Joe Clark Quotes

Referring to President Lyndon B. Johnson

This is one of the proverbs of King Solomon of the Jews, son of King David. This quotation urges a leader to avoid advisors and appointees who do not tell the truth.

See {626594} for Polk’s negative view of delegation of any authority or responsibility.

The Liberals had not won enough seats to form a majority government, and in the Parliamentary system, they had to form an alliance with a smaller party and govern with a minority.

The new director was faced with 2,600 personnel vacancies in this critical office and the jobs were not getting filled quickly. Many people who are appointed to high Federal Office and come from the private sector or state and local government, are appalled at the extensive and cumbersome bureaucracy that makes the hiring of Federal employees so tedious and slow.

Reacting to criticism that political appointees were being given civil service jobs toward the end of an administration:

Diem appointed his relatives and cronies to his cabinet and other key political positions, and allowed the legislature to meet infrequently thereby having his family control the country.

This information related to the Civil Service under King Frederick William I, 1688-1740.

Harry Hopkins was the special assistant to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt through the two great American crises, the Great Depression and World War II. Although he was a social worker with not a shred of political experience, Hopkins was originally selected by the President to operate the national relief program in the midst of the Great Depression. Soon he had spent more money than any human being in history without a taint of scandal. He had never been elected nor was he even ratified by the Senate. He also paid virtually no attention to members of Congress as he became the most successful manager in American Government history. Soon he became FDR’s most important aid. Then he and his wife actually moved into the White House and lived there with the Roosevelts and was a favorite of not only FDR but Eleanor Roosevelt as well. When WWII began the leading military and diplomatic leaders advised the President not to provide military aid to England or Russia believing that these countries could not hold out and the weapons would fall into German hands and be used against American soldiers. Roosevelt sent Hopkins to Europe to assess the military situation despite the fact that he had never had a single day of military experience. When his war advice contradicted that of the leading generals and admirals, many people were scandalized, especially when FDR took Hopkin’s advice above that of the generals and diplomats. Massive assistance was sent to those countries and indeed both were able to hold out just as Hopkins had predicted. No one in American politics before or since had that much influence or power. Most historians see that particular phenomenon as a unique combination of two extraordinary men at an extraordinary time and virtually impossible to replicate.