Richard Sherman Quotes

When Admiral Lewis Strauss, President Truman's special assistant on atomic energy, refused to go beyond vague generalities in an interview, Alsop remarked:

After being surrounded by the Germans for seven days at what would later be called the Battle of the Bulge, a German officer notified the Americans that they would accept their surrender. McAuliffe’s one word response summed up the resolve of the Americans who were surrounded. The Americans managed to hold the line and defeat the German’s last major offensive of World War II.

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.

The Parliament was paralyzed by the issue of wartime leadership when PM Neville Chamberlain failed so miserably in standing up to the Germans at Munich. The speech urging the termination of the Prime Minister’s government reminded all of the famous speech whereby Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell dismissed Parliament in 1655 (see related quote). In this case Amery had no power, but much influence as the Government fell a few days later and Winston Churchill assumed British leadership.

At the height of the Watergate scandal, the president wanted special prosecutor Archibald Cox fired, because Cox was developing evidence against the president. The attorney general, Elliot Richardson, refused to fire Cox and resigned. The chief of staff then turned to the deputy attorney general, William Ruckelshaus, who also refused and resigned. Finally, the Solicitor General, next in line of authority, agreed to fire the special prosecutor. These events happened on a Saturday night and became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre”. This event persuaded most Americans that Nixon was guilty of felonies and was desperately trying to cover things up. Congress would include “obstruction of justice” in it’s list of crimes that they would have impeached Nixon for had he not resigned.

The Congress had been told that our policy was to seek a negotiated settlement in the civil war in Chad and not to send weapons or supplies that could aid either side, especially Habre who was known for his atrocities and human rights violations. The military people like Blakemore responsible for the logistics of transporting and transferring military supplies wanted to check with the Foreign Relations Committee before sending the supplies. This quotation shows that even before the Iran-Contra scandal where Oliver North broke the law overtly, he had little respect for the law and the authority of Congress.