This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Wow! Donald Trump believes the press "is the enemy of the American people." What did other famous Americans believe?

In the Constitution of Massachusetts (1780) by John Adams, Samuel Adams, James Bowdoin: "The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state." From Thomas Jefferson in 1786: "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." From the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1791), which "prohibits the making of any law infringing on the freedom of the press." J.F. Kennedy (1961): "Our press was protected by the First Amendment ... to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion."

Barrack Obama (2017): We need the press "to push those of us in power to be the best version of ourselves and to push this country to be the best version of itself."

John McCain (2017): "If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free — and many times adversarial — press."

Thank you, hardworking reporters.

Dianne Krehbiel

Murray