War Opposition Quotes
First woman elected to Congress. She was one of a handful of Congressman who opposed the WWI declaration. She was the only member of the House to oppose FDR’s request for a Declaration of War against Japan after Pearl Harbor.
The elder Kennedy was an admirer of Hitler and Fascism and was convinced that democracy was finished in England. As the U. S. Ambassador to England, his views—see also {610124} and {610122}—destroyed his own political career in the United States, and he thereafter kept a low profile and maintained his political aspirations through his children.
In the 18th Century, the Islamic Barbary States combined their religious beliefs for Jihad against non-believers with a classic criminal enterprise--piracy. They would authorize corsairs to outfit ships and attack Christian merchant ships on the high seas. They would capture the ship and the cargo, which would be split with the ruler of the country. The crew and passengers would by “rented out” as slaves until they would be ransomed, the proceeds of which would also be shared. To motivate a larger ransom, the captives were regularly tortured as well as worked almost to death. The Barbary Pirates encouraged the “slaves” to write to their relatives, friends and governments to try and raise the ransom. Individual Christian countries were offered a “treaty” whereby for an annual payment of tribute to the Barbary country, the corsairs of that country would not attack ships flying the flag of the country that paid the tribute. The Christian country had to make 4 different tribute payments to each of the 4 Barbary nations. Most of the European powers were paying the tribute even though some could easily defeat the Corsair navies in a war. The cost of outfitting a fleet for war was much more greater than paying the tribute. The new nation of the United States was good pickings for the Barbary pirates and there was a period of several decades where the Americans had to create a policy to pay tribute or go to war. At different times America did both. Jefferson argued for War rather than pay the blackmail tribute.
First woman elected to Congress. Vote against the Declaration of World War I requested by President Woodrow Wilson. The Congresswoman was consistent. When President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war against Japan after Pearl Harbor, she cast the only "no" vote. She was therefore the only member of Congress who voted against the declaration of War in both WWI and WWII.
This speech was given 5 months before President Georg W, Bush initiated the invasion of Iraq. Politicians either supported the idea of an Iraq War or simply remained silent lest they be labeled unpatriotic. Obama not only opposed the war, but by 2007 most Americans had also come to believe that Bush’s invasion was a “dumb” and “rash” war.
