America's Mistrust of Government: Garry Wills (1999) - Video

Historian and conservative intellectual Garry Wills delivers the 1999 Newman Lecture about the historic and contemporary distrust of government in the United States. The annual Newman Lecture was endowed by Nicky Newman Taylor in memory of Albert Hardy Newman. Wills derives his lecture from his new book, A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government (1999). He argues that the fear of an oppressive government is a driving force behind the structure and implementation of policy and law in the United States. He describes the American government as “one that would rather dither than do wrong” and reflects on the development and revision of constitutional checks following the Revolutionary War. The lecture is followed with questions from the audience.

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