Firing Quotes

President Ford forced him to resign. He had been a holdover from the Nixon Administration. Ford did not chooses him. Nixon appointed him on the advice of the ultra conservatives in the party who liked the fact that he wanted to dismantle many of the FDR New Deal policies. However, he came from Indiana which was the lost racist of all the Northern States. In the 1920s Indiana had the largest membership in the KKK of any state in the Union, and Butz came from this line of racists. He also was convicted for Federal Tax Evasion.

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.

Wilson, a history and government professor and college president before politics, was has been accused of being one of the most racist Presidents since Reconstruction. Prior to his Presidency, the Federal Government had been making steady progress in hiring African Americans. Under Wilson there was a wholesale firing of a large proportion of them. Some apologists argue that his League of Nations and other major aspirations required the votes and cooperation of Southern Senators who insisted that many of the blacks be terminated. At the same time, the KKK was near the zenith of its membership and political power and was an intimidating force. Wilson’s home state of New Jersey not only had a large KKK membership but there were lynching of Blacks in his own state and when Governor and President he never asked for any anti-lynching legislation.

MacArthur had been the Commander of our Military Forces in Korea. He had a huge ego, and he wanted to cross the border and attack China since Chinese Troops were aiding the North Vietnamese. He had previously assured the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President that the Chinese would not send troops into Korea, but he was then wrong. And when they had attacked, they had erased the territorial gains that MacArthur had previously gained. The Joint Chief’s of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State had decided upon a strategy which this time did not follow MacArthur’s strategic advice. The President approved the strategy, but MacArthur spoke and acted contrary. The President met with MacArthur and reiterated the strategy that the President approved. But MacArthur did not follow the orders of the Joint Chiefs. At the time, he and Eisenhower were America’s two most famous military leaders, and of the two MacArthur was senior and thought that he should be President. After he was fired, MacArthur addressed a Joint Session of Congress and gave his "Old Soldiers Never Die" speech which was his first active step towards the Presidency. It was a very sentimental speech with little content and nothing about why he had disobeyed orders. He was totally shocked when it was Eisenhower who was selected to run for President and not him.

He was convicted of corruption having transferred millions of dollars of government money to his maid and chauffer (without their knowledge) to hide the money the had taken. He jumped bail and fled the country after his conviction and ran his Pheu Thai Party, from abroad. He then had his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, run in the next election and she was elected Prime Minister and so he continued to control much of the country but could not return last he be jailed. His definition of an incompetent teacher is one who called for his resignation. This is a good example of why there is a need for tenure at universities. He tried to get the university administrators to fire the “incompetent” teachers.

The only soldier ever so honored

The general’s view was that if the Secretary found something unacceptable in one of his direct subordinates, then there was something unacceptable about him as he supervised the man and approved of his work. Rumsfeld backed down.

The Inspector General of the Justice Department and a Congressional committee found his actions illegal. Schlozman, a Republican Assistant Attorney General, had violated the Civil Service Reform Act by hiring attorneys on the basis of their political affiliation and later made false statements in his sworn testimony to Congress about his hiring decisions. He wanted people who he could count on to follow his lead and not prevent Southern States from changing their election laws and thus be able to discriminate against Blacks in voting, as was required by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This quotation is often cited by Civil Service supporters to show what can happen when a political appointee can fire government employees and replace them with people who will agree with him on matters of political ideology.

Compare this quotation with {632899}. Most members of Congress had limited management experience and the only solution to an organizational problem was to fire people. The referenced quotation has people fired for the purpose of inspiring public trust; in this quotation, it is to trigger reform and change. Ironically, there is no evidence in the management literature that suggests that firing for either of these reasons will have the desired objective.

He was one or the few Turkish Senior officials who would testify about the Armenian genocide. The Christian Armenians, a minority in Turkey and its lands, were discriminated against like other non Muslim minorities in the Ottoman Empire. But during the Turkish War with Russia and WWI, some Armenians defected and served on the Russian side. Many Turkish citizens took revenge on Armenians by means of murder and torture. Soon, the extermination of the Armenians became the official “Young Turk” government policy. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed outright, and about an equal number were “deported” to special areas. Many died of malnutrition along the forced march of Ethnic Cleansing. Others were murdered as they were deported. No one knows exactly how many Armenians were killed with estimates ranging from ½ million to 4 million. This was the first genocide of the 20th century. Modern Turkish leaders however, are in denial about the Armenian deaths. They claim that there was a war and food was scarce; the only Armenians killed, the claimed were proven Russian agents. They further claim that the Armenian behavior was in large part responsible for the forced deportations because of their lack of patriotism and unwillingness to help the Turkish authorities identify the Russian agents. Most Turks today are unaware of the Armenian Genocide as nothing is taught about the massacres in schools or other institutions. It is against the law in Turkey to even have an intellectual study of the Turkish behavior towards the Armenians, much less publish anything about it.