Forceful Rule Quotes

Soon he had the power of a dictator but he didn’t force his will on the vast majority of the Cubans. His decrees made all the wealthy and the cronies of the dictator Batista outraged and most of them left Cuba. He was a dynamic demagogue and the people handed him dictatorial powers which he did not reject. He was so popular that he was the only leader in the Americas who would give 4 hour speeches and move through the streets without any bodyguards until the United States and dissident expatriates tried to assassinate him. With all that popularity, none the less he would not allow open criticism of his regime and jailed many political opponents. So he indeed became a dictator but never needed the machine gun to maintain power.

The violent IRA logic had always been a little tortured. At the time, the claim was that the British were not wanted in Ireland but were there only by force of arms. However, the British administration of Ireland at the time was not forceful or violent at all. Few others had the freedom and democracy of Ireland as a part of Great Britain. De Valera’s logic was that if the British in Ireland were subjected to violent, terrorist attacks, they would respond with force of arms, and thus show that they held Ireland by force. Most of the Catholics of Ireland preferred independence while most of the Protestants preferred the relationship with England.