History's Greatest 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...

«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.

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.