Al Gore's horse-thief ancestor-Fiction!

Al Gore's Horse-Thief Ancestor-Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:
This email claims that Tipper Gore, the wife of former Senator and presidential candidate Al Gore, is into genealogy and discovered a great-great uncle in the Gore family who was hanged as a horse thief and train robber. When the president's image-makers were finished with the story, however, they had made the history of the great-great uncle sound like one about a terrific citizen and gave it to the Associated Press.

The Truth:
This is not true just like it was not true about Hillary Rodham Clinton or George W. Bush. The essence of this story is from an old piece of humorous writing that was designed to demonstrate how you can put "spin" on a negative story to make it sound positive. Someone altered the story to make it seem as though it was talking about an ancestor of Al Gore. Then another version got started saying it was about an ancestor of Bill Clinton. Still another focused on George W. Bush.

A real example of the story as it has been circulated:

Tipper Gore, an amateur genealogical researcher, discovered that her husband's great-great uncle, Gunther Gore, a fellow lacking in character, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Tennessee in 1889. The only known photograph of Gunther shows him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture is this inscription: "Gunther Gore; horse thief, sent to Tennessee Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Tennessee Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889."

After letting Al Gore and his staff of professional image consultants peruse

the findings, they decided to crop Gunther's picture, scan it in as an enlarged image, and edited it with image processing software so that all that's seen is a head shot. The accompanying biographical sketch was sent to the Associated Press as follows: "Gunther Gore was a famous rancher in early Tennessee history. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Tennessee railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Gunther passed away during an

important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."