Political Quotes

“I come to the floor with the senior Senator from Arkansas, Mr. Boozman, to celebrate a great anniversary. Two hundred years ago this week, the very first newspaper in Arkansas was published. It was called the Arkansas Gazette. We know it today as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. It is the oldest paper west of the Mississippi, an institution in our State, and a credit to the many outstanding journalists who have made it possible over two centuries. From its first issue, the Arkansas Gazette was a pioneering newspaper, published by a young man named William Woodruff who crossed the mighty Mississippi into brandnew territory, dragging behind him a wooden printing press and other tools of the trade. The Gazette was first published out of a log cabin in the territorial capital, Arkansas Post. It reflected the bold aspirations of American settlers moving West to fulfill our manifest destiny on the continent, and it reflected these landlocked settlers' keen awareness that events far beyond out little plot of soil could shape their lives in dramatic ways. The first story in the very first edition reported on a Navy expedition to open the Pacific Northwest for American traders. It speculated with excitement about the prosperity that would flow to our Nation as Americans followed Lewis and Clark west across the country. ``The plan may appear visionary,'' the Gazette remarked, ``but that which is now speculation will . . .…”