Presdiential Quote (16 of 16): Grover Cleveland (again..........)

Well, we couldn't resist............


Due to time constraints and our hopes to post another entry later in the day/evening/night, we are cutting to the chase with a quote from Grover Cleveland, the only president to hold two terms non-consecutively:

"Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters."

Presidential Quotes (15 of 16): Benjamin Harrison

Today, we quote Benjamin Harrison, a Republican from Indiana, who was president from 1889-1893, who, judging from this quote, sounds like the Ron Paul of his day, and he likely would have had issues with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.):

"We Americans have no commission from God to police the world."

Presidential Quotes (14 of 16): Grover Cleveland

Today, we quote president Grover Cleveland, who is the only president to serve two non-consecutively. Cleveland was thus both the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, so we will actually quote him twice. Cleveland, whose first term in office was from 1885-1889, was the only Democratic president from 1861-1913.

As it turns out, the city of Cleveland, Ohio was not named for Grover Cleveland but a general named Moses Cleaveland. There are Grover Cleveland High Schools in New York, Buffalo and Reseda, Calif.

Here is his quote:

"The United States is not a nation to which peace is a necessity."

http://www.millercenter.org/president/cleveland

Presidential Quotes (13 of 16): Chester Arthur, the Man from Vermont

Greetings to our blog readers in Serbia, Poland and Kazakhstan.

We are pretty sure this series of quotes from early American presidents will get considerably fewer hits than if we were to quote American serial killers, such as Charles Manson, who at age 79 has actually outlived our subject of the day, President Chester Arthur (1829-1886).

Or we could quip gangster John Dellinger who said: "I rob banks for a living, what do you do?" But, we'll stick with this one-term president.

Arthur was America's 21st president, and ironically, given that he was a Republican, he is one of only two presidents from Vermont, America's most progressive state today. President Calvin Coolidge, also a Republican, hailed from the same New England state.

Here is our quote: "I may be the president of the United States, but my private life is nobody's business." (I believe we've used this one before, but it's a gem!)...

http://www.millercenter.org/president/Arthur

http://www.visit-vermont.com

Presidential Quotes (12 of 16): James A Garfield

Today, we quote president James A. Garfield (1831-1881), who was president for a mere six months before being assassinated by a very troubled Charles J. Guiteau, who was executed by hanging for his crime though there was evidence of him being insane.

Here is our quote from Garfield, who was a Republican: "A brave man is a who dares to look the Devil in the face and tell him he is the Devil."

SIDEBAR: Today was a major day on Capitol Hill. No, there was no meaningful legislation passed, but three members of the House of Representatives announced they would retire and/or not seek re-election.

The first is Cong. Frank Wolf (R-Va), a man the blogger got to know when reporting for a newspaper in Woodstock, Va., which was then in Wolf's 10th district (it is now in Cong. Bob Goodlatte's sixth district). Wolf was one of the main champions of human rights on the Hill, and he even traveled to troubled countries, such as Sudan (and what is now South Sudan), to report on mass atrocities. Today, one of the people who praised Wolf was former Cong. Tom Perriello (D-VA), now a progressive activist, for Wolf's role in recognizing human rights.

Cong. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), who was arguably the most conservative Democrat in the House, which is understandable given that his district was very ultra-conservative. Matheson won his much- publicized last election over Mia Love, who is a rare African-American female Republican. Like Matheson, Love is a practicing Mormon, though she converted into the faith.

Late in the day, Cong. Tom Latham (R-Iowa), one of House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) main allies in the House also announced he was stepping down.

http://www.millercenter.org/president/garfield

http://www.thehill.com

http://www.rollcall.com

Presidential Quotes (11 of 16): Rutherford B. Hayes, a Forgotten Man

If one takes the Mental Floss "Name All 43 Presidents Quiz," we have a feeling Rutherford B. Hayes, a one-term Republican president from Delaware, Ohio, might be one of the half-dozen a person would forget.

Hayes (1822-93; president from 1877-1881), did have a better fate than his successor, President James Garfield, who was the second of four American presidents to be assasinated.

Here is a quote from Hayes, which those of us who are capital punishment opponents can identify with:

"One of the tests of the civilization of people is the treatment of its criminals."

http://www.miller.org/president/hayes

http://www.vadp.org (Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty)*

Both the Miller Center and the VADP are based in Charlottesville, Va.

http://www.mentalfloss.com

Presidential Quotes (9 of 16): The Man who Followed Honest Abe

Greetings to our blog readers in Brazil, the Czech Republic and Thailand.

