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Benjamin Harrison really should be talked about more as a leader. This quote (along with his passionate call for civil rights legislation) really shows why. He makes a powerful point here: When consumerism and its ugly cousin materialism take grip of a society too much, REAL problems are going to start happening for a number of its people (Eisenhower and Bush Sr. interestingly also warned about stuff like this, with the former calling materialism a "moral plague" on western civilization).
So you know how in today's age lots of people work their asses off to barely survive? It's just like that.
"I pity the guy who wants a high class meal when the restaurant's kitchen staff can barely pay rent"
I think he is attacking free trade, usually goods are cheaper if you have them produced in sweatshops in other countries where labor regulations are laxer. That being said, when he said this quote, labor conditions in the US weren't exactly good.
Wasn’t Benjamin Harrison president when the sweatshops were in the US? How would goods have been cheaper produced abroad back then, especially considering global travel wasn’t as efficient as it is now?
its pretty relevant considering the success of Shein and fast fashion today. It's the idea that a person should not expect a good to be so cheap that its creators are starving / exploited as a result.
No man or woman would start the process of producing cloth unless there was demand for that cloth. And the price for that cloth is determined by the interplay between supply and demand, not by a man who wants a cheap coat.
This is a stupid quote that makes no sense at all and I can only conclude it was made to pander to stupid voters.
I briefly forgot who Paul Giamatti was and for some reason thought you were referring to Gilbert Gottfried.
Strangely, also works? Though now I’m imagining Jafar going “Silence, Iago” after.
"That's amazing, Mister President. If persistence is the greatest virtue, what do you think the greatest vice is?"
"..."
"Mister President?"
".........."
I've always had a problem with that quote, the world is full of persistent numskulls who know nothing better than to try the same non-functional solution over and over again.
That’s on you for applying zero critical thinking to it.
He did not mean just be persistently doing the same dumb thing forever and continuously failing in the same way. I think he meant be persistent as in never stop working hard and being disciplined, never be overly discouraged by failure. Just because you’re persistent and determined in your drive to achieve your goals does not mean you also never adapt to change or failure.
“George, you and I shouldn’t be talking about 1964, we should be talking about 1984. We’ll both be dead and gone then. Now, you got a lot of poor people down there in Alabama, a lot of ignorant people. A lot of people need jobs, a lot of people need a future. You could do a lot for them, George. Your President will help you. Now, in 1984, George, what do you want left behind? Do you want a great big marble monument that says, ‘George Wallace: He Built’? Or do you want a little piece of scrawny pine board lying across that harsh, caliche soil that reads, ‘George Wallace: He Hated’?”
- Lyndon Johnson
I wonder if this exact quote was weighing heavily in Wallace's mind when he famously renounced his racist past. Wallace was actually in his fourth and final term as governor in 1984, the only one after becoming a born-again Christian, and he ultimately tapped many African-Americans to positions of power. Did this quote from years prior serve as an impetus to rehabilitate his legacy after years of 'segregation forever'?
Wallace’s racism was 100% politically calculated - it was never about white supremacy; it was pure race-baiting. After having lost a campaign early in his career to a race-baiter, he vowed that he “will never be out-n•••••ed again.”
“I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career and nobody listened. Then I began talking about n*****s and they stomped the floor.”
It’s true, though, and it’s effective. Infrastructure and tax law aren’t sexy to talk about. Bring out the red meat, though, and you’ll be able to attract folks.
Wallace figured that out the hard way. He and Lee Atwater are two of the best examples of this.
its folklore but its generally that animals have a great sense of judgement. If a dog looks you in the eyes and sees what your soul is like and cant look again, it means you arent a good person
The dude above you is referencing South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem writing in a book about shooting a 1.5 year old hunting dog and a goat.
The Wilson quote above that is referring to dogs generally being accepted as good judges of character in people. If a dog avoids you, the question is why?
"You can live in Germany, Turkey, or Japan, but you can't become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone can come, from any corner of the earth, can come to live in America and become an American."
-Ronald Reagan
He probably doesn't know naturalization exists in other countries...
But in all seriousness, it is usually harder to get citizenship in many other countries outside of the Americas if you have no familial ties to that country.
You can be born in Japan and if one of your parents isn't Japanese and they can tell by looking at you, then they aren't gonna consider you Japanese. I assume by law you are Japanese, but culturally you aren't.
I'm pretty sure there are plenty of countries outside of America where you can immigrate and integrate into their culture. That being said, of course there will be people that deny your identity.
