Abstract During the last 20 years, increasing attention has been drawn to the topic of Presidential ethics and in particular lies told by the President himself or his administration. What drives the leader of the most powerful country to lie? In the following pages we will examine presidential lies and their effect on the nation. Have the President of the United States always been deceptive or are they becoming increasingly deceptive? And why? These are just a couple questions that arose as I prepared for this paper. In its earliest stages this paper was intended by me to be written on the eroding ethics of government officials in general. However, as I began my research, it quickly became clear that the paper should be limited to the most powerful position in our government – the President. Warnings against lying are as old as Western civilization itself. Thanks to the famous but unverifiable cherry tree story, American school children have been raised on the standard of a United Stated president who did not lie, even as a six year old. Abraham Lincoln was said to have walked miles as an Illinois store clerk to return a few cents change, earning him the nickname Honest Abe. There was a time when this country believed in presidential good, with a belief that the men running our nation were honorable and trustworthy. Men like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower were viewed with reverence as divinely inspired examples of truth tellers. With seemingly less inspiring examples of truth tellers such as Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, there is now a different view of our leaders. Presidents don’t tell the truth, and it’s increasingly difficult to distinguish their propaganda from their reality. In American politics today, the ability to lie convincingly has come to be considered almost a qualification for holding high office. Many of the lies that officials tell are obviously harmless. Stating on the campaign trail at each stop...