Political Quotes

“I stand here today because of a number of things. I am fortunate to have a good family, friends, and role models, fortunate to have good luck in politics, and fortunate that in 1957, the Soviets launched a satellite. It is one of the reasons I am standing here. The satellite was known as Sputnik. Sputnik was the first satellite launched into outer space, and the United States, which thought it was the most powerful Nation in the world, stepped back on its heels, couldn't believe it: the Soviets had launched a satellite, and we knew they had nuclear weapons. A panic spread across Washington, DC, and the Nation: The Soviets are winning the space race; they could conquer the United States; if they can find a way to put that nuclear weapon into a satellite, we could never knock it down. What did Congress do? It did something that was breathtaking and unprecedented. It decided the best way to fight the Soviets was to make sure we had a force that could equal the Soviets, not just a military force--we always had a great military--but a force of private citizens with the training and knowledge to compete with the Soviet Union and every other country that might be our enemy in the future. There was an obscure Congressman who came up with an idea: Why doesn't the Federal Government loan money to college students? Nobody thought of that before. It was radical. Some said it was too big, the Government was getting too involved.…”