George Aiken Quotes

George David Aiken was an American politician and horticulturist. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 64th Governor of Vermont before serving in the United States Senate for 34 years, from 1941 to 1975. At the time of his retirement, he was the senior member of the Senate.

As Governor, Aiken battled the New Deal over its programs for hydroelectric power and flood control in Vermont. As a Northeastern Republican in the Senate, he was one of four Republican cosponsors of the Full Employment Act of 1946. Aiken sponsored the food allotment bill of 1945, which was a forerunner of the food stamp program. He promoted federal aid to education, and sought to establish a minimum wage of 65 cents in 1947. Aiken was an isolationist in 1941 but supported the Truman Doctrine in 1947 and the Marshall Plan in 1948.

In the 1960s and 1970s, he steered a middle course on the Vietnam War, opposing Lyndon Johnson's escalation and supporting Richard Nixon's slow withdrawal policies. Aiken was a strong supporter of the small farmer. As acting chairman of the Senate agriculture committee in 1947, he opposed high rigid price supports. He had to compromise, however, and the Hope-Aiken act of 1948 introduced a sliding scale of price supports. In 1950, Aiken was one of seven Republican senators who denounced in writing the tactics of Senator Joseph McCarthy, warning against those who sought "victory through the selfish political exploitation of fear, bigotry, ignorance and intolerance."



Wikipedia  

✵ 20. August 1892 – 19. November 1984
George Aiken photo
George Aiken: 2   quotes 0   likes

George Aiken Quotes

“Today the Republican Party attracts neither the farmer nor the industrial worker. Why not? To represent the people one must know them. Lincoln did. The Republican Party leadership does not. The greatest praise I can give Lincoln on this his anniversary is to say he would be ashamed of his party's leadership today.”

1938 radio broadcast from New York City marking Abraham Lincoln's birthday, quoted in Vermont Today, Vermont's Great Moments of the 20th Century http://www.vermonttoday.com/century/topstories/gaiken.htm

“Let's Declare Victory and Get Out!”

Attributed to Aiken. See Let's Declare Victory and Get Out!': Vermont Senator George D. Aiken and the Vietnam War https://archive.org/details/Let_s_Declare_Victory_and_Get_Out_-_Vermont_Senator_George_D._Aiken_and_the_Vietnam_War

Similar authors

Les Brown photo
Les Brown 24
American politician
Pietro Mennea photo
Pietro Mennea 1
Italian sprinter and politician
Arnold Schwarzenegger photo
Arnold Schwarzenegger 52
actor, businessman and politician of Austrian-American heri…
Bertil Ohlin photo
Bertil Ohlin 11
Swedish economist and politician
Salvador Allende photo
Salvador Allende 16
Chilean physician and politician
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva photo
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva 10
Brazilian politician, 35th president of Brazil
Mario Vargas Llosa photo
Mario Vargas Llosa 30
Peruvian writer, politician, journalist, and essayist
H.L. Mencken photo
H.L. Mencken 281
American journalist and writer
Margaret Thatcher photo
Margaret Thatcher 348
British stateswoman and politician
Antonio Gramsci photo
Antonio Gramsci 22
Italian writer, politician, theorist, sociologist and lingu…