# Freedom for the Thought That We Hate

Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment is a 2007 non-fiction book by journalist Anthony Lewis about freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of thought, and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The title of the book is drawn from the dissenting opinion by Supreme Court Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in United States v. Schwimmer (1929). Holmes wrote that "if there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought—not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate."

## Quotes

* Ours is the most outspoken society on Earth. Americans are freer to think what we will and say what we think than any other people, and freer today than in the past. We can bare the secrets of government and the secrets of the bedroom. We can denounce our rulers, and each other, with little fear of the consequences. There is almost no chance that a court will stop us from publishing what we wish: in print, on air, or on the Web. Hateful and shocking expression, political or artistic, is almost all free to enter the marketplace of ideas.
** Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465039173.
** Cited in: Waldron, Jeremy (May 29, 2008). "Free Speech & the Menace of Hysteria". The New York Review of Books (NYREV, Inc.).
* Today, every president is the target of criticism and mockery. It is inconceivable that even the most caustic critic would be imprisoned for his or her words.
** Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465039173.
** Cited in: Waldron, Jeremy (May 29, 2008). "Free Speech & the Menace of Hysteria". The New York Review of Books (NYREV, Inc.).
* Americans should scent danger when a government tries to stop a newspaper from disclosing the origins of an unpopular war ... or accuses a newspaper of endangering national security by disclosing secret and illegal wiretapping.
** Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465039173.
** Cited in: Leddy, Chuck (January 8, 2008). "A balance between free speech and fear". The Christian Science Monitor: p. 16; Section: Features, Books.
* It took more than a century for (our) courts to begin protecting speakers and publishers from official repression in the United States.
** Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465039173.
** Cited in: Hentoff, Nat (January 24, 2008). "The right from which others flow". The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Missouri).
* The law of the American Constitution allows suppression only when violence or violation of law are intended by speakers and are likely to take place imminently. But perhaps judges, and the rest of us, will be more on guard now for the rare act of expression — not the burning of a flag or the racist slang of an undergraduate — that is genuinely dangerous. I think we should be able to punish speech that urges terrorist violence to an audience some of whose members are ready to act on the urging. That is imminence enough.
** Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465039173.
** Cited in: Mitchell, Thomas (February 10, 2008). "Freedom for — speech we hate". Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, Nevada): p. 2D.
* Nowadays, it is hard to imagine any revelation so intimate that it would offend the public's sense of decency.
** Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465039173.
** Cited in: Leddy, Chuck (January 8, 2008). "A balance between free speech and fear". The Christian Science Monitor: p. 16; Section: Features, Books.
* There will always be authorities who try to make their own lives more comfortable by suppressing critical comment.
** Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465039173.
** Cited in: Williams, Bill (February 10, 2008). "The majesty of the First Amendment". The Hartford Courant (The Hartford Courant Co.): p. G4; Section: Arts.
* I am convinced that the fundamental American commitment to free speech, disturbing speech, is no longer in doubt.
** Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9780465039173.
** Cited in: Williams, Bill (February 10, 2008). "The majesty of the First Amendment". The Hartford Courant (The Hartford Courant Co.): p. G4; Section: Arts.
* The meaning of the First Amendment has been, and will be, shaped by each American generation: by judges, political leaders, citizens. There will always be authorities who try to make their own lives more comfortable by suppressing critical comment.… But I am convinced that the fundamental American commitment to free speech, disturbing speech, is no longer in doubt.
** Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment. Basic Books. p. xv. ISBN 0465039170.
* A final argument for broad freedom of expression is its effect on the character of individuals in a society. Citizens in a free society must have courage — the courage to hear not only unwelcome political speech but novel and shocking ideas in science and the arts.
** Lewis, Anthony (2007). Freedom for the Thought That We Hate; A Biography of the First Amendment. Basic Books. p. 186. ISBN 0465039170.

