CoachJim > Books: history‎ (119)

Jackie wept first, and from her and from Dallas a tidal wave of tears rolled across the nation and around the world. (Page 347)

For better or worse, your generation has been appointed by history to deal with those problems and to lead America toward a new age. You have the chan

For better or worse, your generation has been appointed by history to deal with those problems and to lead America toward a new age. You have the chance never before afforded to any people of any age. You can help build a society where the demands of morality, and the needs of the spirit can be realized in the life of the Nation … a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods.
(Page 165) From the commencement speech by President Johnson at the University of Michigan on May 22, 1964 presenting his idea of a “Great Society”, a speech written by Richard Goodwin.

Kennedy and the brief era in which he governed are part of a lost world, possibly irretrievable, when Americans believed in themselves and in their na

Kennedy and the brief era in which he governed are part of a lost world, possibly irretrievable, when Americans believed in themselves and in their nation. I am not referring to a mystical Camelot, but to a time when polls revealed Americans trusted their government and believed in their nation’s purpose.
Stephen F. Knott in Coming to Terms with John F. Kennedy (Page 5)

“[T]he image as a young, vigorous president and his dedicated band of acolytes was enough for Americans to believe that the country was moving in a positive direction. Image was Kennedy’s currency, and he radiated it in spades.”
(Page 60)

“Don’t let it be forgot,
that once there was a spot,
for one brief shining moment
that was known as Camelot.”
From the musical Camelot.

“Don’t let it be forgot,
that once there was a spot,
for one brief shining moment
that was known as Camelot.”
From the musical Camelot.

“There will be great presidents again but there will never be another Camelot.”
Jacqueline Kennedy

On November 8, 1960, Americans went to the polls as they had not done in more than fifty years and would not do again. Voter turnout (that is, the per

On November 8, 1960, Americans went to the polls as they had not done in more than fifty years and would not do again. Voter turnout (that is, the percentage of eligible voters casting their ballots) was greater than for any of the great Roosevelt elections of 1932, 1936, and 1940, and the highest since 1908. It has not been equaled since, and now ranks as the highest voter participation in a century.
Kennedy v. Nixon by Edmund F. Ballina Jr. (Page 177)

Years later, reading of another multimillionaire, Ross Perot, Rose Kennedy informed a grandson, “I read in the paper that he was going spend $100 mill

Years later, reading of another multimillionaire, Ross Perot, Rose Kennedy informed a grandson, “I read in the paper that he was going spend $100 million to buy the election. Your grandfather only spent ten.”
1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon by David Pietrusza (Page 406)

Can popular rule readily lend itself to the making of effective foreign policy? And can democracy, geared for a time of peace, respond effectively in a time of war? Jack’s answers: Yes and yes, but the task would not be easy. It required intelligent and committed leadership at the highest levels, able to articulate effectively to the public why fighting was necessary, and it required a capacity and willingness to plan for the long term. In the near run, totalitarianism had notable advantages.
(Page 254)

Built on a grand scale, with ambition, passion and will attaining in them a terrible yet wondrous force, both the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys seemed

Built on a grand scale, with ambition, passion and will attaining in them a terrible yet wondrous force, both the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys seemed to live their lives with an uncommon intensity which drove them to seek out the heights of earthly greatness. Striking against the existing order of things in pursuance of their ambitions and driving their passions, they achieved more than they ever dreamed, lending a magic to their family story that no tale of ordinary life could possibly rival. But the very nature of their search was for success of such towering proportions that, as history records, a terrible price was paid.
(Page 808)

“[T]he Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it.” Americans w

“[T]he Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it.” Americans wanted the government to act as a safety net. “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.” A few “Texas oil millionaires” and the occasional hard-liner might still oppose social security. But, he said, in memorably blunt terms, “their number is negligible and they are stupid.”
Dwight Eisenhower as quoted in The Age of Eisenhower by William F. Hitchcock. page 259.

Six decades after the general and the president, standing at the brink of nuclear war, wrestled over Korea and China; six decades after their contest brought to a head the issue of whether the president or a general determines American policy; six decades after MacArthur received a hero’s reception from Congress and ticker-tape parades from an adoring public while Truman was castigated as an appeaser and howled into retirement, it was hard to find any knowledgeable person who didn’t feel relief that the president, and not the general, had been the one with the final say in their fateful struggle.