Wikipedia's first sentence called it “former united states representative from illinois”. Today it says “american writer and politician”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Paul Augustus Findley (June 23, 1921 – August 9, 2019) was an American writer and politician. He served as United States Representative from Illinois , representing its 20th District . A Republican , he was first elected in 1960. A moderate Republican for most of his long political career, Findley was a supporter of civil rights and an early opponent of the U.S. war in Vietnam. He co-authored the War Powers Act in 1973, which aims to limit the ability of the president to go to war without congressional authorization. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin . He was a cofounder of the Council for the National Interest , a Washington, D.C. advocacy group, and was a vocal critic of American policy towards Israel . The New York Times . p.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1288302608.
The opening as it stood in 2010
A Republican , he was first elected in 1961. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin . Findley attended Illinois College and is a member of Phi Alpha Literary Society . He is a cofounder of the Council for the National Interest , a Washington, DC advocacy group, and a board member of If Americans Knew . He resides in Jacksonville, Illinois .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 366345206.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Paul Findley (born June 23, 1921) is a former United States Representative from Illinois , who represented its 20th District. A Republican , he was first elected in 1960. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin . Findley attended Illinois College and is a member of Phi Alpha Literary Society . He is a cofounder of the Council for the National Interest , a Washington, D.C. advocacy group, and a board member of If Americans Knew . He resides in Jacksonville, Illinois .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 664062706.
The opening as it stood in 2020 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
He served as United States Representative from Illinois , representing its 20th District . A Republican , he was first elected in 1960. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin . He was a cofounder of the Council for the National Interest , a Washington, D.C. advocacy group and was a vocal critic of American policy towards Israel .He has also been praised for his support for the Palestinians and his anti-war activism.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 961850971.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
American politician and writer (1921–2019) Paul Augustus Findley (June 23, 1921 – August 9, 2019) was an American writer and politician. He served as United States Representative from Illinois , representing its 20th District . A Republican , he was first elected in 1960. A moderate Republican for most of his long political career, Findley was a supporter of civil rights and an early opponent of the U.S. war in Vietnam.He co-authored the War Powers Act in 1973, which is supposed to limit the ability of the president to go to war without Congressional authorization. Findley lost his seat in 1982 to current United States Senator Dick Durbin . He was a cofounder of the Council for the National Interest , a Washington, D.C. advocacy group, and was a vocal critic of American policy towards Israel .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176439166.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “former united states representative from illinois”. Today it says “american writer and politician”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
former united states representative from illinois
Now
american writer and politician
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