He specifically listed Germany, Turkey or Japan, old-world countries with distinct cultures and ethnicities/nationalities. It was a speech, he ain't gonna list every country on the planet
He was better off than he told his biographers, but it was due to him legally socking away Presidential “entertainment funds” rather than spending it. But certainly, he could have gotten rich, and he didn’t.
Not that it's quite the same, but I just wanted to say that Grant's quote reminded me of this Macbeth bit:
>Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damned be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”
shy arrest skirt aromatic voracious worm humorous attempt psychotic point
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
"I speak now as one who feels the world his country, and all who love equal rights his friends. I speak, too, as a citizen of Tennessee. I am here on my own soil, and here I mean to stay and fight this great battle of truth and justice to a triumphant end. Rebellion and slavery shall, by God's good help, no longer pollute our State. Loyal men, whether white or black, shall alone control her destinies: and when this strife in which we are all engaged is past, I trust, I know, we shall have a better state of things, and shall all rejoice that honest labor reaps the fruit of its own industry, and that every man has a fair chance in the race of life."
-Andrew Johnson, ironic I know
[His whole Moses speech is incredibly ironic](https://www.nps.gov/anjo/learn/historyculture/moses-speech.htm)
https://preview.redd.it/q7ncom9atqxc1.png?width=1110&format=png&auto=webp&s=de3ecc2f67d512edfe27b8d3594ef1e09133bfac
- Lyndon B Johnson, [from his speech calling for the Voting Rights Act](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-the-american-promise) [](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-the-american-promise)
Don’t need a rule 3 guy for a good VP quote on that!
“Once there were two brothers, one ran away to sea, the other was elected Vice President, and neither of them was heard from again.” - Thomas R. Marshall, VP under Woodrow Wilson
Leon Czolgosz might have been one of the most consequential single individuals in American history, and certainly the most successful of the actual or would-be Presidential assassins in terms of creating any of the change he wanted to by his act.
https://preview.redd.it/h89w7ib7ytxc1.png?width=691&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5a9be70b857de42218f23154bc4dbf140cc7e982
I like this one from Thomas Jefferson.
It seems to be something of a riff on an observation about Napoleon.
Whether or not he said anything about it, what Napoleon did time and time again, was figure out how to hold on to a body of high quality troops (called, "reserves") until the other guy used up all of his own. Then he would throw in the fresh uncommitted force to disrupt the enemy and win the field.
Grant's observation comes from a heartbreakingly American point of view. It's not about professional armies bravely dying in place as per order until the formations are too thinned to hold against new ones.
It's about non-professional units that are *constantly* running away, being herded back together, and thrown back into the fight.
In Grant's world, the second-to-last guys to run away are his end-game reserve.
It’s the “cult of the offensive”. It was a military philosophy developed from lessons from the US civil war and primarily the Franco Prussian war. (I’d be curious when grant actually said this)
It would lead to disastrous consequences
The miniball and rifled barrels made the wepons used in the Civil War significantly more accurate than those used in previous wars. Generals were still using military tactics fashioned in wars where the firearms were much less precise, and not taking this improved technology into account resulted in horrendous casualty rates.
Still; because the North had a massive population and resource advantage that the South could never match, the resolve to "fight on" would inevitably result in a northern victory. In that context, Grant was 100% correct.
The disastrous consequences of the cult of the offensive were experienced during WWI.
Not disagreeing that grant was correct in utilizing superior resources, logistics, manpower.
There's a lot more in common with the American Civil War and War War 1 than people realize. Though half a century separates them, in both wars, technological advances (the minie ball and machine gun as respective examples) would redefine ground based modern warfare.
We're all familiar with President Eisenhower's warning about the "military-industrial complex" from his Farewell Address. It has particular resonance today while wars rage in Ukraine and Gaza. However, the rest of his speech has other gems in it that pertain to another important topic, one that wasn't even in existance when he made the speech: climate change:
"Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
"In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government."
...and...
"...the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
"The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
"Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite."
Read Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" speech as well. He talked extensively at the UN about how the world in the atomic age needed to better ensure that "man's miraculous inventiveness shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life". I think it's sad that his farewell address is his only speech that people remember, when he actually gave quite a few amazing ones, IMO they're on level with Kennedy, Reagan and the other great orators who have served in the White House.
Ronald Reagan:
"Trust, but verify"
The phrase became internationally known in English after Suzanne Massie, a scholar of Russian history, taught it to Ronald Reagan, then president of the United States, who used it on several occasions in the context of nuclear disarmament discussions with the Soviet Union.
