The Bixby Letter

[Steve]

I found this anecdote in the book that might have some bearing about Butler's honesty in his Bixby letter story. In a luncheon in 1947, Butler claimed while he was on a diplomatic mission for the Harding administration in July 1921, he was invited to Lloyd George's home Chequers to meet with British Dominion premiers because New Zealand, Australia, and Canada were threatening to leave the British Empire. During the meeting, Butler claimed, he came up with the idea for the British Commonwealth of Nations. After his luncheon remarks, two of the premiers claimed Butler was lying.

https://books.google.com/books?id=HYIyBg...&q&f=false

(Unfortunately, the first page of this anecdote is not included in the Google Books preview)

I know the two stories aren't exactly equivalent, but it does seems like Butler might have had a tendency to exaggerate or make up anecdotes of events that happened many years earlier.