Political Quotes

“some while ago, the New York Historical Society conceived the notion of collecting holograph accounts of notable events in our city from contemporary New Yorkers, and thereafter auctioning them off to help with the expenses of that venerable institution. I was asked to participate and was happy to do. As would anyone my age, I have all manner of memories of our city, going back, for example, to December 7, 1941, when I learned about Pearl Harbor from a man whose shoes I was shining on the corner of Central Park West and 81st Street, across from the Planetarium. I do not really recall what I thought about all that; all I do recall for certain is that when I got home later in the day, the regular radio programming had been interrupted by bulletins from the Pacific. Between bulletins, the station played martial music. Well, sort of martial music. It seemed the only such record they had on was the ``fight song,'' as they say, of the Fordham football team. Pearl Harbor brought war to the United States but only seemed to enhance the greatness of our city. At war's end, it seemed only natural that New York should be chosen as the site of the headquarters of the United Nations, the victorious alliance that won that war. The years since have not been so generous. At times, they have been ominous, putting our city in peril in a way world war never did, albeit much of the peril has come from abroad.…”