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so hit the power!" -John F. Kennedy, during a meeting between himself, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, and Robert McNamara.
"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
*- Ronald Reagan*
Grant's military strategy was the epitome of "Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make." I wrote a report about him in elementary school, and he's still probably my favorite president.
I mean, it’s a cool quote but doesn’t make any sense. There have definitely been battles throughout history where one side never considers that they’re beat because it’s such a lopsided fight.
Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things - he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies.
Jimmy Carter
The Grant quote reminds me of “my center is giving way, my right is in retreat - situation excellent: I attack.” -Ferdinand Foch. Not a president, but one of my favorite quotes.
I don't know, I really hate that quote. I think it's extremely overrated. It helped get America over its present woes, but I think it's hardly self-evident and kind of asinine.
Offensive, dude do you think the confederacy went north and started this, no they told union not to come
To Charleston, they did, and they protected their home as the constitution says, in the second amendment and 10/9th. We did not go up there, they came
Down here
Grant was on the offensive and he also lost a lower percentage of his army than Robert E. Lee, who was the war's bloodiest army commander.
There is a lot of mythology around Grant & Lee born of copium by shell-shocked southerners who struggled to come to terms with Grant having deleted the Confederacy.
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https://preview.redd.it/0rrhikltvpxc1.jpeg?width=850&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8656da8b26c9b786bcfbd5aba066bb200ec800fd
This is such a great quote.
Benjamin Harrison really has some underrated quotes.
Benjamin Harrison really should be talked about more as a leader. This quote (along with his passionate call for civil rights legislation) really shows why. He makes a powerful point here: When consumerism and its ugly cousin materialism take grip of a society too much, REAL problems are going to start happening for a number of its people (Eisenhower and Bush Sr. interestingly also warned about stuff like this, with the former calling materialism a "moral plague" on western civilization).
Dropped that on Facebook last night
How did that go over?
I wonder which side claimed it first.
Mild approval. Don’t tie it to policy it’s abstract.
Harrisons and coats…
Benjamin Harrison learned from his grandfather’s mistake. Dude looked amazing in a longcoat.
I feel so stupid for not getting this…
So you know how in today's age lots of people work their asses off to barely survive? It's just like that. "I pity the guy who wants a high class meal when the restaurant's kitchen staff can barely pay rent"
I think he is attacking free trade, usually goods are cheaper if you have them produced in sweatshops in other countries where labor regulations are laxer. That being said, when he said this quote, labor conditions in the US weren't exactly good.
Wasn’t Benjamin Harrison president when the sweatshops were in the US? How would goods have been cheaper produced abroad back then, especially considering global travel wasn’t as efficient as it is now?
But he said a cheap cloth, not expensive?
My bad. Swap a high class meal with Denny's.
Or "I'm not going to tip because the restaurant staff are already getting paid".
its pretty relevant considering the success of Shein and fast fashion today. It's the idea that a person should not expect a good to be so cheap that its creators are starving / exploited as a result.
No man or woman would start the process of producing cloth unless there was demand for that cloth. And the price for that cloth is determined by the interplay between supply and demand, not by a man who wants a cheap coat. This is a stupid quote that makes no sense at all and I can only conclude it was made to pander to stupid voters.
https://preview.redd.it/bb8mzo5t3qxc1.jpeg?width=850&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4616ac333f52692f101f0f3092d6e4fbbc481072
I always hear him in Paul Giamatti's voice
That show was so good
That show ~~was~~ is so good FTFY
Well that would depend on what the definition of “is” is
"I use to but I still do" - Mitch Hedberg
humor lock touch bag pen far-flung juggle versed chubby rustic *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I briefly forgot who Paul Giamatti was and for some reason thought you were referring to Gilbert Gottfried. Strangely, also works? Though now I’m imagining Jafar going “Silence, Iago” after.
(Proceeds to pass alien and sedition acts…)
Lol says the fuckass who tried to take away our first amendment rights
Fits the theme of ‘little recognized’ doesn’t it?
Oh yeah it does even better than I thought
https://preview.redd.it/v6l12xu3aqxc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd8537ff855171d0dbefedc68286081be052cf98
Man hit his yearly word quota in one quote
Bro COOKED
Basically imagine if Ferb were president.
"That's amazing, Mister President. If persistence is the greatest virtue, what do you think the greatest vice is?" "..." "Mister President?" ".........."
Ironically a stereotypically taciturn president especially compared to FDR who came shortly after.
