Lyndon Johnson cytaty (164 cytatów, strona 4)

Lyndon Johnson: 164 Cytaty 1 Polubienie

Lyndon Johnson słynne cytaty

„Polityk nigdy nie powinien mówić „nigdy.””

Lyndon Johnson

„Powoli posuwam się w górę jej ud. Dotrę do cipki nim się połapią.”

Lyndon Johnson

w 1967, na naradzie z dowódcami wojskowymi, nakazując taktykę nasilania bombardowań Północnego Wietnamu.
Źródło: National Archives and Records Administration, cyt. za: Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States (2012), tłum. Anna Rajca, Mirosław Filipowicz, odcinek 7

„Nie zamierzam siedzieć w bujanym fotelu z założonymi rękoma i patrzeć, jak komuniści ustanawiają kolejny rząd na zachodniej półkuli.”

Lyndon Johnson

uzasadnienie interwencji zbrojnej i obalenia liberalnego rządu w Dominikanie, który de facto nie miał z komunizmem nic wspólnego.

„Jak następnym razem będziesz chciał tamy w Idaho, też idź do Lippmana.”

Lyndon Johnson

do senatora Franka Churcha z Idaho, kiedy ten powiedział mu, iż przed wygłoszeniem przemówienia krytykującego politykę rządu w Wietnamie radził się znanego komentatora Waltera Lippmana (aluzja polega na tym, iż to prezydent sprawuje kontrolę nad funduszami energetycznymi, więc lepiej „nie załazić mu za skórę”).

„Możemy też dojść jeszcze stopień wyżej i stworzyć Wielkie Społeczeństwo.”

Lyndon Johnson

podczas przemówienia na uniwersytecie stanu Michigan, gdzie przedstawił swój słynny program reform społecznych i gospodarczych.

„Postawcie się na moim miejscu – prezydenta Stanów Zjednoczonych – pięciu partaczy przychodzi do was i namawia do III wojny światowej. Ryzyko jest za duże. Pomyśleliście o reakcji Chin? Zapaskudziliście mój gabinet! Wynocha!”

Lyndon Johnson

w 1967, podczas narady z dowódcami wojskowymi, którzy zaproponowali przeprowadzenie ataku jądrowego na Północny Wietnam.
Źródło: National Archives and Records Administration, cyt. za: Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States (2012), tłum. Anna Rajca, Mirosław Filipowicz, odcinek 7

Lyndon Johnson cytaty

„Niech pan posłucha. Mam gdzieś pański parlament i konstytucję. Ameryka jest słoniem, a Cypr i Grecja pchłami. Jeśli będą gryźć, słoń walnie ich trąbą. Dajemy Grekom dużo dobrych amerykańskich dolarów, panie ambasadorze. Jeśli wasz premier zacznie gadkę o demokracji, jego parlament i konstytucja mogą mieć krótki żywot.”

Lyndon Johnson

w 1964 do ambasadora Grecji, gdy na premiera Grecji wybrano zwolennika liberalnej demokracji Jeorjosa Papandreu.
Źródło: National Archives and Records Administration, cyt. za: Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States (2012), tłum. Anna Rajca, Mirosław Filipowicz, odcinek 7

O demokracji

„L. B. J., ile dzieci dziś zabiłeś?”

Lyndon Johnson

popularne hasło skandowane w trakcie masowych demonstracji antywojennych w Waszyngtonie.
Źródło: Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States (2012), tłum. Anna Rajca, Mirosław Filipowicz, odcinek 7

O dzieciach

„Czynienie tego, co słuszne, nie jest trudne, trudne jest stwierdzenie, co jest słuszne.”

Lyndon Johnson

„Męczyła mnie myśl, że plan Wielkiego Społeczeństwa poniósł fiasko, ale jeszcze bardziej, że przegraliśmy wojnę z komunistami. To było najgorsze ze wszystkiego.”

Lyndon Johnson

fragment wywiadu udzielonego kilka lat po zakończeniu prezydentury.
Źródło: Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States (2012), tłum. Anna Rajca, Mirosław Filipowicz, odcinek 7

O myślach , O myśleniu

„Gerry Ford to taki tuman, który nie potrafi jednocześnie żuć gumy i puścić bąka.”

