James Dickey Quotes
I want you all to stand; will you do that for me, please?
Hart, Henry. James Dickey: The World as a Lie. Picador, 2000, p. 737.
1st Earl of Beaconsfield
There was no Civil Rights Law during Kennedy’s administration, and Black African diplomats who were driving from New York to Washington would be refused accommodations and amenities at restaurants and rest stops along the way. They often protested to the State Department who approached the President asking what they should tell the diplomats.
He often told this to politician and executives.
In a number of traditional cultures it is considered impolite and disrespectful to be critical of leaders. Actually, this is also true in armies, police departments and especially many corporations even in modern society. In Japan, until recently many newspapers would not print criticisms of the government in most cases. However in the political arena, if there is democracy and no legal restrictions on criticism, cultures change over time and people hold their leaders more accountable.
Cixi had been one of the many concubines of the Emperor and she bore a son who was first in the line of succession. The Emperor’s wife, Empress Zhen had no children but was the senior official of the Empire when her husband died. Instead of being rivals, Cixi and Zhen were very close friends so when it had to be decided who was to rule until Cixi’s son became of age, the women agreed that Zhen would see to the education and the training of the child and manage the court, and Cixi would manage the government and the Empire as regents for the child. However, in 1875, the boy died and there was no clear successor. Cixi with Zhen’s approval then issued this edict and in effect seized control of the entire empire of China.
James Lafayette Dickey was an American poet and novelist. He was appointed the eighteenth United States Poet Laureate in 1966. He also received the Order of the South award.
