"Follow the money" is a
catchphrase popularized by the 1976
docudrama film ''
All the President's Men'', which suggests
political corruption can be brought to light by examining money transfers between parties.
Origin
For the film, screenwriter
William Goldman
William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. He won Academy Awards for his screenplays '' ...
attributed the phrase to
Deep Throat, the informant who took part in revealing the
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...
. However, the phrase is mentioned neither in the
non-fiction book that preceded the film nor in any documentation of the scandal. The book has the phrase "The key was the secret campaign cash, and it should all be traced," which author
Bob Woodward says to Senator
Sam Ervin
Samuel James Ervin Jr. (September 27, 1896April 23, 1985) was an American politician. A Democrat, he served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1954 to 1974. A native of Morganton, he liked to call himself a "country lawyer", and often ...
.
History
The phrase ''Follow the money'' was mentioned by
Henry E. Peterson at the 1974
Senate Judiciary Committee hearings as
Earl J. Silbert was nominated to U.S. Attorney. A 1975 book by Clive Borrell and Brian Cashinella, ''Crime in Britain Today'', also uses the phrase.
Since the 1970s, "follow the money" has been used several times in
investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...
and
political debate. One example is ''Follow the Money'', a series of CBS reports.
Donald Trump
In September 2016, the
Trump campaign used the phrase to criticise
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
and the
Clinton Foundation, a humanitarian aid non-profit; for several events that took place, including a
uranium deal approved by the US State Department under Clinton after her charitable foundation received large donations from people with stakes in the deal; Clinton's relationship with Irish telecom billionaire
Denis O'Brien; and a
2009 deal over the disclosing of the identities of American account-holders, which the State Department concluded with the Swiss bank
UBS
UBS Group AG is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swi ...
, a Clinton Foundation donor.
In February 2017,
Carl Bernstein, who with Woodward exposed the Watergate scandal, used the phrase to encourage reporters to discover
President Trump's potential conflicts of interest. The
Trump Foundation was later found guilty of illegal campaign contributions and other financial crimes. In November 2019, Trump was ordered to pay a $2 million settlement for misusing the foundation for his business and political purposes.
See also
*
Cui bono, a Latin phrase meaning "To whose benefit?", suggesting a hidden motive.
*
Cherchez la femme, a French phrase taking women to be the chief motive in crimes.
*
Economic antisemitism
*
OpenSecrets
References
External links
Fred Shapiro on the phrase's originat ''
Freakonomics''
1976 neologisms
Catchphrases
Finance in the United States
Political funding
Political corruption
Quotations from film
Watergate scandal
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