Words of War
Our leaders are at their best (and worst) when speaking of battles they began. Test your history IQ: Who was the self-pitier? The land grabber? The isolationist?
1. "I'm not going to be the first American president to lose a war."
2. "I'm tired of feeling rejected by the American people. I'm tired of waking up in the middle of the night worrying about the war."
3. "The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force."
4. "This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldier."
5. "I shall say it again and again and again. Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars."
6. "One of our American wits said that it took only half as long to train an American army as any other, because you only had to train them to go one way."
7. "I think war is a dangerous place."
8. "While we are conducting war, and until its conclusion, we must keep all we get; when the war is over we must keep what we want."
9. "War is a blessing compared with national degradation."
10. "War...should only be declared by the authority of the people."
This story appears in the January 30, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.