Leo S. Amery Quotes
You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!
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.
Leo S. Amery, 1873-1955, British Journalist & Member of Parliament, Speech in Parliament, May 7, 1940
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Cromwell to the Rump Parliament: These same words were used by Tory insurgent Leopold Amery in 1940 calling for the resignation of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
This statement transformed Cromwell from a bully to a dictator. If the chief executive can dismiss the legislature, then there is no real check on the powers of the executive and he/she is a de facto dictator.
Kennedy (the father of JFK) was U.S. Ambassador of Britain at a critical time in history—the rise of Nazism. To Roosevelt and most other’s surprise, Kennedy turned out to be a Nazi sympathizer. He was complimentary towards Hitler and Mussolini, an advocate for fascism. He had been a producer of films and he tried to pressure American film-makers not to make films depicting Hitler and Nazi Germany in a less than favorable light. He supported Charles Lindbergh and American Fascists and conspired with the English upper class supporters of Hitler and Fascism. He had publicly and privately argued against Lend Lease and military aid to England. Roosevelt, an incredibly persuasive leader, had invited him to Hyde Park to straighten out what he thought was a misunderstanding. The two men were in a room alone for 10 minutes when Roosevelt sought his wife and made the statement. Kennedy of course resigned. FDR never spoke to him again.
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.
He was expelled from Parliament for such.
After the military victory in Iraq, Garner was in charge of reconstruction and getting Iraqi civil servants paid. Then the President appointed Paul Bremer as the do facto Governor of Iraq. No sooner did Bremer arrive and take charge than he alienated most Iraqi and even American officials including Garner. Bremer wanted direct control of all civilian and military staff including Garner’s staff. Garner did go home, and Bremer totally controlled a difficult situation in post-war nation building of Iraq. By the end of Bremer’s tenure, the situation had deteriorated almost beyond repair.
Rove pandered to the Religious Right for political purposes, but was not a serious believer himself. The Faith Based Initiative was an unsuccessful program whereby government funds were transferred to religious organizations—almost all of which were evangelical Christian Protestants. This is an example of terrible management. The Faith-Based Initiative was a flop, and Kuo, a religious man himself, was offended, left the government and wrote a book exposing the administration’s failure with the program that President Bush had campaigned on.
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.