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Giving Equal Time to the Truth Supplement

The media distorted what had happened and misinformed the public.
First Gore was misquoted as having claimed to have "invented the Internet".
Radio and Television talk and issue discussion programs obscured and
distorted the issue. Usually this involved two ridiculous assertions. (1) that
the Internet was created as ARPANET (2) that Gore's role in Congress
was not significantly different from any other Representative or Senator on
the issue of development of the Internet.

Here are some links to sources that show that the continued misquoting
of what Gore actually said in the media was evidently justified by the
repetition of the unfounded assertions. We include facts through links to
show that Al Gore's authorship and successful passage of two bills alone
in 1991 and 1992 were essential in creating the Internet that makes this
page available.

Yet there is much more to show that Gore was deservedly recognized as
a leader in the development of governmental initiatives essential to the
advancement of technologies and achieving the transitions to make them
available for our use.
                                  We welcome suggestions for this work in progress.
                                             e-mail; tomwolfsehr@yahoo.com

                        Check back for updates & other media mischief
What Gore said                                          updated January 15, 2003
How Gore was misquoted
Gore's accomplishments necessary to the Internet
Recognition of Gore's work from noted persons/organizations
Ridiculous assertions of Gore detractors
Defenders of Gore's statement
Examination of the media irresponsibility
Gore speeches


June 24, 1986, Senator Gore introduced S. 2594, the Supercomputer
Network Study Act of 1986, requiring the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy to report to Congress on the Federal
Government's role in promoting supercomputing and high-speed
networking. October 18, 1988, Senator Gore introduced S. 2918,
the National High-Performance Computer Technology Act, which
he re-introduced May 18, 1989 as S. 1067, the High-Performance
Computing Act. January 24, 1991, Senator Gore introduced S. 272,
the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991, which was passed
September 11, 1991. Those who say that Gore does not deserve
credit for having taken the initiative in Congress to see that we got
to an Internet we could use, should try to use the Internet without
Internet Explorer* Browser, one of the many necessary creations
based on advances made possible by the legislation Senator Gore
introduced and worked hard to get passed.
 


What Gore said
Link to the CNN Wolf Blitzer interview:
 Transcript: Vice President Gore on CNN's 'Late Edition' - March 9, 1999
 
 
 

How Gore was misquoted
 U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science
 Study: Web playing role in election
 Super Tuesday dawns as a national primary
 Mimeo.com Kicks Off $20 Million Campaign With Humor
 ABCNEWS.com : Daily Political Read-In
 Boston.com / Politics / Campaign 2000 / News
 Gingrich raps U.S. Kosovo action     includes Gingrich joking about Gore
 claiming to have invented the Internet - see also Gingrich Sept. 1, 2000
 
 
 

Gore's accomplishments necessary to the Internet        top
1986 Gore Amendment requiring data highway study
1989 Gore in floor debate
House bills -hearings and Senate earlier that 91 such as '87
call for study etc
NCSA Mosaic -- September 10, 1993 Demo
EFF "Information Infrastructure - Old & Historical Material" Archive
gore 1 links here
http://www.eff.org/Infra/Old/s2937_92_gore_ii.bill
http://www.eff.org/Infra/Old/s2937_92_gore_ii.summary
Bush Initiative Parallels Gore Bill for Data 'Superhighway'
NCSA Mosaic -- September 10, 1993 Demo
Information Superhighway Envisioned-Legislation Pending to Establish National Computer Network
History of IT
Nat'l Academy Press, Supercomputers: (1989), 2. Supercomputers: Vital Tool for the Nation's Future
 
 
 
 

Recognition of Gore's work from noted persons/organizations
                                                                                                     top
 Vint Cerf responded to MSNBC
 E-Commerce News: Forrester Names Gore Top Internet Candidate
 Vice President Gore to speak at Commencement
 Gingrich
 
 


Ridiculous assertions of Gore detractors                   top
 AskMe: Did Al Gore invent the Internet?
 An Open Letter to Vice President Gore
See partial history of Gore Senate initiatives
Do you use ARPANET? Do you not use a browser?
 


Defenders of Gore's statement                                        top
al gore - information highway
 "He's No Pinocchio" by Robert Parry
 
 
 
 

Examination of the media irresponsibility

Spinsanity - Gore and pundits race to the bottom: The debate over Al Gore's comments on the conservative press demonstrates some of the worst pathologies of American political debate

latimes.com: Gore can misspeak, and that's no exaggeration - September 22, 2000

 No one said Boo about Gore's remark. Then, the RNC spin-points arrived

 Red Rock Eater Digest - The New Science of Character Assassination

 bass921
 
 
 

Gore speeches                                                top
 Gore Education Speech - 050500
 ENIAC's Birthday: Speech by Vice President Al Gore
 Speech by Vice President Gore: Remarks at Digital Divide Event
 Speech by Vice President Gore: 15th International ITU Conference
 Speech by Vice President Gore: NYU Commencement, 1998
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

                       1986 Gore Amendment
From Senator Gore's remarks in the Senate on the proposed   top
National Science Foundation Authorization Act, 1986, explaining
the need for his amendment to the bill.

"To transport data and ideas, we will need a telecommunications
highway connecting users coast to coast, state to state, city to city.
The study required in this amendment will identify the problems and
opportunities the nation will face in establishing that highway."

Richard Wiggins points out that at the time Senator proposed this
study, there were only slightly over five thousand hosts on the
Internet. The growth of the Internet could not have been supported
without the study Gore called for and the legislation he authored to
address those problems the study identified.

for Richard Wiggins page describing this and other stages of the
development of the Internet and Gore's role use the following
link. Al Gore and the Creation of the Internet
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     1989 Gore in Senate debate           top

"But I genuinely believe that the creation of this nationwide
network and the broader installation of lower capacity fiber
optic cables to all parts of  this country, will create an
environment where work stations are common in homes
and even small businesses with access to supercomputing
capability being very, very widespread. It's sort of like, once
the interstate highway system existed, then a college student
in California who lived in North Carolina would be more
likely to buy a car, drive back and forth instead of taking
the bus. Once that network for supercomputing is in place,
you're going to have a lot more people gaining access to the
capability, developing an interest in it. That will lead to more
people getting training and more purchases of machines."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

* To see the connection between Explorer and Gore's
intiative in Congress, click on Explorer "Help" and choose
"About Internet Explorer". You will see "Based on NCSA Mosaic.
NCSA Mosaic (TM) was developed at the National Center for
Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Friday, September 1, 2000, Newt Gingrich, during a
CSPAN broadcast of an American Political Science
Association colloquium, credited Gore as follows.

"In all fairness, it’s something Gore had worked on a
long time. Gore is not the Father of the Internet, but in
all fairness Gore is the person who, in the Congress, most
systematically worked to make sure that we got to an
Internet, and the truth is—and I worked with him starting
in 1978 when I got  there, we were both part of a 'futures
 group'—the fact is, in the Clinton administration  the world
we had talked about in the ’80s began to actually happen.
You can see it in your own life, between the Internet, the
computer, the cell phone."