Lyndon Johnson

prywatna opinia o ówczesnym przywódcy mniejszości republikańskiej w Izbie Reprezentantów i późniejszym prezydencie Geraldzie Fordzie.
Źródło: National Archives and Records Administration, cyt. za: Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States (2012), tłum. Anna Rajca, Mirosław Filipowicz, odcinek 7

Lyndon Johnson: Cytaty po angielsku

“Let us close the springs of racial poison. Let us pray for wise and understanding hearts. Let us lay aside irrelevant differences and make our Nation whole.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, Civil Rights Bill signing speech (1964)

“To these trusted public servants and to my family and those close friends of mine who have followed me down a long, winding road, and to all the people of this Union and the world, I will repeat today what I said on that sorrowful day in November 1963: "I will lead and I will do the best I can." But you must look within your own hearts to the old promises and to the old dream. They will lead you best of all.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, Inaugural address (1965)

“Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes … No law that we now have on the books …can insure the right to vote when local officials are determined to deny it.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, The American Promise (1965)

“We do not want an expanding struggle with consequences, that no one can perceive, nor will we bluster or bully or flaunt our power, but we will not surrender and we will not retreat, for behind our American pledge lies the determination and resources, I believe, of all of the American nation.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

News Conference (28 July 1965) http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=27116.
1960s

“Tonight Vietnam must hold the center of our attention, but across the world problems and opportunities crowd in on the American Nation. I will discuss them fully in the months to come, and I will follow the five continuing lines of policy that America has followed under its last four Presidents. The first principle is strength. Tonight I can tell you that we are strong enough to keep all of our commitments. We will need expenditures of $58.3 billion for the next fiscal year to maintain this necessary defense might. While special Vietnam expenditures for the next fiscal year are estimated to increase by $5.8 billion, I can tell you that all the other expenditures put together in the entire federal budget will rise this coming year by only $0.6 billion. This is true because of the stringent cost-conscious economy program inaugurated in the Defense Department, and followed by the other departments of government. A second principle of policy is the effort to control, and to reduce, and to ultimately eliminate the modern engines of destruction. We will vigorously pursue existing proposals—and seek new ones—to control arms and to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. A third major principle of our foreign policy is to help build those associations of nations which reflect the opportunities and the necessities of the modern world. By strengthening the common defense, by stimulating world commerce, by meeting new hopes, these associations serve the cause of a flourishing world. We will take new steps this year to help strengthen the Alliance for Progress, the unity of Europe, the community of the Atlantic, the regional organizations of developing continents, and that supreme association—the United Nations. We will work to strengthen economic cooperation, to reduce barriers to trade, and to improve international finance.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, State of the Union Address (1966)

“I will propose a Highway Safety Act of 1966 to seek an end to this mounting tragedy. We must also act to prevent the deception of the American consumer—requiring all packages to state clearly and truthfully their contents—all interest and credit charges to be fully revealed—and keeping harmful drugs and cosmetics away from our stores. It is the genius of our Constitution that under its shelter of enduring institutions and rooted principles there is ample room for the rich fertility of American political invention. We must change to master change. I propose to take steps to modernize and streamline the executive branch, to modernize the relations between city and state and nation. A new Department of Transportation is needed to bring together our transportation activities. The present structure—35 government agencies, spending $5 billion yearly—makes it almost impossible to serve either the growing demands of this great nation or the needs of the industry, or the right of the taxpayer to full efficiency and real frugality. I will propose in addition a program to construct and to flight-test a new supersonic transport airplane that will fly three times the speed of sound—in excess of 2,000 miles per hour. I propose to examine our federal system-the relation between city, state, nation, and the citizens themselves. We need a commission of the most distinguished scholars and men of public affairs to do this job. I will ask them to move on to develop a creative federalism to best use the wonderful diversity of our institutions and our people to solve the problems and to fulfill the dreams of the American people. As the process of election becomes more complex and more costly, we must make it possible for those without personal wealth to enter public life without being obligated to a few large contributors. Therefore, I will submit legislation to revise the present unrealistic restriction on contributions—to prohibit the endless proliferation of committees, bringing local and state committees under the act—to attach strong teeth and severe penalties to the requirement of full disclosure of contributions—and to broaden the participation of the people, through added tax incentives, to stimulate small contributions to the party and to the candidate of their choice.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, State of the Union Address (1966)

“Let me frankly state that I see two great difficulties with this proposal. In view of your public position, such action on our part would inevitably produce worldwide speculation that discussions were under way and would impair the privacy and secrecy of those discussions. Secondly, there would inevitably be grave concern on our part whether your government would make use of such action by us to improve its military position.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, Letter to Ho Chi Minh (1967)

