VOA文化艺术2024--Secrets of US Presidential Diaries

Secrets of US Presidential Diaries

　　One early morning in Washington, D.C., many years ago, the president of the United States took off his clothes and jumped into the Potomac river. Moments later, he saw a dead man float to the surface.

　　The president was John Quincy Adams, the nation's sixth leader. And we know about the incident because he wrote about it in his diary.

　　A diary is a daily record of events of one's life, especially of personal experiences and thoughts.

　　American presidents from George Washington to Joe Biden, have been known to keep diaries. The men wrote about everyday experiences and thoughts. They also wrote about important decisions they made and the reasoning behind such decisions.

　　Adams called his diary his "second conscience." Barack Obama said his diary is a process of turning thoughts into writing that "makes you ask tougher questions."

　　Jimmy Carter left the White House with more than 5,000 pages of such notes. He said, "I seldom exercised any restraint on what I dictated²."

　　Dwight Eisenhower wrote about disputes within a scientific advisory³ group and some of its proposals about Soviet⁴ atomic bombs. And Donald Trump⁵'s daily writing was seen by the public on Twitter, now known as X.

　　Secrets in diaries

　　Sometimes, the presidential diaries contain secrets that they should not.

　　Robert Hur was the special counsel who investigated Biden's handling of classified information after his time serving as vice⁶ president. He reported that Biden's diary contained notes from intelligence briefings, including some classified as "top secret."

　　The 1978 Presidential Records Act says that the U.S. government has "complete ownership, possession, and control" of all presidential and vice presidential records. The act does not cover personal diaries. But classified information is not supposed to be in those.

　　Hur noted⁷ in his report that both Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush had classified information in their diaries.

　　Ronald Reagan left the White House in 1989. He took with him eight years of handwritten diaries, the report says, "which he appears to have kept at his California home even though they contained Top Secret information."

　　Hur wrote, "Historically, after leaving office, many former presidents and vice presidents have knowingly taken home sensitive materials related to national security from their administrations without being charged with crimes."

　　Both Biden and former President Donald Trump have been investigated for their handling of classified information. But only Trump is being accused of resisting demands to return them.

　　Values of diaries

　　Students of history have always been interested in presidential diaries.

　　They "provide unique windows into the presidency⁸, helping⁹ us better understand how policy is made and power is used," said Marc Selverstone, director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia's Miller¹⁰ Center.

　　As for John Quincy Adams, all 15,000 pages of his diaries written over 68 years are available to the public. The Massachusetts Historical Society, which publishes them online, said his diaries represent "the longest continuous record of any American of the time."

　　On July 22, 1825, Adams wrote, "I stripped and went in to the river; I had been not more than ten minutes swimming when the drag boat started, and they were not five minutes from the shore when the body floated immediately opposite the rock; less than one hundred yards from the shore."

　　The entry noted the death of Mr. Shoemaker, a post office worker seen swimming about in the water earlier.

　　Words in This Story

　　conscience – n. knowledge of right and wrong and a feeling one should do what is right

　　tough – adj. difficult to accomplish, resolve, endure, or deal with

　　dictate¹ – v. to speak or read for a person to transcribe¹¹ or for a machine to record

　　counsel – n. a lawyer engaged in the trial or management of a case in court

　　classified – adj. withheld¹² from general circulation for reasons of national security

　　unique – adj. being the only one of its kind

　　strip – v. to remove clothing, covering, or surface matter from

　　shore – n. land along a body of water

1 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？

2 dictated   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• He dictated a letter to his secretary. 他向秘书口授信稿。
• No person of a strong character likes to be dictated to. 没有一个个性强的人愿受人使唤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

11 transcribe   

v.抄写，誉写；改编(乐曲)；复制，转录

参考例句：

• We need volunteers to transcribe this manuscript.我们需要自愿者来抄写这个文稿。
• I am able to take dictation in English and transcribe them rapidly into Chinese.我会英文记录，还能立即将其改写成中文。

12 withheld   

withhold过去式及过去分词

参考例句：

• I withheld payment until they had fulfilled the contract. 他们履行合同后，我才付款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There was no school play because the principal withheld his consent. 由于校长没同意，学校里没有举行比赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》