We're not sure how well a quote from Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United State, will do overseas, but unlike our entries on Turkish soccer* and women's college volleyball, we can assume someone reading this entry in the year 2024 will find that this entry will not be dated.

Here is Andrew Johnson's quote, a man who became president after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre, which will follow with a link from the Miller Center in Charlottesville, Va.:

"If I am shot at, I want no man to be in the way of the bullet."

http://www.millercetner.org/president/johnson

*- Kudos to Istanbul powerhouse GalataSaray for upsetting Juventus 1-0 today in Turin, Italy, a city which saw some snowfall today, and congrats, to Fethiyespor, a lower level Turkish team, which pulled 'an upset of the century' by beating another Istanbul powerhouse Fenerbahce 2-1 in Turkish Cup play two weeks ago. As I jokingly tweeted, my dream UEFA final in the year 2020 would be between Fethiyespor and Barcelona. Hopefully, Lionel Messi will be retired by then.

Quote of the Day: Abraham Lincoln

Yes, we have come to the 16th President Abraham Lincoln, who is one of the four Mount Rushmore presidents in South Dakota. Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, where Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth is both a museum and a working stage company. They are currently producing their annual staging of the Charles Dickens classic "A Christmas Carol."

Here is quote from Lincoln, whom actor Daniel Day Lewis won an Oscar for in the film "Lincoln," which was filmed partially in Petersburg, Va. (near Richmond):

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."

http://www.fordstheatre.org

Presidential Quotes (7 of 16): James Buchanan

Today, we quote James Buchanan (1791-1868), a Democrat who was the 15th president of the United States. He is surprisingly the only person from Pennsylvania, one of America's most populous states, to be elected to the presidency though ultra-conservative former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania tried to win the Republican nomination, that went to Mitt Romney, in the last election cycle.

Buchanan was also the only life-long bachelor to occupy the White House. He actually won a three-way race for the president over former prez Millard Fillmore and John C. Fremont, who was the first U.S. Senator from California.

Of course, the president after Buchanan was Abraham Lincoln.........but, here is the quote from Buchanan:

"The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among free men."

Presidential Quotes (6 of 16): Franklin Pierce, the Only President from New Hampshire

Greetings to our blog-readers in Canada, The Bahamas and Peru.

When one plays the "Name All the Presidents" trivia game on the web site for "Mental Floss" magazine, President Franklin Pierce, the 14th president and the only to hail from the Granite State, New Hampshire, may be one of the names one is most likely to forget.

But, Pierce, who served in office from 1853-57, was able to overcome the tea party radicals of his day, and defeat the conservative Whig Party candidate Winfield Scott by a 50-44 margin. Pierce's veep was William King, from Alabama, who alas died of tuberculosis a mere 45 days after becoming vice president.

Here is his quote: "Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion."

http://www.millercenter.org/presidents/pierce

http://www.mentalfloss.com

http://www.visitnh.org

Presidential Quotes (5 of 16): Millard Fillmore...........not the duck

Greetings to our blog-readers in Dubai, France and Norway, where the English soccer team Tottenham Hotspur traveled all the way to Tromso, a city inside the Arctic Circle, in which the visitors prevailed 2-0.

Though he may not be a household name in France or even here in les etas unis, President Millard Fillmore was the fourth and final Whig Party member and the 13th man to rise to the presidency. In Fillmore's case, it was not an election but the death of President Zachary Taylor which allowed him the presidency. Fillmore was later on a 1938 postage stamp, and his time in office lasted from 1850-53. He was also a political conservative.

This brings us to Mallard Fillmore, a right-wing cartoon duck whom we must admit is quite amusing even though we prefer the progressive politics of comic strips like "Doonesbury" and "Knight Life" (by the ever-kewl Keith Knight), which is the brainchild of Bruce Tinsley.

"Mallard Fillmore" first became syndicated in 1994, and Tinsley got his start as a political cartoonist for "The Daily Progress" newspaper in Charlottesville, Va., which is ironically the most progressive zip code in Virginia.

Stephen Colbert made fun of Mallard Fillmore in 2006 saying that the duck was to right-wing media as Garfield was to lasagna.

Here is Pres. Millard Fillmore's quote: "It is not strange to mistake change for progress."


http://www.millercenter.org/president/fillmore

http://www.millardfillmore.org

http://www.mallardfillmore.com

Presidential Quotes (4 of 12): Zachary Taylor

Greetings to those of you in Poland, Mexico and Japan.

