Al Gore never claimed to have invented the Internet, despite the popular myth
March 7th, 2008 at 07:51am Pat Cunningham
Any time I ever Google the matter, I find that not a day has passed for many a year without somebody posting on the Internet the popular fiction that Al Gore claims to have invented the Internet.
This myth also pops up regularly in letters to the editor, in talk-radio conversations and otherwise in contexts in which a point is made about delusions of grandeur.
It’s also commonplace in the rhetoric of global-warming skeptics who want to denigrate Gore for his views on climate change.
But the reality is that Gore never made any such claim about inventing the Internet.
In an interview on CNN in 1999, Gore, who was then the sitting vice president and a candidate to succeed Bill Clinton in the White House, said this by way of reviewing his record:
During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country’s economic growth, environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.
Notice that Gore took credit for leadership in Congress in creating the Internet. He never said he “invented” the Internet. Was his claim to such leadership legitimate? Well, here’s what Republican Newt Ginrich said about that:
(I)n 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 [to Congress], 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.
Way back in 1988, The Guardian, a British paper, reported this:
American computing scientists are campaigning for the creation of a ’superhighway’ which would revolutionise data transmission. Legislation has already been laid before Congress by Senator Albert Gore of Tennessee, calling for government funds to help establish the new network, which scientists say they can have working within five years, at a cost of Dollars 400 million.
Years later, when Gore was vice president, computer scientist Vinton Cerf, widely known as the Father of the Internet, had this to say:
I think it is very fair to say that the Internet would not be where it is in the United States without the strong support given to it and related research areas by the vice president.
History shows that Gore’s claim on CNN that he played a leading role in congressional action regarding the Internet was ignored by most other media for the first few days and wasn’t distorted into a claim that he invented the Net until the Republican Party cooked up that falsehood a few days later.
A useful chronology of the controversy can be found HERE (you have to scroll down a little to get to the good part).
7 Comments Add your own
1. Kaus | March 7th, 2008 at 10:39 am
You are totally wrong on this one. He says he created it. And if he meant he created funding for it, he is still whacked in the head. The structure for internet capabilities started in the 60’s and was fine tuned in the 80’s. Did he open the doors for more commercial use, perhaps. But he loves taking credit for more than he should and failed to publicly deny the falsehoods.
2. Pat Cunningham | March 7th, 2008 at 11:03 am
You’re utterly hopeless, Kaus. The fact remains that Gore never said he invented the Internet. The Republicans (with the notable exception of Newt Gingrich) came up with that one. The Limbaughs of the world ran with it, and you believed them. Have you ever considered the possibility that George W. Bush invented the Internet during that year or so when he was strangely absent from his National Guard assignment? Yeah, that must be it. How dare Al Gore pretend that he was the one. Next thing you know, Gore’s going to claim that he served in Vietnam while W stayed home. And he still likes to claim that he got more votes than W in the 2000 election. The arrogance of that guy. And where does he get off accepting the Nobel Peace Prize? Those damn socialists in Norway hate America and will do anything to embarrass our country.
3. Kaus | March 7th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Your article says “During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet”. So is THAT a typo?
I never said inventing it..and Gore says creating it. No government invented it…and you discredit those University students that did. Stay on subject Pat. This isn’t about Bush or Limbaugh.
4. Pat Cunningham | March 7th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Look, I’m tellin’ ya: W invented the Internet while he was AWOL from the National Guard. Gore is just a pretender. And he didn’t even get wounded when he was in Vietnam. The wimp.
5. Kaus | March 7th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
My whole point is that the Internet was developed and has grown successfully without Gore. For Gore to take any credit (he ‘created the initiative’ ) is ludicrous. The internet was a hot commodity without Government interference. But you go right on sniffing Gore nose candy. The first paragraph of your article says Gore created the internet. If you won’t even admit that…you are hopeless.
6. Pat Cunningham | March 7th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
One last time: Newt Ginrich and Vinton Cerf, two people who ought to know, say that Gore played a leading role in making the Internet what it is today, and you, with none of the credentials that Ginrich and Cerf have, say he didn’t. Clearly, you’re uninformed opinion on the matter is shaped by your refusal to allow that Gore has ever done anything worthwhile. There’s no point in arguing the matter any further with you.
7. Kaus | March 7th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Fine….but my opening statement says it all. You just like to read your own comments.
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