of what was wrong and what was right, not just morally, but professionally, too. He still believed in reporting the truth, but he had had grown bitter watching some of his colleagues and press handlers manipulate certain news stories. He still believed in the value of journalism, but he now understood that integrity was a key ingredient.

Oxford says truth is “the quality or state of being true.” Merriam-Webster defines it as “the body of real things, events, and facts,” “the state of being the case.”

“Being the case”…who gets to decide? We decide, to the best of our ability and with the help of rules and regulations. Integrity is an invisible through-line.

Many will remember the famous courtroom scene in the film A Few Good Men, in which a high-ranking officer (Col. Jessep, played by Jack Nicholson) shouts, “You can’t handle the truth!” The scene is a revelation to the viewer; we suddenly understand that Jessep, though he believes he did the right thing, is unable to see how he has corrupted the rules.

Today, as we watch a parade of Americans capitulating to fascists, I wonder: What will each of us do when asked to tell a truth?

When you witness something unjust, will you be the one to stick your neck out? Will you speak truth to power? If the answer is yes, what are you willing to give up in the process?

Peace.

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