Significant sentences from Kennedy by Theodore Sorenson, a history of the words and philosophy of President Kennedy. Continued.
Sorenson: "Rusk...tirelessly and skillfully demonstrated the value of using prolonged discussions to avert deadlines and disaster." p. 675.
Churchill: "We arm to parley." p. 679.
JFK: "The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution." p. 681.
JFK: "Our arms must be subject to ultimate civilian control and command at all times, in war as well as peace." p. 682.
JFK: "Our foremost aim is the control of force, not the pursuit of force, in a world made safe for mankind." p. 703.
Sorenson: "The essence of this [military] doctrine was choice: if the President was to have a balanced range of forces from which to select the most appropriate response for each situation...then it was necessary to build our own nonnuclear forces...." p. 706.
JFK: "We possess weapons of tremendous power...but they are least effective in combating the weapons most often used by freedom's foes: subversion, infiltration, guerrilla warfare, civil disorder." p. 710.
Sorenosn: "Finding little to go on in the Army field manuals, he [JFK] read the classic texts on guerrilla warfare by Red China's Mao Tse-Tung and Cuba's Che Guevara, and then requested appropriate military men to do the same." p. 712.
JFK: Military conflicts required more than military solutions.... The Communists exploited genuine noncommunist grievances." p. 715.
Sorenson: "A Lenin adage said Bohlen in one of our first meetings [on the Cuban Missile Crisis] compares national expansion to a bayonet drive: if you strike steel, pull back; if you strike mush, keep going." p. 763.
Sorenson on the Cuban Missile Crisis: "...the best performer...was the Attorney General [Robert Kennedy]--not because of any particular idea he advanced, not because he presided (no one dd), but because of his constant prodding, questioning, eliciting arguments and alternatives and keeping the discussions concrete and moving ahead, a difficult task as different participants came in and out." p. 765.
JFK: Our response would have to offer the Soviets a way out...." p. 568.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Kennedy. Theodore C. Sorenson. Significant Sentences. Continued.
Significant sentences from Kennedy by Theodore Sorenson, a history of the words and philosophy of President Kennedy. Continued.
Sorenson: "The Soviet Union's Nikita Khrushchev had dismissed both candidates [Nixon and Kennedy] as 'a pair of boots--which is better, the right or the left boot?' " p. 609.
Sorenson: "While such a conference [summit meeting]...might be necessary when war threatened, or useful as 'a place where agreements...achieved at a lower level could be finally, officially approved...a summit is not a place to carry on negotiations which involve details.' " p. 610.
JFK: "It is my duty to make decisions that no adviser and no ally can make for me...to see that these decisions are as informed as possible, that they are based on as much direct, firsthand knowledge as possible." p. 611.
JFK: "The Soviets and ourselves give wholly different meanings to the same words--war, peace, democracy, and popular will." p. 614.
Sorenson: "...the President picked out points in Khrushchev's letter with which he could agree...." p. 623.
Sorenson: "What Izvestia had to print was Kennedy's statement that the great threat to peace 'is the effort by the Soviet Union to Communize...the entire world...and to impose Communism by force'; that the Soviet Union had resumed nuclear tests even while its representatives were at the bargaining table; that if it would look 'only to its national interests and to providing a better life for its people,' all would be well." p. 626.
Sorenson: "He [JFK] prepared for each of those meetings--whether it was the President of France or Togo--with a searching inquiry into all available facts about the other country, its politics, its problems and its personalities. .... Citing their local statistics from memory, quoting from their writings or their history without notes, he left his hosts and visitors both pleased and impressed." p. 649.
Sorenson: "[JFK]...encouraged State Department officials to deal with their counterparts first-hand on special crises instead of through letters and ambassadors." p. 650.
Sorenson: "Kennedy set out to change the stereotype view of the United States...." p. 654.
JFK: "I hear it said that West Berlin is untenable...so was Bastogne...so, in fact, was Stalingrad...any dangerous spot is tenable if men--brave men--will make it so." p. 666.
JFK: "If we do not meet our commitments to Berlin, where will we later stand?" p. 666.
JFK: "West Berlin has become...a focal point where our solemn commitments...and soviet ambitions now meet in basic confrontation." p. 667.
Sorenson: "The Soviet Union's Nikita Khrushchev had dismissed both candidates [Nixon and Kennedy] as 'a pair of boots--which is better, the right or the left boot?' " p. 609.
Sorenson: "While such a conference [summit meeting]...might be necessary when war threatened, or useful as 'a place where agreements...achieved at a lower level could be finally, officially approved...a summit is not a place to carry on negotiations which involve details.' " p. 610.
