a) Most men worth influencing in the 50s had a mistress his wife didn’t know about?
or that:
b) Most men worth influencing in the 50s understood that the guy calling him could persuade the wife that there was a mistress irrespective of whether there was really a mistress?
So, wait, was it that:
a) Most men worth influencing in the 50s had a mistress his wife didn’t know about?
or that:
b) Most men worth influencing in the 50s understood that the guy calling him could persuade the wife that there was a mistress irrespective of whether there was really a mistress?
Or perhaps that they believed they had a mistress, whether they did or didn’t?
I don’t know which it was.
But I’d say that you’re seeing the trees, not the forest.
The major point of the quote was that there’s a lack of courage in the world, the rest of the quote is just examples.
The courage to allow one’s infidelity to be exposed (let alone falsely exposed) isn’t what most people have in mind when they think of courage.
b) fits in better with the reign of terror metaphor.