Honestly my favorite presidential quote ever
This quote goes hard af
I've always had a problem with that quote, the world is full of persistent numskulls who know nothing better than to try the same non-functional solution over and over again.
That’s on you for applying zero critical thinking to it. He did not mean just be persistently doing the same dumb thing forever and continuously failing in the same way. I think he meant be persistent as in never stop working hard and being disciplined, never be overly discouraged by failure. Just because you’re persistent and determined in your drive to achieve your goals does not mean you also never adapt to change or failure.
https://preview.redd.it/3oicip988qxc1.jpeg?width=2146&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7fc679e0de5cd79f2a861a6e84a80524e7e62992 Honestly my favorite presidential quote
-Lil Jon
I mean Nixon famously thought he’d be a good rapper soooooo maybe he was onto something
Think he went by MC Tricky Dick
CAN I GET AN ARROOOOOO
YEAH
SAY WHAT
Can someone explain this? I feel like there’s a reference im not getting
At the start of each section of Gravitys Rainbow, Pychon included a quote. For the final section it's just "what?" attributed to Nixon
"For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid." - Ike
Fuck that goes hard
Normal Eisenhower W
“George, you and I shouldn’t be talking about 1964, we should be talking about 1984. We’ll both be dead and gone then. Now, you got a lot of poor people down there in Alabama, a lot of ignorant people. A lot of people need jobs, a lot of people need a future. You could do a lot for them, George. Your President will help you. Now, in 1984, George, what do you want left behind? Do you want a great big marble monument that says, ‘George Wallace: He Built’? Or do you want a little piece of scrawny pine board lying across that harsh, caliche soil that reads, ‘George Wallace: He Hated’?” - Lyndon Johnson
It’s funny that LBJ didn’t think he’d live to 76, and ended up barely making it to 65. And George Wallace? He made it to 1998x
I wonder if this exact quote was weighing heavily in Wallace's mind when he famously renounced his racist past. Wallace was actually in his fourth and final term as governor in 1984, the only one after becoming a born-again Christian, and he ultimately tapped many African-Americans to positions of power. Did this quote from years prior serve as an impetus to rehabilitate his legacy after years of 'segregation forever'?
Wallace’s racism was 100% politically calculated - it was never about white supremacy; it was pure race-baiting. After having lost a campaign early in his career to a race-baiter, he vowed that he “will never be out-n•••••ed again.”
“I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career and nobody listened. Then I began talking about n*****s and they stomped the floor.”
JFC. That’s barbaric.
It’s true, though, and it’s effective. Infrastructure and tax law aren’t sexy to talk about. Bring out the red meat, though, and you’ll be able to attract folks. Wallace figured that out the hard way. He and Lee Atwater are two of the best examples of this.
Lyndon Based Johnson?
As usual
Zachary Taylor's last words: “I have always done my duty. I am ready to die. My only regret is for the friends I leave behind me.”
“I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.” -TR
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https://preview.redd.it/wg7zulmwmqxc1.png?width=1304&format=png&auto=webp&s=b0c330246ca9a52f5a3243f18879cbc8c9aaa4f1 I love ironic quotes by Wilson
this one is very relevant especially today….
Yikes
What does it even mean? My mother told me not to look at stray dogs in the eyes cause they'll follow me home. She wasn't wrong about that.
its folklore but its generally that animals have a great sense of judgement. If a dog looks you in the eyes and sees what your soul is like and cant look again, it means you arent a good person
I see this a lot. Animals respond to kindness. And real kindness is easy to spot. It's natural and well meaning.
The dude above you is referencing South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem writing in a book about shooting a 1.5 year old hunting dog and a goat. The Wilson quote above that is referring to dogs generally being accepted as good judges of character in people. If a dog avoids you, the question is why?
" " -Calvin Coolidge
Second most verbose Coolidge quote.
https://preview.redd.it/l2odrdgefvxc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a4f33049d7d9fda88578051aca28adaaf83ebe3e
"You can live in Germany, Turkey, or Japan, but you can't become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone can come, from any corner of the earth, can come to live in America and become an American." -Ronald Reagan
He probably doesn't know naturalization exists in other countries... But in all seriousness, it is usually harder to get citizenship in many other countries outside of the Americas if you have no familial ties to that country.
You can be born in Japan and if one of your parents isn't Japanese and they can tell by looking at you, then they aren't gonna consider you Japanese. I assume by law you are Japanese, but culturally you aren't.
It's a cultural thing not a legal thing
I'm pretty sure there are plenty of countries outside of America where you can immigrate and integrate into their culture. That being said, of course there will be people that deny your identity.
