Reprimand Quotes
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.
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.
Goodpaster served as Staff Secretary and Defense Liaison Officer to President Eisenhower from 1954–1961. McCarthy accused many competent, loyal Americans of disloyalty, incompetence and treason. The reason that this particular quotation was noteworthy was that it particularly offended President Eisenhower and galvanized him into action to stop McCarthy’s excesses. See {632334}.
Eisenhower was referring to MacArthur’s decision, as Army Chief of Staff, to take personal command of infantry, calvary and battle tanks he had ordered assembled to oust the WWI Veterans and their families from the shantytown they had erected in Washington DC to protest the fact that they had not been paid the bonuses that the law required. The attack on the protesting veterans was one of the great disgraces of American history. Eisenhower, knowing full well MacArthur’s penchant for strong attack, thought a more prudent officer should take charge of the delicate operation, and not the heavy-handed, aggressive General. See Quotation 643961.
The Supreme Court had decided to hear an important case on gun rights. Cheney had discovered that Solicitor General, the Administration’s chief lawyer before the Supreme Court, Paul Clement planned to file a brief that was very different from Cheney’s own personal views. In protest, he signed his name to a much stronger brief filed by 55 pro-gun senators and 250 members of the House of Representatives. The President’s Chief of Staff called Cheney on the carpet for doing something that was unforgivable—the Vice President had publicly criticized the position that the President’s (and the Vice President’s) chief lawyer was taking. See Cheney’s excuse {633773} . Bolton let the vice president know that if he ever tried something like this again, he would be frozen out of most government activities. In Bush’s second term Cheney had less and less influence, in part because of his unethical behavior like this.
