On June 5, 1944, as the enormous Allied invasion of northern France went into action, a nervous General Eisenhower pulled out a pencil and wrote this message, which he would release to the press if the invasion failed….
“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”
Initially, he ended that first sentence by using the passive voice: “…and our troops have been withdrawn.” But he didn’t like that. He drew a line through it and rewrote it, placing the responsibility clearly on himself. And in so doing, gave to grammarians of the future a perfect example of the way using passive voice passes the buck in a sly and deceptive way.