There’s no such thing as a small lie
Deception Point“There’s no such thing as a small lie” is President Herney’s sharp rejection of the attempt to minimize a deception surrounding the administration’s account of NASA’s discovery. In the exchange with Lawrence Ekstrom, the phrase makes truth a matter not of scale but of public trust: even a lie Ekstrom claims as his own threatens to become a lie told by the presidency.
The Exchange
Ekstrom tells Herney, “You did not lie, sir, I did. And I will step down if—” Herney interrupts the offer of personal responsibility with a broader concern. He says he has tried to conduct his presidency with truth and decency, and that the evening’s announcement had been clean and dignified; learning that he had lied to the world overturns that account of the night.
Ekstrom answers, “Only a small lie, sir.” Herney’s reply, “There’s no such thing, Larry,” directly rejects the distinction Ekstrom is trying to draw. The wording is brief, but it changes the scale of the dispute: a supposedly contained deception is measured against the credibility of the office and the administration’s public word.
Meaning and Consequences
The line belongs to a conversation about responsibility as well as truth. Ekstrom says he was the one who lied and offers to step down, but Herney does not accept that dividing line as sufficient. The president’s concern is that the public could say NASA and the White House lied to the American people—and that, as the preceding exchange makes clear, the accusation would be justified.
The phrase therefore refuses to let intent, limited scope, or a proposed resignation shrink the consequences of deception. Its force lies in the contrast between Ekstrom’s minimizing adjective, “small,” and Herney’s absolute response. Rather than arguing over how much was concealed, Herney insists that a lie cannot be made ethically negligible by calling it small.
Place in the Narrative
The exchange follows the announcement and occurs during Ekstrom’s late-night conversation with Herney. Ekstrom senses that the cramped room is closing in on him; although he has more to tell the president, he decides it should wait until morning and apologizes for waking him. The line thus marks a moment when the truth has begun to surface but remains incomplete: Herney grasps the seriousness of what he has learned before receiving everything Ekstrom has to disclose.
Herney’s wording also gives the episode a concise moral refrain. The administration’s public presentation had seemed clean and dignified, but the newly acknowledged lie breaks that appearance from within. By denying that any lie is small, the president frames the damage not as a technical detail of the announcement but as a breach that implicates public confidence in the presidency itself.