JFK: "It is my duty to make decisions that no adviser and no ally can make for me...to see that these decisions are as informed as possible, that they are based on as much direct, firsthand knowledge as possible." p. 611.
JFK: "The Soviets and ourselves give wholly different meanings to the same words--war, peace, democracy, and popular will." p. 614.
Sorenson: "...the President picked out points in Khrushchev's letter with which he could agree...." p. 623.
Sorenson: "What Izvestia had to print was Kennedy's statement that the great threat to peace 'is the effort by the Soviet Union to Communize...the entire world...and to impose Communism by force'; that the Soviet Union had resumed nuclear tests even while its representatives were at the bargaining table; that if it would look 'only to its national interests and to providing a better life for its people,' all would be well." p. 626.
Sorenson: "He [JFK] prepared for each of those meetings--whether it was the President of France or Togo--with a searching inquiry into all available facts about the other country, its politics, its problems and its personalities. .... Citing their local statistics from memory, quoting from their writings or their history without notes, he left his hosts and visitors both pleased and impressed." p. 649.
Sorenson: "[JFK]...encouraged State Department officials to deal with their counterparts first-hand on special crises instead of through letters and ambassadors." p. 650.
Sorenson: "Kennedy set out to change the stereotype view of the United States...." p. 654.
JFK: "I hear it said that West Berlin is untenable...so was Bastogne...so, in fact, was Stalingrad...any dangerous spot is tenable if men--brave men--will make it so." p. 666.
JFK: "If we do not meet our commitments to Berlin, where will we later stand?" p. 666.
JFK: "West Berlin has become...a focal point where our solemn commitments...and soviet ambitions now meet in basic confrontation." p. 667.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Kennedy. Theodore C. Sorenson. Significant Sentences. Continued.
Significant sentences from Kennedy by Theodore Sorenson, a history of the words and philosophy of President Kennedy. Continued.
JFK: Together we shall save our planet or together we shall perish in its flames. p. 587.
Sorenson: "To those who said the money [for the space program] could be better spent relieving ignorance or poverty on this planet, he pointed out that this nation had the resources to do both...." p. 593.
Sorenson: "To those who argued that instruments alone could do the job [of going to the moon], he replied that man was 'the most extraordinary computer of them all... [whose] judgment, nerve and [ability to] learn from experience still make him unique' among the instruments." p. 593.
JFK: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills...." p. 594.
Sorenson: "Liberals denounced [the Peace Corps] as a gimmick.... Conservatives dismissed it as a nonsensical haven for beatniks and visionaries.... Communist nations denounced it as an espionage front.... and its own backers threatened to dissipate its momentum by talking, even before it started, of a UN Peace Corps and a domestic Peace Corps and a dozen other diversions." p. 598.
Sorenson: "[Latin America]. With a rate of infant mortality nearly four times our own, a life expectancy less than two-thirds our own, a per capita annual product less than one-ninth our own, an illiteracy rate of 50 percent, a lack of schools and sanitation and trained personnel, runaway inflation in some areas, shocking slums in the cities, squalor in the countryside, and a highly suspicious attitude toward American investments: where were we to begin?" p. 601.
JFK: "...those who make a peaceful revolution impossible will make a violent revolution inevitable."
JFK: "...a world made safe for diversity." p. 606.
Sorenson: "He [JFK] also recognized more clearly by 1963 that 'the big dangers of Latin America are...unrelated to Cuba... [including] illiteracy, bad housing, maldistribution of wealth, balance of payments difficulties, the drop in the price of their raw materials...[and] local Communist action unrelated to Cuba.' " p. 603.
Sorenson: "The Communist bloc was not a monolith in the sixties, if it ever had been, and he wanted to encourage every nationalist strain present." p. 607.
JFK: "I think it is a very dangerous untidy world...we will have to live with it." p. 608.
JFK: Together we shall save our planet or together we shall perish in its flames. p. 587.
Sorenson: "To those who said the money [for the space program] could be better spent relieving ignorance or poverty on this planet, he pointed out that this nation had the resources to do both...." p. 593.
Sorenson: "To those who argued that instruments alone could do the job [of going to the moon], he replied that man was 'the most extraordinary computer of them all... [whose] judgment, nerve and [ability to] learn from experience still make him unique' among the instruments." p. 593.
JFK: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills...." p. 594.
Sorenson: "Liberals denounced [the Peace Corps] as a gimmick.... Conservatives dismissed it as a nonsensical haven for beatniks and visionaries.... Communist nations denounced it as an espionage front.... and its own backers threatened to dissipate its momentum by talking, even before it started, of a UN Peace Corps and a domestic Peace Corps and a dozen other diversions." p. 598.