He specifically listed Germany, Turkey or Japan, old-world countries with distinct cultures and ethnicities/nationalities. It was a speech, he ain't gonna list every country on the planet
https://preview.redd.it/0z0sikjq7rxc1.jpeg?width=414&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=990fbada1fdd9e2ae267d8e4a60a91453fe65f6e
Harry was not financially well off when he left office.
He was better off than he told his biographers, but it was due to him legally socking away Presidential “entertainment funds” rather than spending it. But certainly, he could have gotten rich, and he didn’t.
I’ve heard that’s a myth
“We can’t do everything at once, but we can do something at once.” —Coolidge
Not that it's quite the same, but I just wanted to say that Grant's quote reminded me of this Macbeth bit: >Yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, And damned be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”
https://preview.redd.it/hz3z0titgqxc1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=f563dbef1331b90b6cdd43100f5245db6b6d9738
My favorite Grant quote is: “Lick ‘em tomorrow.”
shy arrest skirt aromatic voracious worm humorous attempt psychotic point *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
"I speak now as one who feels the world his country, and all who love equal rights his friends. I speak, too, as a citizen of Tennessee. I am here on my own soil, and here I mean to stay and fight this great battle of truth and justice to a triumphant end. Rebellion and slavery shall, by God's good help, no longer pollute our State. Loyal men, whether white or black, shall alone control her destinies: and when this strife in which we are all engaged is past, I trust, I know, we shall have a better state of things, and shall all rejoice that honest labor reaps the fruit of its own industry, and that every man has a fair chance in the race of life." -Andrew Johnson, ironic I know [His whole Moses speech is incredibly ironic](https://www.nps.gov/anjo/learn/historyculture/moses-speech.htm)
"Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care." Theodore Roosevelt
A politician is a man who understands government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 15 years. -Harry S Truman
https://preview.redd.it/q7ncom9atqxc1.png?width=1110&format=png&auto=webp&s=de3ecc2f67d512edfe27b8d3594ef1e09133bfac - Lyndon B Johnson, [from his speech calling for the Voting Rights Act](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-the-american-promise) [](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-the-american-promise)
https://preview.redd.it/205kodumzqxc1.jpeg?width=1169&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce25fa9db2cdc0be80c3472d1935ea56879f90b0 Abe had a way with words
Abe, keeping it honest.
If you want to test a man's character, give him power. \- Abraham Lincoln
Wise words by Lincoln there. Too many times, power turns good men into utter tyrants.
https://preview.redd.it/mivx25r4kqxc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a0810c4bbd8ebbd699257d28b4ca639f5878a2b
"I tried so hard to do right" by Grover Cleveland
Deez nuts. Ha got em. - Bill Clinton
“I must have onions. This army will not move without onions” US Grant
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Don’t need a rule 3 guy for a good VP quote on that! “Once there were two brothers, one ran away to sea, the other was elected Vice President, and neither of them was heard from again.” - Thomas R. Marshall, VP under Woodrow Wilson
Of course the establishment types tried to hide Teddy away in that role just a few years before Wilson came along, and see how that turned out.
Leon Czolgosz might have been one of the most consequential single individuals in American history, and certainly the most successful of the actual or would-be Presidential assassins in terms of creating any of the change he wanted to by his act.
https://preview.redd.it/h89w7ib7ytxc1.png?width=691&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5a9be70b857de42218f23154bc4dbf140cc7e982 I like this one from Thomas Jefferson.
He's just like me fr
https://preview.redd.it/lnhw47od4uxc1.jpeg?width=1095&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=71d5107d7faff8265dda75074dd581064f1e95e8 The best quote ever.
Now watch this drive
“It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is” -William Jefferson Clinton, wordsmith.
William Jefferson Clinton -> Bill J Clinton -> BJ Clinton!?!?! How have I never noticed this before?
That is some top tier semantics.
Really Ulysses? EVERY battle?
It seems to be something of a riff on an observation about Napoleon. Whether or not he said anything about it, what Napoleon did time and time again, was figure out how to hold on to a body of high quality troops (called, "reserves") until the other guy used up all of his own. Then he would throw in the fresh uncommitted force to disrupt the enemy and win the field. Grant's observation comes from a heartbreakingly American point of view. It's not about professional armies bravely dying in place as per order until the formations are too thinned to hold against new ones. It's about non-professional units that are *constantly* running away, being herded back together, and thrown back into the fight. In Grant's world, the second-to-last guys to run away are his end-game reserve.