“We have carried our quest for peace to many nations and peoples because we share this planet with others whose future, in large measure, is tied to our own action, and whose counsel is necessary to our own hopes. We have found understanding and support. And we know they wait with us tonight for some response that could lead to peace. I wish tonight that I could give you a blueprint for the course of this conflict over the coming months, but we just cannot know what the future may require. We may have to face long, hard combat or a long, hard conference, or even both at once. Until peace comes, or if it does not come, our course is clear. We will act as we must to help protect the independence of the valiant people of South Vietnam. We will strive to limit the conflict, for we wish neither increased destruction nor do we want to invite increased danger. But we will give our fighting men what they must have: every gun, and every dollar, and every decision—whatever the cost or whatever the challenge. And we will continue to help the people of South Vietnam care for those that are ravaged by battle, create progress in the villages, and carry forward the healing hopes of peace as best they can amidst the uncertain terrors of war. And let me be absolutely clear: The days may become months, and the months may become years, but we will stay as long as aggression commands us to battle. There may be some who do not want peace, whose ambitions stretch so far that war in Vietnam is but a welcome and convenient episode in an immense design to subdue history to their will. But for others it must now be clear—the choice is not between peace and victory, it lies between peace and the ravages of a conflict from which they can only lose.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, State of the Union Address (1966)

“I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

As quoted in "What a Real President Was Like: To Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society Meant Hope and Dignity" http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/doc/307079109.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+13%2C+1988&author=Moyers%2C+Bill+D&desc=What+a+Real+President+Was+Like%3B+To+Lyndon+Johnson%2C+the+Great+Society+Meant+Hope+and+Dignity, by Bill Moyers, The Washington Post (13 November 1988).
Attributed

“Americans of every race and color have died in battle to protect our freedom. Americans of every race and color have worked to build a nation of widening opportunities. Now our generation of Americans has been called on to continue the unending search for justice within our own borders. We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment. We believe that all men have certain unalienable rights. Yet many Americans do not enjoy those rights. We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions are being deprived of those blessings — not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin. The reasons are deeply imbedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. We can understand — without rancor or hatred — how this all happened. But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid it. Morality forbids it. And the law I will sign tonight forbids it.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, Civil Rights Bill signing speech (1964)

“A people divided over the right to vote can never build a Nation united.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, Special message to Congress on the right to vote (1965)

“We cannot have government for all the people until we first make certain it is government of and by all the people.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, Special message to Congress on the right to vote (1965)

“In Selma as elsewhere we seek and pray for peace. We seek order. We seek unity. But we will not accept the peace of stifled rights, or the order imposed by fear, or the unity that stifles protest. For peace cannot be purchased at the cost of liberty.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, The American Promise (1965)

“This year we must continue to improve the quality of American life. Let us fulfill and improve the great health and education programs of last year, extending special opportunities to those who risk their lives in our armed forces. I urge the House of Representatives to complete action on three programs already passed by the Senate—the Teacher Corps, rent assistance, and home rule for the District of Columbia. In some of our urban areas we must help rebuild entire sections and neighborhoods containing, in some cases, as many as 100,000 people. Working together, private enterprise and government must press forward with the task of providing homes and shops, parks and hospitals, and all the other necessary parts of a flourishing community where our people can come to live the good life. I will offer other proposals to stimulate and to reward planning for the growth of entire metropolitan areas. Of all the reckless devastations of our national heritage, none is really more shameful than the continued poisoning of our rivers and our air. We must undertake a cooperative effort to end pollution in several river basins, making additional funds available to help draw the plans and construct the plants that are necessary to make the waters of our entire river systems clean, and make them a source of pleasure and beauty for all of our people. To attack and to overcome growing crime and lawlessness, I think we must have a stepped-up program to help modernize and strengthen our local police forces. Our people have a right to feel secure in their homes and on their streets—and that right just must be secured. Nor can we fail to arrest the destruction of life and property on our highways.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, State of the Union Address (1966)

“The people of Vietnam, north and south, seek the same things, the shared needs of man, the needs for food and shelter and education—the chance to build and work and till the soil, free from the arbitrary horrors of battle, the desire to walk in the dignity of those who master their own destiny. For many painful years, in war and revolution and infrequent peace, they have struggled to fulfill those needs. It is a crime against mankind that so much courage, and so much will, and so many dreams, must be flung on the fires of war and death. To all of those caught up in this conflict we therefore say again tonight, 'Let us choose peace, and with it the wondrous works of peace, and beyond that, the time when hope reaches toward consummation, and life is the servant of life'. In this work, we plan to discharge our duty to the people whom we serve. This is the State of the Union. But over it all—wealth, and promise, and expectation—lies our troubling awareness of American men at war tonight.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

1960s, State of the Union Address (1966)

“The challenge of the next half century is whether we have the wisdom to use that wealth to enrich and elevate our national life, and to advance the quality of our American civilization….
The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning.
The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect, not a feared cause of boredom and restlessness. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community.
It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place which honors creation for its own sake and for what it adds to the understanding of the race. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods.
But most of all, the Great Society is not a safe harbor, a resting place, a final objective, a finished work. It is a challenge constantly renewed, beckoning us toward a destiny where the meaning of our lives matches the marvelous products of our labor.”

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Lyndon B. Johnson

Remarks at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (May 22, 1964). Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963–64, book 1, p. 704.
1960s