evidence: FACT CHECK: Did Alexis de Tocqueville Say, ‘America Is Great Because America Is Good’? An image shared on Facebook claims that French author and political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, "Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the greatness and genius of America. America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good America will cease to be great." [...] Robert Tracy McKenzie, a history professor at Wheaton College, told The Daily Caller that the quote is spurious. "It has been debunked numerous times over the last 67 years or so – no serious Tocqueville scholar believes that he wrote anything remotely similar, nor does it capture the essence of what he believed about the success of democracy in the United States," he said in an email.