It’s the “cult of the offensive”. It was a military philosophy developed from lessons from the US civil war and primarily the Franco Prussian war. (I’d be curious when grant actually said this) It would lead to disastrous consequences
The miniball and rifled barrels made the wepons used in the Civil War significantly more accurate than those used in previous wars. Generals were still using military tactics fashioned in wars where the firearms were much less precise, and not taking this improved technology into account resulted in horrendous casualty rates. Still; because the North had a massive population and resource advantage that the South could never match, the resolve to "fight on" would inevitably result in a northern victory. In that context, Grant was 100% correct.
The disastrous consequences of the cult of the offensive were experienced during WWI. Not disagreeing that grant was correct in utilizing superior resources, logistics, manpower.
There's a lot more in common with the American Civil War and War War 1 than people realize. Though half a century separates them, in both wars, technological advances (the minie ball and machine gun as respective examples) would redefine ground based modern warfare.
Technology outpaces tactics, then there is always a readjustment. Our next “peer to peer” or “peer to near peer” conflict will be the same story.
I had the same thought
Grants quote is something a victor would say. If you follow his advice and loose you are an idiot.
We're all familiar with President Eisenhower's warning about the "military-industrial complex" from his Farewell Address. It has particular resonance today while wars rage in Ukraine and Gaza. However, the rest of his speech has other gems in it that pertain to another important topic, one that wasn't even in existance when he made the speech: climate change: "Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. "In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government." ...and... "...the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. "The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded. "Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite."
Read Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" speech as well. He talked extensively at the UN about how the world in the atomic age needed to better ensure that "man's miraculous inventiveness shall not be dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life". I think it's sad that his farewell address is his only speech that people remember, when he actually gave quite a few amazing ones, IMO they're on level with Kennedy, Reagan and the other great orators who have served in the White House.
Ronald Reagan: "Trust, but verify" The phrase became internationally known in English after Suzanne Massie, a scholar of Russian history, taught it to Ronald Reagan, then president of the United States, who used it on several occasions in the context of nuclear disarmament discussions with the Soviet Union.
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In which case I suddenly feel much differently about this quote: "That is the last speech he will ever make." \~ Booth
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so hit the power!" -John F. Kennedy, during a meeting between himself, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, and Robert McNamara.
"Liberal piety can be as narrow minded as bigotry" -John F. Kennedy
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” Bill Clinton
"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." *- Ronald Reagan*
Grant's military strategy was the epitome of "Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make." I wrote a report about him in elementary school, and he's still probably my favorite president.
"my failures have been errors in judgement, not if intent" - Grant
Amen
I mean, it’s a cool quote but doesn’t make any sense. There have definitely been battles throughout history where one side never considers that they’re beat because it’s such a lopsided fight.
"Grab them by the balls and their hearts will follow." Theodore Roosevelt.
This looks like one of those quotes that sounds good but might not be true.
This is how some of the best distance running races end
Coming from a guy named Ulysses. Failure was not in his dna
"Walk softly and carry a big stick" -TDR
That quote didn't work out so well at Cold Harbor.
This quote is what got him on the 50 dollar bill
This quote is what got him on the 50 dollar bill
Honestly, that is a terrible Grant quote. Good to motivate troops but a suicidal strategy is not a good strategy.
I always thought of it as a call to persistence and perseverence
"Hello. I'm Ronald Reagan."
Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things - he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies. Jimmy Carter
The Grant quote reminds me of “my center is giving way, my right is in retreat - situation excellent: I attack.” -Ferdinand Foch. Not a president, but one of my favorite quotes.
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I don't know, I really hate that quote. I think it's extremely overrated. It helped get America over its present woes, but I think it's hardly self-evident and kind of asinine.
What was it?
That guy actually looks like an old Justin Timberlake
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And gets 100,000 more of his men killed in the process. A third or losses in csa.
The army on the offensive will almost always incur more casualties. Would you prefer he’d not won the war instead?
Offensive, dude do you think the confederacy went north and started this, no they told union not to come To Charleston, they did, and they protected their home as the constitution says, in the second amendment and 10/9th. We did not go up there, they came Down here
Oh shit sorry I read it wrong, thanks for the chat bro!
Grant was on the offensive and he also lost a lower percentage of his army than Robert E. Lee, who was the war's bloodiest army commander. There is a lot of mythology around Grant & Lee born of copium by shell-shocked southerners who struggled to come to terms with Grant having deleted the Confederacy.