Vetoes Quotes
He did indeed kill the Bank of the United States by exercising the Presidential Veto on the legislation renewing the Bank’s government charter. The Bank was privately owned but handled all the fiscal functions for the Government and holding the United States deposits. The Bank owners and executives were not supports of Jackson and opposed him on many issues. Jackson thought it outrageous that a private bank, not under the control of the people or the representatives of the people, should have a monopoly on the banking functions of the United States. Vetoes were very unusual then. All the presidents before Jackson together vetoed only 12 laws. Jackson himself vetoed 13 including the Bank of America.
All the objections that Coolidge had in his veto message, were not convincing to modern Presidents and members of Congress as well as well the American people. Our Agricultural policy has had all these elements for years now.
HF 2598*/SF 2411/CH 391
One major problem at the time was that the Soviet Union was supporting and instigating revolutions in many parts of the world. When most nations of the UN wanted to provide peace keeping troops to quell the conflict, the Russians would veto and block the effort, Vandenberg wanted the UN to change the rules regarding the veto. The right of veto for the major nations was originally included in the UN Charter at the insistence of the United States, and many Americans did not want to give it up or have any exceptions lest there be more in the future. The Russians at that time also did not want to give up any of their veto powers. Another method that Vandenberg wanted to solve the Russian peacekeeping blockage problem was for America to engage in more collective security pacts so that action could be taken without UN Security Council unanimity by going around the UN.
President Abraham Lincoln had pocket vetoed his own party's reconstruction bill in the midst of an election year.
Later made more famous by being quoted by President Ronald Reagan in facing down Congress over legislation by threatening the use of the veto.
He was referring to a transportation bill that had been packed with earmarks and pork by his own party.
Johnson, fundamentally an inveterate racist, tried to kill all attempts at protecting Negro rights after the Civil War. Congress rewrote the Bill to obtain enough signatures and then passed it over the President’s Veto later in the year.
Although Madison vetoed the Federal bill to improve the national infrastructure, he was very much for the improvements and he said so in this veto message. He, however, did not see the Constitutional authority for the Federal government to appropriate moneys to be spent in the States for infrastructure improvement. He was for a Constitutional Amendment to do so or to make the improvements using State money as New York did building the Erie Canal. Alexander Hamilton, and many of the Congressmen who voted for the bill disagreed (many of whom were also in the Constitutional Convention) and did not see the Constitutional limitation that Madison did. See Hamilton’s Quote 644278. He was particularly concerned that small and less affluent states could not possibly have the skill to design these or the finances to build them. Later President’s and Congresses sided with Hamilton. It would be hard to envision America today of Madison’s view had prevailed.
He had just vetoed a bill to impose censorship on plays and dramas.
Henry of Navarre. The Great Council was the first proposed International governing body—a precursor to the EEC, the UN and the League of Nations. Henry's plan included an international army and navy to enforce the decisions. There were 15 nations proposed in the Great Design. Each one had a veto presaging the United Nations Security Council.
Although Reagan vetoed some spending that he disapproved of, he wanted so much spending on his favorite programs that he not only never brought the budget under control but his spending created the largest deficit in American history -- until George W. Bush squandered the Clinton surplus and exceeded Regan’s spending greatly and left President Obama with the greatest budget deficit in world history and a collapsing economy. Ironically, despite the fact that Reagan ran up huge deficits for the time, he always verbally advocated balanced budgets and many people in the country were persuaded by Reagan of the importance of balanced budgets. It was President Clinton who balanced the budget and eliminated the Reagan deficits.
In 1999 the Missouri legislature passed legislation casting doubt on the legality of all abortions in the state. The Governor vetoed the bill and the legislature overrode the veto. A Federal judge issued an order shortly thereafter blocking enforcement and ruling that the law—as the Governor had maintained—was unconstitutional.
Actually it was the United States which insisted in the veto which required consensus of the great powers of the time. It was Russia which ended up using it far more often than any other nation.
In 1924 Congress Voted a bonus for all veterans of World War I. However, the President vetoed the bonus with this infamous statement. Congress overrode Coolidge’s veto, and the bonus became law but the administration did not pay it then. Subsequent Congresses did not appropriate the money to pay the bonuses, and that led to the tragedy of the government attack on the Bonus Army in the midst of the Great Depression in 1932. See Quotation 643961.
