Hamilton Fish Armstrong Quotes
The plebiscite which restored Constantine to the throne, though it undoubtedly registered the will of the Greek people at that time, was never accepted by Britain and France, nor by the United States.
This is an example of the 3 leading democratic powers refusing to recognize the will of the people in other nations in determining their leadership choice. King Constantine I was a demagogue who maintained popularity with the Greeks by constant roiling and urging conflict with Muslim Turkey—the traditional enemy of the Christian Greeks. It was particularly hypocritical in many eyes since President Woodrow Wilson had established the principle of self-determination. However, Constantine I was a disaster for the Greek people. This is one of the earliest situations where American foreign policy support was in conflict between good sense and self-determination. The dilemma has faced America frequently since then and was especially acute in the 2012 “Arab Spring” Egyptian election of the Muslim brotherhood which turned out to be a disaster for Egypt but at an earlier time had won a national election.
Hamilton Fish Armstrong, 1893–1973, Diplomat and Editor, Foreign Affairs, “The New Balkans”, Foreign Affairs, December 1924
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The speech was never actually delivered, but instead the Bishop published it. It received wide distribution including in America where it was published by the Maryland Gazette on September 29, 1774.
The document was signed in his name by his ministers.
In the aftermath of World War I the Greeks invaded Turkish held Smyrna to "protect" the ethnic Greek population there. It was a great military blunder and exposed the Greek military to the Turks. This isI a candid private statement of the fact that admission of a military blunder would cause the government to fall that never was made public,
The strong American instinct toward unilateralism, narrowly defined self-interest, and operating under the banner of the United Nations has its traditional roots.
Adams was not only generally wary of involvement in foreign intrigues but was suspicious of the Greek war of independence in that the Greeks were no more committed to democracy and freedom than the Ottomans were.
The capital was then New York. Not unlike today word spread quickly, far and wide, of events and speeches of the politicians. Adams complained that he was being quoted out of context and accused of changing his ideology and becoming a monarchist. His desire for a strong executive together with his proposals to give the executive formal titles of respect, led many to that conclusion. He was opposed to any hereditary monarchy and thus thought the criticism unfair. He was turned out of office after one term. Jefferson replaced him.
This quotation is almost always given as if it were Alcuin who advocated listening to the people, when actually his view was just the opposite. See William Tecumseh Sherman for a more modern expression of the same view. Also, Walter Reynolds {32317} for an opposite view, but using a similar phrase. Note that since he was referring to what "the people" say, the quote must have been in common usage in the 9th century. For the earliest known use of the statement in Western civilization, see Hesiod {603399}.
In 1832 the President sent Edmund Roberts, a New Hampshire sea captain, to arrange commercial treaties with Asian countries such as Burma, Indo-China, Siam and Japan:
Kissinger had observed in his unpopular view that he was saying exactly what the George W. Bush administration had officially said on several occasions. This response is quoted by those who use it as an example of how low the reputation of the George W. Bush administration had sank with America’s foreign allies. Kissinger was seen as a much more important and influential factor despite the fact that he had been out of office for over two decades. At the time, many American allies had given up on Bush and because he was so unpopular with Americans as well as foreigners, they assumed that his statements would not represent American policy or opinion as soon as Bush’s term was over. The new President of whichever party would, it was assumed, repudiate most of the Bush actions and try and rebuild America’s shattered reputation. In that scenario, Kissinger’s views would not only be more representative of American positions than that of Bush and his diplomatic representatives.
Although a number of American Presidents were quite religious, the younger Bush was the most extreme in claiming that God’s will was the basis of his political philosophy. However, his claim that God supported his policies and not those of his critics and opponents, was one of the reasons that he became one of the most unpopular Presidents in American history.