Sorenson: "[Latin America]. With a rate of infant mortality nearly four times our own, a life expectancy less than two-thirds our own, a per capita annual product less than one-ninth our own, an illiteracy rate of 50 percent, a lack of schools and sanitation and trained personnel, runaway inflation in some areas, shocking slums in the cities, squalor in the countryside, and a highly suspicious attitude toward American investments: where were we to begin?" p. 601.
JFK: "...those who make a peaceful revolution impossible will make a violent revolution inevitable."
JFK: "...a world made safe for diversity." p. 606.
Sorenson: "He [JFK] also recognized more clearly by 1963 that 'the big dangers of Latin America are...unrelated to Cuba... [including] illiteracy, bad housing, maldistribution of wealth, balance of payments difficulties, the drop in the price of their raw materials...[and] local Communist action unrelated to Cuba.' " p. 603.
Sorenson: "The Communist bloc was not a monolith in the sixties, if it ever had been, and he wanted to encourage every nationalist strain present." p. 607.
JFK: "I think it is a very dangerous untidy world...we will have to live with it." p. 608.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Kennedy. Theodore C. Sorenson. Significant Sentences. Continued.
Significant sentences from Kennedy by Theodore Sorenson, a history of the words and philosophy of President Kennedy. Continued.
JFK: "When that day comes, and there is a massive exchange, then that is the end, because you are talking about...150 million fatalities in the first eighteen hours...the equivalent for this country of five hundred World War II's in less than a day." p. 597.
JFK: "We have to proceed with...care in an age when the human race can obliterate itself." p. 577.
Sorenson: "In 1963 he would cite the 1914 conversation between two German leaders on the origins and expansion of that war [WWI], a former chancellor asking, 'How did it all happen?' and his successor saying, 'Ah, if only one knew.' " p. 578.
JFK: "A total solution is impossible in the nuclear age." p. 578.
JFK: "If this planet is ever ravaged by nuclear war--if the survivors of that devastation can then endure the fire, poison, chaos, and catastrophe--I do not want one of those survivors to ask another 'How did it all happen?' and receive the incredible reply: 'Ah, if only one knew.' " p. 578.
Sorenson: "He did not expect [the Cold War] to be lost...simply desired to dampen it down, to outlast it, to make it possible for the long-run forces of liberty and truth to work their way naturally and peacefully, to prevent the Cold War from monopolizing our energies to the detriment of all other interests." p. 578.
JFK: "...expect only at best a long, slow process...of evolution 'away from Communism and toward national independence and freedom....' " p. 579.
JFK: "Our words need merely to carry conviction, not belligerence." p. 580.
JFK: "If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself; if we are weak, words will be of no help." p. 580.
JFK: "World peace...does not require that each man love his neighbor...only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement." p. 580.
JFK: "Negotiations are not a contest spelling victory or defeat." p. 581.
Sorenson: "Indeed, the most successful diplomacy, in his [JFK's] view, was more often dull than dramatic." p. 581.
Sorenson: "Drama usually came with what he called 'collision' courses,' direct confrontations." p. 581.
JFK: "Unless man can match his strides in weaponry and technology with equal strides in social and political development, our great strengths like that of the dinosaur, will become incapable of proper control, and man, like the dinosaur, will vanish from the earth." p. 584.
JFK: "When that day comes, and there is a massive exchange, then that is the end, because you are talking about...150 million fatalities in the first eighteen hours...the equivalent for this country of five hundred World War II's in less than a day." p. 597.
JFK: "We have to proceed with...care in an age when the human race can obliterate itself." p. 577.
Sorenson: "In 1963 he would cite the 1914 conversation between two German leaders on the origins and expansion of that war [WWI], a former chancellor asking, 'How did it all happen?' and his successor saying, 'Ah, if only one knew.' " p. 578.
JFK: "A total solution is impossible in the nuclear age." p. 578.
JFK: "If this planet is ever ravaged by nuclear war--if the survivors of that devastation can then endure the fire, poison, chaos, and catastrophe--I do not want one of those survivors to ask another 'How did it all happen?' and receive the incredible reply: 'Ah, if only one knew.' " p. 578.
Sorenson: "He did not expect [the Cold War] to be lost...simply desired to dampen it down, to outlast it, to make it possible for the long-run forces of liberty and truth to work their way naturally and peacefully, to prevent the Cold War from monopolizing our energies to the detriment of all other interests." p. 578.
