The US had been at war for two years. Among the sixteen million Americans who served in active duty were eight future American presidents: Nixon, Eisenhower, Ford, Bush, Johnson, Carter, Reagan, Kennedy. New Presidents at War II: Their Finest Hours
In London General Dwight Eisenhower planned Operation Overlord – the invasion of France that would free Europe from Nazi oppression. ibid.
In the South Pacific Lt Richard Nixon’s airbase had been bombed for a solid month. ibid.
Dawn, June 6th 1944, D-Day, the landings begin: Tens of thousands of troops surged on to the beaches straight into the Nazi firing line. ibid.
Operation Overlord continued at as staggering pace … The might of the German army still lay ahead. ibid.
JFK: He received a Purple Heart and a Navy & Marine Corps medal for gallantry in action. He was the only president to receive them. ibid.
He’s [Gore] the most qualified person in my lifetime to seek this job. 537 Votes, Clinton, Sky Documentaries 2020
Sometimes people say I’m too serious, that I talk too much substance and policy … ibid. Gore
It didn’t hurt to have your brother as the governor of Florida. ibid. dude
Florida goes for Al Gore … Phew, what a night … ibid. Dan Rather
If you ignore the votes, you ignore democracy itself. ibid. Gore
Now, to the land of the hanging chad … ibid. Dan Snow, TV news
The Republicans wanted to pull off the perfect crime. ibid. dude
There have been 42 Presidents of the United States: some touched by greatness, others remembered as failures. What makes the difference? What’s the secret to presidential success? For those seeking the White House, what lessons does the past offer for how to be a Good President? Timeshift: How to Be a Good President, Jonathan Freedland reporting, BBC 2021
It’s been said the presidency is now so complicated nobody can do it well. ibid.
For Theodore Roosevelt that meant relying on what he called the ‘bully pulpit’: preaching his message directly to the American people. ibid.
Before you can be a great president you have to get the job in the first place. And that takes a talent for winning elections even a gift for playacting. ibid.
Every president since George Washington has had to define what we mean by the words, We the People, and, A More Perfect Union. In moments of harmony and conflict. The American Presidency with Bill Clinton I: Separate But Unequal, History 2022
Race has shaped America’s story from the very beginning … I saw up close how decisive presidential action could help to overturn Jim Crow. ibid.
‘He [Eisenhower] then went on to a career in segregated military.’ ibid. historian
‘It took the entire United States’ army to get me into high school.’ ibid.
How to be the voice of the people and give purpose and vision to our national life. The American Presidency with Bill Clinton II: Presidential Vision
Kennedy looked at the heavens and saw a possibility; Lincoln looked at a divided nation and saw the promise of freedom; Theodore Roosevelt looked at the natural wonders of America and saw a sacred trust. ibid.
Of all the forces in transit play in the nation at any given time, few are felt as widely or as personally as the economy. The American Presidency with Bill Clinton III: Building the Economy
Freedom v Order: In critical moments throughout our history we’ve seen the scales tip dangerous for in either direction, driven by extremists … People so sure of their position that they would resort to oppression or violence to dismantle our institutions. The American Presidency with Bill Clinton IV: Extremism
Who constitutes ‘we the people’? Who’s really entitled to those certain, inalienable rights that we declared our independence to secure? The American Presidency with Bill Clinton V: We the People
When I became president, America’s role in the world was much different from what is was of our earliest predecessors. The American Presidency with Bill Clinton VI: Becoming a Superpower
The Mob is run by murdering thieving lying cheating psychopaths; we work for the president of the United States of America. Married to the Mob 1988 starring Michelle Pfeiffer & Matthew Modine & Dean Stockwell & Mercedes Ruehl & Paul Lazar & Alec Baldwin & Joan Cusack & Ellen Folley & Oliver Platt et al, director Jonathan Demme, rozzer
Florida, the sunshine state. Something smells rotten here beneath the orange juice. The Bush family takes back the White House when Florida goes for George W over Al Gore by a margin as thin as the Ace of Spades: just 537 votes. How convenient that the team in charge of this questionable little count is hand-picked by a governor named Jed Bush. Greg Palast, Bush Family Fortunes, 2004
The pollsters called Florida as Al Gore’s state but for some reason George W thinks otherwise. What does he know? ibid.
Thousands of black voters were turned away from the voting booth [in Florida] because they were labelled as convicted criminals. ibid.
The machine ballot count was a shambles. ibid.
The theft of the American Presidency. ibid.
The election was signed, sealed and delivered months before anyone entered a polling booth. ibid.
They say elevator, we say lift. They say drapes, we say curtains. They say president, we say seriously deranged git. Alexie Sayle’s Stuff s1e4, BBC 1988