George B. McClellan Quotes

Ataturk, the great Turkish reformer, was interested in Turkish independence, development, and reform, but was uninterested in the day-to-day administration of government. He knew it had to be done and wanted his friend to be Prime Minister and run the government. Orbay realized that Ataturk would still be the major power in the nation.

The General had differed with the George W. Bush Administration neoconservatives over the strategy regarding the invasion and war in Iraq. He was pushed out of office as a result. Later, it was clear that he was right originally, and the press, some members of Congress and others wanted him to comment. He refused.

The President told McNamara that if the administration does not send the troops the Generals want, they will be blamed for any military failures that occur. If they do send all the troops that the Joint Chiefs wanted, they would be going far beyond the limits that the Defense Secretary recommended and the President would have preferred. JBJ felt he really had no political choice. He authorized the wanted troops further escalating the war. See his special assistant’s question about that decision in {617151}.

President Johnson was trying to organize peace talks in Paris. Nixon didn’t want a public announcement to occur before election day when he was running against Hubert Humphrey. Knowing the South Vietnamese President was reluctant to go to Paris but was under pressure from America to do so, he sent a message through Chennault that he should not accept and “hang on” as Nixon would shortly win. The South Vietnam president refused to go to Paris, Nixon won the election, and then had to cope with the continuation of the war that might well have ended before he took office. Nixon believed that he could get Russia and China to pressure Ho Chi Min to make peace. Nixon's private overtures to the South Vietnam president, violated the Logan Act which prohiited private citizens negoatioating with foreign governments. President Johnson was aware of Nixon's commission of this felony want wanted to prosecute him, but the evicence had been obtained from secret intelligene agency bugging and wiretapping both the South Vietnam Embassay in Wishington and the Presidential Palace in Vietnam the public knowledge of which would have caused a scandal. Instead, he called Nixon and warned him to stop, but the damage had already been done, and the South Vitenamese government would not go to Pariis where they would have to agree to a coalition government with the Communists. THey waited for Nixon to deliver a peace treaty which would leave them in charge of South Vietnam. In the final analysis, the South Vietnamese ended up with nothing and no participation in anything when the U. S. Withdrew and the Communists took over.

The Emperor hung himself rather than fall into the hands of the rebel Li Tzu-ch`eng. This ended the Ming Dynasty

This was hand written the day before D-Day by Eisenhower. It was to be issued in the event of a failure of operation Overlord—the D-Day landings. The success was by no means a sure thing and the greatness of Eisenhower is indicated by the fact that he was not arrogant, kept the possibility of failure in mind, and took it upon himself to accept the responsibility of things had not gone well. This was one of the greatest quotations that was never made.

Paine had been imprisoned in France for his political writings. After inspiring the nation in the Revolution, he was not a very popular figure in America, being regarded as an atheistic, rabble-rouser. The President distanced himself from the situation and did nothing to secure Payne's release.

Few high ranking officers, or officials of civilian organizations, take the responsibility for subordinates not understanding instructions.

Most people are surprised that Lee suggested his being replaced when his army lacked military success. Strategically, he had a hopeless task. The incompetence of General McClellan and other Union Generals is the only reason that the war lasted as long as it did. However, Lee got about as much as any military commander could have given the greater manpower, industrial production, communications and transportation of the Union to say nothing of the much superior technology.

He returned 5 years later in a coffin.

Mengustu seized power in a coup. However his Marxist Dictatorship was very unpopular and a civil war soon started. The poorly armed opposition used guerrilla warfare insurgency techniques. Since the government was hated by most people there was much support for the guerrilla in the villages and countryside. Mengustu adopted a policy of genocide. The areas of the country which were sympathetic to the revolutionaries were then systematically starved by the government withholding food. There was a bad agricultural crop but international donors including the United States provided much food aid. However this was withheld by the government from the areas where there was any support for the freedom fighters. Over 1 million Ethiopian citizens were starved to death. This quotation was one of the important documents that proved that there was a systematic government policy to commit genocide—in this case to “drain the sea”. After the revolution was successful, Mengustu was convicted of Crimes Against Humanity but escaped to Zimbabwe where he was given sanctuary by his fellow dictator, Robert Mugabe. There is a technical issue of whether or not this was genocide in that the exterminated people were not of one race, religion or ethnic group, but the people who were residents of the areas which were giving “aid and comfort” to the freedom fighters.

Newport, Rhode Island, was a “hotbed” of patriots and was the 5th largest city in Colonial America. Wallace’s flag ship shelled military targets from the sea and threatened to bombard and destroy the town with naval gunfire. However, his superior, Admiral Graves, and he both thought that was too severe a step to take. So there was some restraint exercised by some British commanders in the American Revolution. The worst atrocities were in the South and committed by the British Army—the subject of the American motion picture, “The Patriot”.

This quotation about George Washington is one of the best complements ever paid to any political leader.

Moltke’s plan for the Marne Campaign did not work out as planned and he and the Kaiser had a difference of opinion so Moltke was replaced as military commander. This quotation is of critical importance as it shows that the Germans were actually planning the First World War and simply used the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as an excuse. Thus, the reparations Germany was required to pay when they lost the war. See {642096} for more quotational evidence.

This is a very controversial Franklin quotation. In fact, Franklin never sent this letter to Strahan, but it is one of the most famous of the Franklin quotations. It was even famous in 1775. Franklin saw to it that copies of his “letter” reached most American newspaper editors, many of who reprinted it. It was not the first time that an American politician had made quotations for domestic consumption only, and it certainly was not the last. So Franklin never said this to his friend Strahan, but he did claim that he did to all who Americans who would listen. The result is that Franklin developed a reputation for really ‘telling off those Englishmen.’ This was important for him because since he had many friends and admirers in England, he was suspect to many anti-British Americans.