Political Quotes

“everybody agrees, even the proponents of this amendment, that we have to have a national defense, and the question is how much? They have cited that we outspend other countries in the world for defense, and therefore, we should be able to take a $13 billion cut without pain and without effect on our military readiness. But there is another Congress that thought the same thing. It was a Congress that voted to put together a defense budget just a few months before South Korea was invaded on June 25, 1950. I have read the transcripts from the testimony that came before that Congress. In fact, the Senate was so convinced that we were on top of the world, that we were so powerful, that we had nuclear weapons, high-tech, like the gentleman speaks of, that nobody would mess with us. So on June 25, 1950, we were invaded by North Korea, and within 3 days they had taken Seoul and were driving south until we met them at the Puchon perimeter right at the tip of the Peninsula and gradually started to push them back up. We were unready for Korea. We committed 7 army divisions to Korea, but we were unready for it, and 50,000 of those working Americans that the gentleman from Vermont who has propounded this amendment cares about so much came home in body bags. The folks that fight the wars are the working people of this country, and the greatest benefit we can give them is their return home.”