Walter Lippmann Quotes
I am afraid that Franklin D. Roosevelt has not thoroughly matured.
Lippmann was the leading political pundit of the time. He, like many others, totally underestimated Roosevelt whose easy-going manner, and non ideological style tended to put off ideologues and some intellectuals. See {609696}.
Walter Lippmann, 1889-1974, Political Columnist, 1935
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Referring to Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt—then contesting for the Democratic presidential nomination:
Kennedy himself was a master trader and negotiator. This was a facet of FDR that most people at the time missed. FDR was always so jovial and friendly, and had staff do all his dirty work, that many people underestimated FDR in many ways. See {609696}. And {615600}.
Nixon did not make Eisenhower’s first short list, but was finally selected.
The ride was the 1933 inaugural where the outgoing President rode down Pennsylvania Avenue with his successor. Roosevelt had tried to engage Hoover in conversation and Hoover refused. For years after that FDR used to tell the story and would imitate Hoover with grunts and facial contortions.
In an ironic turn of the tables, Frank Kingdon, a staunch Roosevelt supporter wrote a book defending the President and used the phrase as a title, mocking the upper class hatred of FDR.
founder of the Christian Science religion
Bohlen, Harry Hopkins and President Roosevelt were differing as to how to deal with one of the many ego difficulties of French leader Charles De Gaulle. Ever the diplomat, and trying to find common ground, Bohlen said:
In many recent Presidential elections many have thought a Vice Presidential candidate superior to the Presidential candidate. Such was also the case in 1900.
Attacking FDR by pandering to anti-Semites and falsely claiming that a Jewish financier, Bernard Baruch ran the government: The Priest was the right wing demagogic radio host of his day. Virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Black, he was threatened with excommunication by the Catholic Church, which finally ordered him to cease us weekly radio show and stop the political hate.
Running against FDR for the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination:
In many ways President Theodore Roosevelt was very boyish.
This quotation illustrates an interesting phenomenon in American Presidential Politics. There have been Democratic Presidents (FDR and Obama are the most glaring examples) for whom there was vituperative hatred and derision from the conservative Republicans who would frequently refer to them as Socialists and would believe that they were trying to lead the country on the path to socialism. The Presidents always stated that they were opposed to socialism, but to little avail with their conservative haters. But the socialists of the times and even the left wing of the Democratic Party not only did not see them as socialists, but were not very supportive or complementary of their skills and capabilities. Roosevelt reveled in the situation and “welcomed: their hate. Obama was more of a public centrist who tried to avoid the president getting involved in the extreme partisanship of the day.
- Born: September 23, 1889
- Died: December 14, 1974
- Nationality: American
- Profession: Writer, Journalist, Political Commentator
Walter Lippmann was an American writer, reporter and political commentator. With a career spanning 60 years he is famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War, coining the term "stereotype" in the modern psychological meaning, as well as critiquing media and democracy in his newspaper column and several books, most notably his 1922 book Public Opinion.
