15. From Bogart to Gingrich
Who Did It?
One of the best moments in the classic 1942 film Casablanca is a scene between Rick, the owner of a nightclub in Casablanca, played by Humphrey Bogart, and Captain Renault, the commander of the French forces in the city, played by Claude Raines. At the time of the film’s setting, during the early days of World War II, allegiances and political positions were, at best, guarded. Each of the characters in the film has a skeleton in the closet, and each of them is reluctant to reveal any information—as this exchange between Rick and Captain Renault demonstrates:
Captain Renault: What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.1
The exchange also demonstrates the passive voice, the form of speech in which the doer of the action is not stated. Who misinformed Rick? And how could he possibly have come to the desert seeking waters? This verbal dodge, so cleverly crafted by screenwriters Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch, serves Mr. Bogart’s character and any deep dark motives or secrets he wants to conceal, but it doesn’t serve presenters because this form of speech sounds evasive.
In certain spheres, the passive voice is actually the preferred form of expression:
• Science. To avoid ego and maintain objectivity. The phrase, “Further analysis showed...” does not identify who did the analysis.
• Social. To avoid direct conflict. “An offense was taken...” Who took the offense?
• Politics. To avoid responsibility: “Mistakes were made.” Who made the mistakes?
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan, who had avoided commenting on a sensitive political subject, the involvement of his administration in the Iran–Contra scandal, finally agreed to address the subject in a press conference. The headlines in the next day’s newspapers carried his key statement: “Mistakes were made.”
But the president didn’t say who made the mistakes.
Ten years later, President Bill Clinton, who had avoided commenting on a sensitive subject, the involvement of his administration in improper fundraising activities, finally agreed to address the subject in a press conference. The headlines in the next day’s newspapers carried his key statement: “Mistakes were made.”
But he didn’t say who made them.
Ten years later, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, in a press conference on a sensitive political subject: the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors, acknowledged that “mistakes were made.”
But he didn’t say who made them. History repeats itself.
In 2011, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in anticipation of announcing his campaign to become the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, sat down for an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. In response to a question about his earlier extramarital affairs, Mr. Gingrich replied, “There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life (Italics mine) that were not appropriate.”2
In his use of the passive voice, Mr. Gingrich shifted the responsibility for his inappropriate things—his extramarital affairs—away from himself and to his work.
The public has learned to endure such equivocations from politicians. Mr. Reagan, Mr. Clinton, Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Gingrich, and generations of politicians before and after them use the passive voice to protect their associates, their constituencies, and themselves. In business, where accountability is paramount, sentences formed in the passive voice are not acceptable; they remove the doer of the action, and with it, remove the presenter from any responsibility or culpability for the action, whether bad or good.
In a New York Times article about the passive voice in politics, William Schneider, a political advisor, noted, “...that Washington had contributed a new tense to the language. ‘This usage,’ he said, ‘should be referred to as the past exonerative.’”3
This is not meant to be a lesson in syntax, but a lesson in psychology. The difference between the passive voice and the active voice is subtle in grammar, but profound in impact in speech. Avoid the former; use the latter. Put the doer into your sentences.
Use the active voice and become a man or woman of action.