Luc David
Director
History's Greatest Lies (2017)
Season 4
Often forgotten, and rarely punished, the lies of those in power always achieve their goals: THEY CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY Who are the liars? Heads of state, politicians or military leaders, supported by their hierarchies. They have no qualms about lying to the radio, to television, to millions of people, end even, on oath, to the highest authorities and institutions. They use secret services, military strategy or communications agencies to make their lies more credible. The only motto is: «the bigger the lie, the more it will be believed!» In affairs of state, all and every means can be used to certify or conceal an operation. Lies are not just a matter of words, or of silence. They entail practical acts as well as technical support. Whole teams are sometimes necessary to construct believable illusions. In the service of a nation, lying just means reinventing the world.
Released Jan. 1, 2018
Episode 52 min
None+
Genres: Documentary, War
Keywords: tmdb.gulf-war, tmdb.iraq, tmdb.lies, imdb.punctuation-in-title, imdb.apostrophe-in-title, imdb.three-word-title
Production Companies: CPB Films
Country:
Languages:
English
S4E1 - 1998: The Monica Lewinksy Affair
Sex, lies and politics. How a sex scandal changed the face of the United States. «I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. These allegations are false.» Those were Bill Clinton’s words. It was January 26th, 1998. Looking straight in the eyes of his interviewers, the President of the United States lied live from the White House during a filmed press conference. Intimidation, manipulation, … «Monica Gate» was the greatest sex scandal that ever shook the presidency of the United States. An eye-opening demonstration of the mechanics of lies at the highest levels of the State.
S4E2 - 1953: Tobaco the Industry of Lies
«Nicotine isn’t addictive». These words are the ones that the tobacco industry’s seven most important leaders pronounced in front of the United States Congress. It was April 4th, 1994. Four years later, they had to pay a $200 billion fine and to make their archives public. Deep inside these millions of pages that were classified as «confidential », the whole world learned of a large-scale strategy of disinformation and manipulation. Infiltration of advertising and science, political lobbying, pressure on journalists: complex mecanisms were put in place to create a smokescreen of lies for 40 years...
S4E3 - 1983: The Elysee Wiretapping Scandal
«Gentlemen, our conversation is over. I didn’t think we would stoop to such a degree of despicability. » The offended man speaking these words was François Mitterrand, the French President at the time. In March 1993, two journalists questioned him on the Elysée Palace wiretapping scandal which had just come to light. The President of the Republic denied everything and was disparaging. Who set up this formidable STASI-style intelligence mechanism? Who was pulling the strings? How did this hidden cabinet work? It would take almost twenty years of investigations to get to the bottom of this large-scale spying organisation.
Episode Runtime: 52 min.
Season Runtime: 52 min.
Released: Jan. 1, 2018
Last Air Date: Jan. 1, 2019, midnight
Status: Returning Series
Certification: NR
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