All Robert Dallek Quotes
- At the start of first terms, presidents invariably have a measure of goodwill. Goodwill
- For style and for creating a mood of optimism and hope - Kennedy on that count is as effective as any president the country has… Any
- By the time a second term rolls around, the illusions about a president have largely evaporated. Evaporated
- Harry Truman wrote scathing letters, but he almost never sent them. Almost Never
- Richard Nixon had a kind of Walter Mitty fantasy life. He was a man with a grandiose thoughts: dreams of not simply being president but… American
- A president cannot sit on his hands and be seen as passive in the face of ruthless action by a foreign dictator. Action
- Presidents need to be critically studied and analyzed. Analyzed
- John F. Kennedy went to bed at 3:30 in the morning on November 9, 1960, uncertain whether he had defeated Richard Nixon for the presidency.… Any
- Theodore Roosevelt had drawn public attention to his attractive family in order to create a bond with ordinary Americans. Eleanor Roosevelt had successfully broached the… American
- When Johnson decided to fight for passage of the law John F. Kennedy had put before Congress in June 1963 banning segregation in places of… Accommodation
- Few American presidents are held in higher esteem than Thomas Jefferson. Though historians have scrutinized every phase of his long public career and found him… American
- In the late 19th century, the Populists - a protest movement of mainly disaffected farmers and workers - threatened to overturn established authority. Authority
- Joseph McCarthy and the John Birch Society launched an anti-Communist crusade that won the support of millions of Americans in the 1950s. American
- Besieged by lawsuits that threatened to engulf almost everyone at the White House, Clinton assistants shunned paper or e-mail records of their daily deliberations. One… Almost Everyone
- The Cold War is over. The kind of authority that the presidents asserted during the Cold War has now been diminished. Asserted
- Henry Kissinger never wanted the 20,000 pages of his telephone transcripts made public - not while he was alive, at any rate. Alive
- Nixon did not anticipate the extent to which Kissinger, whom he barely knew when he appointed him national-security adviser in 1969, would be envious and… Adviser
- When President Obama first unveiled his gun control proposals recommending a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and better background checks, there seemed to… Assault
- To be sure, hunters and sportsmen back gun rights. Beyond that, there are millions who see guns as a defense against fear - fear of… Assaulting
- For those of us who cry out for gun control, our fears cannot be eliminated as long as the country remains an armed camp in… All
- Political vitriol is a familiar enough characteristic of American history. American
- Despite all the public hand-wringing about negative advertising, political veterans will tell you that it persists because, more often than not, it works. But tearing… Advertising
- Despite its flaws, the American electoral system has produced Lincoln, the two Roosevelts, and Harry Truman. American
- Allegations that President Clinton pardoned Marc Rich partly in return for donations to his presidential library have raised questions about the value of such institutions… Allegations
- Full federal funding for presidential libraries should bring with it new rules of control over papers and artifacts. Artifacts