“I believe that the officers, and, especially, the directors, of corporations should be held personally responsible when any corporation breaks the law.”

—  Theodore Roosevelt

1910s, The New Nationalism (1910)
Context: We have come to recognize that franchises should never be granted except for a limited time, and never without proper provision for compensation to the public. It is my personal belief that the same kind and degree of control and supervision which should be exercised over public-service corporations should be extended also to combinations which control necessaries of life, such as meat, oil, or coal, or which deal in them on an important scale. I have no doubt that the ordinary man who has control of them is much like ourselves. I have no doubt he would like to do well, but I want to have enough supervision to help him realize that desire to do well. I believe that the officers, and, especially, the directors, of corporations should be held personally responsible when any corporation breaks the law.

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Theodore Roosevelt 445
American politician, 26th president of the United States 1858–1919

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