JFK: "...expect only at best a long, slow process...of evolution 'away from Communism and toward national independence and freedom....' " p. 579.
JFK: "Our words need merely to carry conviction, not belligerence." p. 580.
JFK: "If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself; if we are weak, words will be of no help." p. 580.
JFK: "World peace...does not require that each man love his neighbor...only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement." p. 580.
JFK: "Negotiations are not a contest spelling victory or defeat." p. 581.
Sorenson: "Indeed, the most successful diplomacy, in his [JFK's] view, was more often dull than dramatic." p. 581.
Sorenson: "Drama usually came with what he called 'collision' courses,' direct confrontations." p. 581.
JFK: "Unless man can match his strides in weaponry and technology with equal strides in social and political development, our great strengths like that of the dinosaur, will become incapable of proper control, and man, like the dinosaur, will vanish from the earth." p. 584.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Kennedy. Theodore C. Sorenson. Significant Sentences. Continued.
Significant sentences from Kennedy by Theodore Sorenson, a history of the words and philosophy of President Kennedy. Sorenson. Continued.
Sorenson: "As a Senator in 1954, he had assailed in a magazine article the 'myths' which 'surrounded...American foreign policy,' including '...the existence of inherently good, bad or backward nations...the impairment of an aggressor's military power by refusing...our diplomatic recognition...that the democratic way of life...will inevitably be the victor in any struggle with an alien power....' " p. 574.
Sorenson: "As President-elect in 1960-1961, he surprised Dean rusk... 'by the extent to which he wanted to look at everything from the beginning...the origins.' " p. 574.
JFK: "We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient...that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94% of mankind--that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity--and that, therefore, there cannot be an American solution to every world problem."
JFK: "We must face up to the chance of war, if we are to maintain the peace." p. 575.
JFK: "A willingness to resist force, unaccompanied by a willingness to talk, could provoke belligerence--while a willingness to talk, unaccompanied by a willingness to resist force, could invite disaster." p. 575.
JFK: "Because of the ingenuity of science and man's own inability to control his relationships with one another...we happen to live in the most dangerous time in the history of the human race." p. 576.
Sorenson: "As a Senator in 1954, he had assailed in a magazine article the 'myths' which 'surrounded...American foreign policy,' including '...the existence of inherently good, bad or backward nations...the impairment of an aggressor's military power by refusing...our diplomatic recognition...that the democratic way of life...will inevitably be the victor in any struggle with an alien power....' " p. 574.
Sorenson: "As President-elect in 1960-1961, he surprised Dean rusk... 'by the extent to which he wanted to look at everything from the beginning...the origins.' " p. 574.
JFK: "We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient...that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94% of mankind--that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity--and that, therefore, there cannot be an American solution to every world problem."
JFK: "We must face up to the chance of war, if we are to maintain the peace." p. 575.
JFK: "A willingness to resist force, unaccompanied by a willingness to talk, could provoke belligerence--while a willingness to talk, unaccompanied by a willingness to resist force, could invite disaster." p. 575.
JFK: "Because of the ingenuity of science and man's own inability to control his relationships with one another...we happen to live in the most dangerous time in the history of the human race." p. 576.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Kennedy. Theodore C. Sorenson. Significant Sentences. Continued.
Significant sentences from Kennedy by Theodore Sorenson, a history of the words and philosophy of President Kennedy. Continued.
Sorenson: "Magnanimous in victory, as always, the President turned his attention to the problem of reconciliation." p. 516.
Sorenson: "He [JFK] permitted no gloating by any administration spokesman and no talk of retribution." p. 516.
JFK on Civil Rights: "The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the nation in which he is born, has about one-half as much chance of completing high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day, one-third as much chance of completing college, one-third as much chance of becoming a professional...twice as much chance of becoming unemployed...a life expectancy which is seven years shorter, and the prospects of earning only half as much." June 1963. p. 530.
JFK: "I do not say that all are equal in their ability, their character or their motivation...but I say they should be equal in their chance to develop their character,their motivation and their ability." p. 530.
Sorenson: "Simple justice requires this program, he [JFK] would tell the Congress in concluding his Civil Rights message of June 19, 1963, 'not merely for reasons of economic efficiency, world diplomacy and domestic tranquility--but, above all, because it is right.' " p, 531.
JFK: "Any educated citizen who seeks to subvert the law, to suppress freedom, or to subject other human beings to acts that are less than human, degrades his heritage, ignores his learning and betrays his obligations." p. 553.
JFK: "...race has no place in American life or law." p. 556.
