Paul Tsongas Quotes
The cold war is over; Japan won!
In 1992 Russia was in terrible economic shape after the fall of the Soviet Union. Keeping up with the United States military expenditures had bankrupted the Russians. The United States which had strategically increased its defense spending to break the Russian economy if they tried to keep up. However, the U. S. expenditures had forced America into a deficit spending period which produced a national deficit greater than all the previous cumulative deficits in our history. So the American economy was not in great shape either. Meanwhile, Japan, whose constitution (imposed by America after WWII) forbade having a military and funding a military. The result was the Japanese economy was growing at a much more rapid rate, and did not have the unbalanced budget of the United States and Russia. Hence, Tsongas’ observation.
Paul Tsongas, 1941-1997, U. S. Senator (Democrat, MA), Candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, Campaign Speech, February 1992
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This editorial marked what most people agreed was the end of the Cold War.
Paul Efthemios Tsongas was an American politician. He represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress, holding office from 1975 to 1985. He won eight states as a candidate in the 1992 Democratic presidential primaries, losing the nomination to Bill Clinton.