Our quote today is from Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), the 12th president of the United States who was one of four American presidents from the Whig Party and one of four American presidents to have the dubious distinction of dying in office from natural causes.

Taylor was born near Charlottesville, Va., and he apparently had little formal education. He was replaced by his veep Millard Fillmore.

Here is Taylor's quote:

"It would be judicious to act with magnanimity towards a prostrate foe."

Yeah, one does not hear the word magnanimity much today!

http://www.millercenter.org/president/taylor

Presidential Quotes (3 of 16): James K. Polk, a President with a Song About Him

Today, we are quoting America's 11th president James K. Polk (1795-1849), a Democrat who was born in our former state of residence North Carolina but was a resident of Tennessee when he won the presidency in 1845.

Alas, he died just three months after leaving his one term in office of natural causes, but more interested in him in more recent years has been generated by the song "James K. Polk," (1996) from the New York-based band They Might Be Giants. The song was on the band's record "Factory Showroom." The band is playing this weekend in Berlin, Germany.

Here is our quote from Polk:

"The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our government."

http://www.theymightbegiants.com

Presidential Quotes (2 of 16): John Tyler

Greetings to our blog readers in Baltimore, San Francisco and Denver here in America, and to those of you in India, Turkey and Germany. I'm not sure this quote from John Tyler, America's tenth president will be of universal interest, but we can hope that it is.

This quote below is actually making me reconsider getting a latte at Starbucks, though the coffee chain is one of our favorite commercial entities. Amazingly enough, there are even Starbucks locations in small towns like Front Royal, Va., and Gaffney, SC.

There is also a John Tyler High School in Tyler, Texas.

Here is his quote:

"Wealth can only be obtained by earnings of industry and the savings of frugality."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johntyler

http://www.starbucks.com

Presidential Quotes (1 of 16): William Henry Harrison

Greetings to our blog-readers in Moldova (?!), Slovenia and Portugal.

Yes, we have many unique and interesting ideas which are perhaps more exciting than quoting American presidents from waaaay back in the day, but if we quoted the late, great English playwright Harold Pinter, people might well still ignore us.

We are kicking off this series today because it is the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Tex., presumably by Lee Harvey Oswald (though Oliver Stone begs to differ) he was the last of eight American presidents to die in office. Four died of assassinations, including William McKinley, whom we will quote on our sister blog http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com and four died of natural causes.

We begin with William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, who was the first one to die in office and it was from natural causes. In fact, Harrison was only in office for one month before his death. 

Previously, we have quoted the first eight and last American presidents, so now we are filling in the gaps.

Here is the quote from Harrison, who hailed from Charles City, Virginia:

"I contend  that the strongest of all governments is that which is most free."

PS- Though we have discontinued the practice of using quotes from our favorite Sunday comic strips, this line from "Judge Parker" that we saw in "The Washington Post" got our attention: "Call your man in Niger and tell him we're going to pay the ransom."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williamhenryharrison

Presidential Quotes (8 of 8): John Quincy Adams

We finally wrap up our quotes from American presidents with an ironic quip from John Quincy Adams, the sixth American president. JQA was also the son of John Adams, America's second president.

Here it is:

"America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy."

He might thus favor the controversial foreign policy stand of America not taking excessive military action in Syria.

With that, we want to congratulate France and Uruguay for reaching the FIFA Under-20 World Cup final is Istanbul, Turkey, on Saturday, and Iraq and Ghana for their out-standing runs during the championship.

You can always learn more about JQA by reading "Mental Floss" magazine, or at least checking out their web site: http://www.mentalfloss.com

SIDEBAR: Our favorite tweet of the night is from Jake Fogelnest, a writer/comedian: "Please don't retweet my tweets. A lot of people that follow you are real dummies and I have to hear from them. Thank you."

http://www.jakeofgelnest.com

Presidential Quotes (6 of 8)_ James Monroe

Greetings to our blog readers in Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan. Since this is the Ramadan holiday for practicing Muslims, I wanted to say Ramadan Mubarak to those in the Arab world, and Ramadan Bayraminiz Kultu Olusn for those in Turkey.

Today, we quote James Monroe, America's fifth president and one of Virginia's most distinguished native sons. There is a high school which bears his name in Fredericksburg, Va.

Here is his quote:

"The best form of government is that which is mostly likely to prevent the great sum of evil."

http://www.visitfred.com/