Leonidas Quotes
Come and get them.
Xerxes whose troops outnumbered the Spartans many to one send a message demanding that the Spartans under Leonidas lay down their arms. With the refusal the Persians attacked and eventually killed all the 300 Spartans who had fought so brilliantly that they had killed 20,000 Persians. The battle allowed the Greeks to mobilize other troops and totally demoralized the Persians.
Leonidas, *, King of Sparta, Response to Persian King Xerxes, Battle of Thermopile, August 480 BC
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
He was urging American entry into WW I. The phrase was a slogan of pro-war Americans until 1917 when America entered the war.
Ellis Island was the facility that all East Coast immigrants to America came through. Army recruiting took place right there. Irish Immigrants in particular were targeted by the army. For many Irishmen, it was a very attractive prospect. They received a clean uniform, food, and an immediate pay check and provided a security not offered in the civilian economy. However, they were immediately shipped off to Mexico for the war effort.
This verse is quoted in the Constitution of Iran (Article 151) in the section regarding it's military establishment.
He served Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and both Bushes
This was the address where FDR used the “arsenal of democracy” phrase which became so famous. A similar phrase was used in May by Robert E. Sherwood--{624748}. Then Jean Monnet began to use the exact phrase in Mid 1940--{624746}. He almost certainly had read Sherwood’s earlier, similar phrase. However so had Presidential Aid Harry Hopkins who thought that it would be a good phrase for President Roosevelt to use to “brand” the activity of the United States. So diplomatically, Monnet was asked not to use the phrase any more, and he acceded to the request. At the end of the year, FDR gave his address with this quotation.
Commenting on military weapons procurement:
Pointing to the armed Spartan men He had been asked why there were no city walls around Sparta. See {632266} for a related quotation.
No enemy had ever gotten close to Sparta. . See {632265} for a related quotation.
Leonidas I was a king of the Greek city-state of Sparta, and the 17th of the Agiad line, a dynasty which claimed descent from the mythological demigod Heracles and Cadmus. Leonidas I was son of King Anaxandridas II. He succeeded his half-brother King Cleomenes I to the throne in c. 489 BC. His co-ruler was King Leotychidas. He was succeeded by his son, King Pleistarchus.