## About

* The most surprising and provocative occasions are those when Lewis himself departs from civil libertarian free speech orthodoxy. He is not, it turns out, a fan of an unqualified federal shield law that would protect reporters from the obligation to reveal their anonymous sources in criminal cases.
** Jeffrey Rosen (January 13, 2008). "Say What You Will - Freedom for the Thought That We Hate - Anthony Lewis - Book review". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved on November 6, 2012.
* In the 21st century, the heroic First Amendment tradition may seem like a noble vision from a distant era, in which heroes and villains were easier to identify. But that doesn’t diminish the inspiring achievements of First Amendment heroism. Conservative as well as liberal judges now agree that even speech we hate must be protected, and that is one of the glories of the American constitutional tradition. Anthony Lewis is right to celebrate it.
** Jeffrey Rosen (January 13, 2008). "Say What You Will - Freedom for the Thought That We Hate - Anthony Lewis - Book review". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved on November 6, 2012.
* What distinguishes us from all other nations is the range and depth of the First Amendment's expressive individual liberties against government control of what we say and think. Having researched and written about it for more than 50 years, I can attest that the most compelling readable account of its tumultuous and often imperiled history is the newly published Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Anthony Lewis.
** Nat Hentoff (January 24, 2008). "The right from which others flow". The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Missouri).
* Timely and important, a work that astonishes and delights as it informs.
** "Freedom for the Thought That We Hate". Kirkus Reviews (www.kirkusreviews.com). October 15, 2007. Retrieved on November 6, 2012.
* Anthony Lewis's Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment offers a lucid and engaging overview of American free-speech law. The former Nieman Fellow has twice won the Pulitzer Prize, and this volume puts the skills that earned him those accolades much on display. Again and again, he brings to life the dramatis personae in leading cases, plucks out moving or telling quotations, and explains who won and who lost in order to provide a clear introduction to First Amendment doctrine.
** Richard H. Fallon (May-June 2008). "Book Review - Freeing Speech - How judge-made law gave meaning to the First Amendment". Harvard Magazine (Harvard Magazine Inc.). Retrieved on November 6, 2012.
* History and experience lie at the center of Lewis’s narrative, and he makes them come vividly alive in Freedom for the Thought That We Hate.
** Richard H. Fallon (May-June 2008). "Book Review - Freeing Speech - How judge-made law gave meaning to the First Amendment". Harvard Magazine (Harvard Magazine Inc.). Retrieved on November 6, 2012.
* Former New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis has encapsulated the difficult birth, fitful adolescence and inconstant maturation of the free speech and press clauses of the Constitution.
** Robyn Blumner (March 2, 2008). "Freedom Comes First". St. Petersburg Times (Florida): p. 10L; Section: Latitudes.
* Lewis comes to his subject with great experience and depth. He was a Supreme Court reporter during the Warren court, when it was rousing the long-moribund protections of the First Amendment. ... Lewis always stood as an eloquent guardian of our rights. Freedom for the Thought That We Hate strongly communicates Lewis' high regard for the courageous judges who have molded our nation's free expression rights into a bulwark against censorship and imposed orthodoxy. It is worth picking up this slim volume simply to be reminded of the growing pains it took to get here.
** Robyn Blumner (March 2, 2008). "Freedom Comes First". St. Petersburg Times (Florida): p. 10L; Section: Latitudes.
* Long-time legal affairs writer and Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Lewis recounts dozens of landmark court cases while eloquently conveying the simple majesty and importance of the First Amendment in this splendid account, which ought to be required reading in every high school and college.
** Bill Williams (February 10, 2008). "The majesty of the First Amendment". The Hartford Courant (The Hartford Courant Co.): p. G4; Section: Arts.
* Anthony Lewis' Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment is a succinct and eloquent account of our nation's history of struggle with this seemingly simple concept of freedom of expression. As we know, it is not simple, and the struggle continues. Lewis presents the conflicts inherent in this guarantee of free speech and a free press and makes clear the complexities and implications of our evolving interpretation.
** Anne Phillips (September 20, 2009). The News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois: The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette): p. F–3.
* Lewis blends a profound understanding of First Amendment jurisprudence and history with an enjoyable writing style that his readers have long come to admire. In our war-torn era where dissent and open-minded debate have become problematic, Lewis compels us to remember the crucial function free speech serves in our democratic form of government.
** Chuck Leddy (January 8, 2008). "A balance between free speech and fear". The Christian Science Monitor: p. 16; Section: Features, Books.
* First, the issue is not the thought that we hate, as though defenders of hate speech laws wanted to get inside people's minds. The issue is publication and the harm done to individuals and groups through the disfiguring of our social environment by visible, public, and semipermanent announcements to the effect that in the opinion of one group in the community, perhaps the majority, members of another group are not worthy of equal citizenship. ... Second, the issue is not just our learning to tolerate thought that we hate—we the First Amendment lawyers, for example. The harm that expressions of racial hatred do is harm in the first instance to the groups who are denounced or bestialized in the racist pamphlets and billboards. ... The question is about the direct targets of abuse. Can their lives be led, can their children be brought up, can their hopes be maintained and their worst fears dispelled, in a social environment polluted by these materials?
** Jeremy Waldron (2012). "Anthony Lewis's Freedom for the Thought That We Hate". The Harm in Hate Speech. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 18–34. ISBN 9780674065895.

## See also

* Censorship
* Dissent
* Journalism
* Law

## External links

* Freedom for the Thought That We Hate description at Perseus Academic
* Nieman Watchdog profile of author Anthony Lewis
* Freedom for the Thought That We Hate, Part I, interview, PBS Video (transcript of discussion). alternate link, at Internet Archive.
* Digital Age: When Should The First Amendment Lose?, discussion between author at James Goodale, former Vice Chairman, The New York Times
* After Words with Anthony Lewis, interview, C-SPAN