“I believe the most important decision taken anywhere by anyone in the 20th century was the decision about where to locate the Princeton Graduate College. President of the University Thomas Woodrow Wilson wanted it down on the campus, integrated with the undergraduate college. His nemesis, Dean Andrew Fleming West, wanted it where it now is, up on a little hill overlooking the Princeton golf course. President Woodrow Wilson had one of his characteristic snits, resigned as president, went into politics and ruined the 20th century.”

—  George Will

Remarks at the Disinvitation Dinner http://www.buckleyprogram.com/#!Transcript-of-George-Wills-Remarks-at-the-Disinvitation-Dinner/c18lp/i8sxengw20, William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale (15 April 2015). Of his quip, Will remarked, "I simplify a bit and exaggerate somewhat."
2010s

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I believe the most important decision taken anywhere by anyone in the 20th century was the decision about where to loca…" by George Will?
George Will photo
George Will 28
American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author 1941

Related quotes

Allen C. Guelzo photo
Thomas R. Marshall photo

“An unfriendly fairy godmother presented him with a keen sense of humor. Nothing is more fatal in politics. --Colonel Edward M. House, adviser to President Woodrow Wilson.”

Thomas R. Marshall (1854–1925) American politician who served as the 28th Vice President of the United States

Charles M. Thomas, Thomas Riley Marshall, Hoosier Statesman (Oxford, OH:1939), p. 153.

Noam Chomsky photo

“As early as World War I, American historians offered themselves to President Woodrow Wilson to carry out a task they called "historical engineering," by which they meant designing the facts of history so that they would serve state policy.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

Quotes 1960s-1980s, 1980s
Source: Wendy McElroy, ‎Carl Watner (1987) The Voluntaryist, Nr. 23-41 (1987), p. 120; Republished in: " Propaganda Review, 1987 http://www.zpub.com/un/chomsky.html," at zpub.com, accessed May 23, 2014.
Context: Pointing to the massive amounts of propaganda spewed by government and institutions around the world, observers have called our era the age of Orwell. But the fact is that Orwell was a latecomer on the scene. As early as World War I, American historians offered themselves to President Woodrow Wilson to carry out a task they called "historical engineering," by which they meant designing the facts of history so that they would serve state policy. In this instance, the U. S. government wanted to silence opposition to the war. This represents a version of Orwell's 1984, even before Orwell was writing.

Calvin Coolidge photo

“Doesn't Joe Wilson owe the President and American an apology for his deception and his own intelligence failure?”

Jeff Gannon (1957) American journalist

March 15, 2004
Questions asked at Press Conferences

Alberto Gonzales photo

“President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale.”

Alberto Gonzales (1955) 80th United States Attorney General

2006-02-06 Senate Judiciary Committee testimony http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/06/AR2006020600931.html.

Michael Ignatieff photo
Benjamin H. Freedman photo

“Who knew it? President Wilson knew it. Colonel House knew it. Other's knew it. Did I know it? I had a pretty good idea of what was going on: I was liaison to Henry Morgenthau, Sr., in the 1912 campaign when President Wilson was elected, and there was talk around the office there.”

Benjamin H. Freedman (1890–1984) American businessman

His opinion that there was a secret deal that resulted in the US entering the First World War on the side of the English.
Willard Hotel speech (1961)

Serzh Sargsyan photo

“Perfidy and brutal force thwarted opportunities for calling President Wilson’s Arbitral Award to life. Nevertheless, its significance is not to be underestimated: through that decision the aspiration of the Armenian people for the lost Motherland had obtained vital and legal force.”

Serzh Sargsyan (1954) Armenian politician, 3rd President of Armenia

Address of President Serzh Sargsyan to the Conference dedicated to the 90th Anniversary of Woodrow Wilson’s Arbitral Award http://www.president.am/events/news/eng/?pn=14&id=1316 (November 23, 2010)

Related topics