JFK on Civil Rights: "...legislation cannot solve this problem alone.... It must be solved in the homes of every American." p. 556.
JFK: "But law alone cannot make men see right." p. 557.
Sorenson: "At times he [JFK] found it hard to believe that otherwise rational men could be so irrational on this subject [of Civil Rights]." p. 568.
Sorenson: "Magnanimous in victory, as always, the President turned his attention to the problem of reconciliation." p. 516.
Sorenson: "He [JFK] permitted no gloating by any administration spokesman and no talk of retribution." p. 516.
JFK on Civil Rights: "The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the nation in which he is born, has about one-half as much chance of completing high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day, one-third as much chance of completing college, one-third as much chance of becoming a professional...twice as much chance of becoming unemployed...a life expectancy which is seven years shorter, and the prospects of earning only half as much." June 1963. p. 530.
JFK: "I do not say that all are equal in their ability, their character or their motivation...but I say they should be equal in their chance to develop their character,their motivation and their ability." p. 530.
Sorenson: "Simple justice requires this program, he [JFK] would tell the Congress in concluding his Civil Rights message of June 19, 1963, 'not merely for reasons of economic efficiency, world diplomacy and domestic tranquility--but, above all, because it is right.' " p, 531.
JFK: "Any educated citizen who seeks to subvert the law, to suppress freedom, or to subject other human beings to acts that are less than human, degrades his heritage, ignores his learning and betrays his obligations." p. 553.
JFK: "...race has no place in American life or law." p. 556.
JFK on Civil Rights: "...legislation cannot solve this problem alone.... It must be solved in the homes of every American." p. 556.
JFK: "But law alone cannot make men see right." p. 557.
Sorenson: "At times he [JFK] found it hard to believe that otherwise rational men could be so irrational on this subject [of Civil Rights]." p. 568.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Kennedy. Theodore C. Sorenson. Significant Sentences. Continued.
Significant sentences from Kennedy by Theodore Sorenson, a history of the words and philosophy of President Kennedy. Continued.
JFK: The Joint Chiefs of Staff...advise you the way a man advises another one about whether he should marry a girl... He doesn't have to live with her." p. 438.
JFK: "The advisers may move on--to new advice." p. 438.
Sorenson: "...he [JFK] liked hearing alternatives and assumptions challenged before he made up his mind." p. 438.
Sorenson: "To help the next generation, he was always fashioning, not grand designs, but single steps--toward disarmament and space discoveries and salt water conversion and an end to illiteracy and disease." p. 439.
Sorenson: "As his [JFK's] months in office increased, however, he talked more and more about the limitations of power." p. 439.
Sorenson: 'He [JFK] was wise enough to know that in a nation of consent, not command, Presidential words alone cannot always produce results." p. 439.
Sorenson: "But as President, he [JFK] more than compensated for his limited background in economics by his superb ability to absorb information and to ask the right questions." p. 443.
Sorenson: "...that the Budget represented not a bureaucratic grab but loans to farmers and small businessmen, aid to education and conservation, urban renewal and area redevelopment." p. 472.
Sorenson: "We tried every possible way to make a dull economics speech interesting...used charts beside his desk...cited real-life human interest examples of individuals helped by his programs." p. 479.
Sorenson: "The challenge was clear, the answer was not." p. 489.
JFK: The Joint Chiefs of Staff...advise you the way a man advises another one about whether he should marry a girl... He doesn't have to live with her." p. 438.
JFK: "The advisers may move on--to new advice." p. 438.
Sorenson: "...he [JFK] liked hearing alternatives and assumptions challenged before he made up his mind." p. 438.
Sorenson: "To help the next generation, he was always fashioning, not grand designs, but single steps--toward disarmament and space discoveries and salt water conversion and an end to illiteracy and disease." p. 439.
Sorenson: "As his [JFK's] months in office increased, however, he talked more and more about the limitations of power." p. 439.
Sorenson: 'He [JFK] was wise enough to know that in a nation of consent, not command, Presidential words alone cannot always produce results." p. 439.
Sorenson: "But as President, he [JFK] more than compensated for his limited background in economics by his superb ability to absorb information and to ask the right questions." p. 443.
Sorenson: "...that the Budget represented not a bureaucratic grab but loans to farmers and small businessmen, aid to education and conservation, urban renewal and area redevelopment." p. 472.
Sorenson: "We tried every possible way to make a dull economics speech interesting...used charts beside his desk...cited real-life human interest examples of individuals helped by his programs." p. 479.
Sorenson: "The challenge was clear, the answer was not." p. 489.
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