Nations, Countries Quotes
The President was referring to the fact that most Arab governments constantly attacked Israel with an end of “wiping them off the face of the map” or “pushing them into the sea.” When Palestine was partitioned into Jewish and Arab states, the Israelis developed their part into a modern industrial democracy with the highest standard of living and political freedom in the Middle East despite having to fight off repeated Arab attacks who resented the fact that non-Arabs controlled any land of the area and that their dictatorships and monarchies were always embarrassed by the success of this “foreign” and “European” force in their midst.
President-elect Kennedy had asked the poet to write and present a poem for the inaugural.
At the time, some Palestinian Arabs claimed exclusive rights to the territory on the grounds that Arabs had dominated the area for the longest period of time. They gave no credence to the fact that the Jews had dominated the area and it was the center of their kingdom for many years before—that Jews had constantly lived in the area of longer than the Arabs, nor did they give any credence to the fact that the Christians had conquered the area from the Muslims during the Crusades.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
What makes this quotation particularly funny is that “entrepreneur” is not originally an English word but was borrowed from the French. However, probably what the president was trying to express is that the French act as if they had not word or concept as they have many economic policies that discourage entrepreneurship. The President while a bright man has never been particularly gifted as an intellectual or an orator, becomes the butt of humor with this quotation. There are Bush supporters who challenge the fact that Bush actually made such a gaff, and there has been no other verification other than Baroness Williams.
This quotation did not appear in the first edition, but did in later editions.
1st Earl of Beaconsfield
