President Barack Obama says that 2014 was the hottest year on record, and that this was evidenced by 45 million Americans experiencing 100 degree temperatures. He says this is a “fact.”

FACT: 2014 was the hottest year on record. | whitehouse.gov
In fact, last summer was one of the coolest on record in the US, with just over 20% of the US reaching 100 degrees. Normally that number is closer to 40%. In 1936, three quarters of US stations reached 100 degrees.

The animation below flashes between 100 degree stations in 1936 and 2014.

Twelve thousand people died in the heat in one week during July, 1936.


http://news.google.com/newspapers
The entire US was blistering hot in the summer of 1936. Ninety-eight percent of midwest stations reached 100 degrees, compared to less than 2% last summer. During July, 1936 parts of the country averaged a mind-boggling 12 degrees above normal.

http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/064/mwr-064-07-c1.pdf

http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/064/mwr-064-08-c1.pdf
Globally, temperatures were nowhere near the hottest on record, and have been on a downwards trend for 18 years.

Wood for Trees: Interactive Graphs
The president is intentionally misleading Americans, telling them the exact opposite of what is actually happening. This is not the first time this has happened.
“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
– Joseph Goebbels
Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.
-Adolf Hitler